Start Well In Your Home School

Oral Language Learning for Young Children

2012-01-11T23:32:00.003-05:00

My youngest daughter and my grandson

Dear friends,

Here's an excerpt from my book Common Sense Excellence on teaching oral language. This includes listening, speech, and oral composition. Oral language is something we teach throughout the day with our little conversations, whether we realize it or not. Brothers and sisters even learn it from one another! Oral language is the vital preparation for learning to read and write.

ORALLANGUAGE

Listening

“Come, my children, listen to me;

I will teach you thefear of the LORD.” Psalm 34:11

“...let the wise listen and add to their learning,

andlet the discerning get guidance.” Proverbs 1:5

“Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise;

apply your heart to what I teach,

for it is pleasing when you keep them in yourheart

and have all of them ready on your lips.”

Proverbs 22:17-18

Listening to spoken words is where itall begins! Our children listen to ustalk from the time they are in our wombs. We don’t give them formal lessons, but they learn to talk anyway. Isn’tit amazing?

Takefull advantage of the power of warm companionship. The constant give and take of conversation,coupled with the natural repetition in everyday life, enhances listening skillsalmost effortlessly. Encourage your young children to tell you about theirfeelings and the events of the day. And listen to them! Be interested!

Discernauditory problems. Does your child seem to have a hard time listening toyou? There is a difference betweenhearing and listening. Your child mayseem to be merely uncooperative, but perhaps he can’t hear you well enough todistinguish sounds properly. Becausehearing impairment affects the ability to process language, this can lead topermanent speech delays, so please don’t ignore this possibility. Many auditoryand speech problems can be detected by a doctor or speech/language therapistusing simple screening tests. If money is a concern, check with your countyhealth department or local public school for free or low-cost testing and/ortherapy.

Teachyour child to pay attention. Suppose your child can hear you just fine-- when he wants to! Perhaps he needsextra practical training in the fine art of listening. Maybe it’s an attitude problem, but it couldbe that he just doesn’t know how tolisten. First, make sure that he isright in front of you, not across the room or at the other end of thehouse. Next, make sustained eye contact.The ability to look someone in the eye as they speak is a valuable skill, andwe may as well start now! When yourchild is “front and center” paying attention to you, start talking to him. Keep the sentences short, sweet andspecific. Ask him to repeat after youwhat you said. Does he know what youmean? If you say, “Please clean yourroom,” does he interpret that as an option because you said “please” or does heunderstand it as polite but mandatory? Exactly what does “clean” mean? Oh, and is there any time limit on this assignment? Spell it out! Then check up on it!

Workon simple auditory memorization skills. A valuable language skill is to be ableto store the “input” in such a way as to recall it for “output” later. As part of our listening skills approach, weencourage our young children to memorize Scripture passages, poetry, songlyrics, and quite pragmatically, a sequence of instructions that we wish themto follow. Start small, and goslow. Give them a phrase or two at atime, and repeat that until it is learned. When you start using dictation methods for academics (more on thislater), you will appreciate the time you have spent developing auditorymemory. Remember that it is better forthem to memorize a few things thoroughly than many things shakily.

Practicerhyming words. Tell your child several examples of rhymingwords, such as cat and mat or nickle and pickle. Then say pairs of words (some rhyming and somenot) and ask your child if they rhyme. Next, say a word and ask your child togive you one that rhymes it. This may sound silly, but rhyming is an effectiveauditory discrimination activity and pre-reading skill.

Match spokenwords with visual images. In the beginning stages, you can point to a picture and name it foryour child. When he knows many of thewords, you can point to a picture and ask him to name it, or you can name anitem and ask him to point to it. (Thisis an example of Dr. Maria Montessori’s Three-Period Lesson.) This activitynaturally provides for continued discussion about the things you see on eachpage of a picture book. For example, you can talk aboutshapes and colors of items, their uses, and other educational concepts -- allcuddled up on the couch having a grand time!

Speech

Moses said to theLORD,

‘O Lord, I have never been eloquent,

neither in thepast nor since you have spoken to your servant.

I am slow of speech andtongue.’

The LORD said to him, ‘Who gaveman his mouth?

Who makes him deaf or mute?

Who gives him sight or makes himblind?

Is it not I, the LORD?

Now go; I willhelp you speak and will teach you what to say.’"

Exodus 4:10-11

“Before a word ison my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.” Psalm 139:4

“Pleasant wordsare a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24

Coachyour children on how to control their voices. Proper volume, tone, pitch, inflection and speed will make them pleasantto hear. They should know when a quieter “inside” voice is appropriate, andwhen it’s OK to be more exuberant. Forexample, if they are visiting someone who is wearing a hearing aid, they needto be sensitive to the fact that loud noises might cause a very unpleasantscreeching noise in the person’s ear. Start early to teach your children to control their voices!

Discusswhen to speak and when to be quiet. Do you have a little chatterbox who won’t letanyone else get a word in edgewise? Teach her how to take turns in a conversation! There are also times when we have to betotally quiet. In most church services,it is important to be silent during the pastor’s prayer and sermon. However, we should sing out enthusiasticallyduring a rousing praise chorus, and greet others in a normal conversationaltone (not a shy whisper!) during the “meet your neighbor” moment. Part of this will come by your example, butyou will probably also need to issue some gentle reminders when the actual timecomes.

Work on correct pronunciation and diction. You may be able to understand what your childis saying because you know him and can practically read his mind, but can otherpeople figure out his speech? Somepronunciation problems are developmental, which means that the child usuallygrows out of it with time and practice. The ability to correctly pronounce the R sound, for example, often does not appear until age seven. Work with your child gradually, practicingsounds with him as you read stories, learn nursery rhymes and carry on simpleconversations. Try not to call undueattention to the problem; nervousness tends to make it worse. Consult a physician if you suspect a physicalproblem, such as a tight connecting tissue under the tongue. A speech therapist can also help diagnoseand treat problems. If you can’t affordto see one in private practice, ask for a free screening with a public schooltherapist. Your child, even as apreschooler, may be eligible for special education sessions. I had a speech impairment until minorsurgery at age seven, and two of my children have had significant speech delaysand/or diction problems which eventually improved, so my full sympathies arewith you!

Letyour child play with accents. This is the beginning of drama! Some of the easiest accents to imitate areSouthern USA, Boston, New York, British, Australian and Spanish. In theprocess, children learn to listen carefully to what makes each one distinct,and to reproduce the sound patterns not just in a given word, but in a wholespontaneous conversation. Can you hearthe gears clicking in their brains?

Showhow the meaning of a word or sentence can change with tone of voice or vocalinflection. Try changing your tone ofvoice (jovial, haughty, sad, excited, mildly sarcastic, serene) or emphasizedifferent words in the sentence. Howdoes this change the message that comes across?

Teachyour child how to answer the phone correctly, as well as make outgoing calls. This will vary from family to family, butinstruction should include what to say when you answer the phone, how to informa family member that they have a phone call, what to say if the person they askfor is not available, how to take a message, how to dial a number, how to leavea message, what hours are appropriate for phone calls, etc. I often remind my children that if they makea comment in the earshot of someone here who is on the phone, the person on theother end can probably hear it, too.

Practicereciting short pieces of literature. Poems and famous speeches are good material for this activity. Recitation helps a child to speak clearly andexpressively, to cut out dead words such as umand you know, and to control his body movements. Do this in the privacy of your own home until your child is ready for amore public audience.

Accustomyour child to public speaking situations. As ambassadors for Christ Jesus, it is so helpful to be able to get upin front of a crowd and say a few intelligible words without fainting! Start with a simple recitation, and move upto more original presentations.

Trainyour children to speak sweetly toeach other and to you. If I had it all todo over again, I would have majored on this. I can tell you from experience that if you fail in this area when yourchildren are young, you will pay for it later. Name calling, bickering, tattling, slander, whining, sassing -- these canall poison the atmosphere of your home to the extent that you allow them. Onceingrained, they are hard to shake off. You can help your child find ways to communicate his feelings which donot tear other people down and stir up conflict. This includes tone of voice, body language,and actual words.

OralComposition

“Jesus spoke allthese things to the crowd in parables;

he did not say anything to them withoutusing a parable.

So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

‘I willopen my mouth in parables,

I will utter things hidden since the creation of theworld.’”

Matthew 13:34-35

“Listen, for Ihave worthy things to say;

I open my lips to speak what is right.” Proverbs 8:6

“Gold there is,and rubies in abundance,

but lips thatspeak knowledge are a rare jewel.” Proverbs 20:15

Moving beyond the mechanical aspects of listeningand speaking, I would like to talk about something which requires a little morebrain power: oral composition.

Oralcomposition starts at birth. The earliest exposure yourchild has to language formation is hearing you speak from the time he is born. How do you choose your words? How do you organize your thoughts? Can he follow the sequence of events when youtell about something that has happened, or when you make up a story just forhim? As he grows through the preschoolyears, he will tell you about life ashe knows it, like what happened when Daddy took him to the baseball game. It may be out of sequence a little bit, orperhaps he exaggerates here and there, but it’s his story. Yes, this isoral composition in its seedling form. Water it, and it will bear fruit. Listen!

Oralcomposition sneaks in when your child is at play. If she is building in the sand box, she mighttell you that she is making a castle. Ifhe is dressing up, he might be a clown or a soldier. If she is playing with dolls, she might speakto her babies in sentences that sound uncannily like your own (for better orworse)! If he is racing around with atoy fire engine, he might describe how he is putting out the flames. Talking about what he or she is doing is avital part of the pretending process! You can help by providing the props and asking an occasional question.

Oralcomposition is developed by narration. For a more academicapproach, let me elaborate on oral narration, which I mentioned in theLiterature section. Charlotte Masonadvocated this method for all ages, but especially for young children. It means telling back what you have heard inyour own words, and perhaps adding in your own opinions or ideas about thetopic. This can be done after listeningto a story or poem, reading a chapter of a book, or even looking at a piece offine art. The narration might besprinkled with a few new vocabulary words from whatever was read. In this way, he not only shows that heunderstands the material, but he is also developing his own language skills ina powerful and natural way. Thesesessions can be short and sweet, perhaps just a few minutes. If you must ask questions, try to keep themopen-ended so that your child can’t just reply with a yes or no, or answer witha bare bones phrase. You don’t want to extract the information, but let it flow.

Oralcomposition flows from a topic which grabs your child’s attention and interest. Maybeyou are out in the garage doing laundry when he comes up and starts chatteringabout an exciting book he’s been reading about snakes or astronauts orwhatever. You can tell he is psychedabout it. You know the information israttling around in his brain, just waiting to be released through hismouth! Let it stay at this level forquite some time, just getting him comfortable sharing verbally, either withfactual information or a story.

Oralcomposition blossoms into original storytelling. After a child has had ampleexposure to read aloud literature and plenty of practice in oral narration, hemay be ready for original oral storytelling beyond what would normally occur inconversation. Working orally shoulddefinitely come before any attempt at formal written storytelling! A few children maywant to make up fanciful stories, but most would do well to stick with thefamiliar, such as a description of things they have experienced with theirsenses, or a narrative of a recent happening. You can easily incorporate oralstorytelling naturally and spontaneously by asking your child, “Tell me allabout the Christy’s birthday party!” or “Why are you so excited right now?” or“You didn’t like the way that story ended. How would you change it?” Keepin mind that you can use oral narration and composition with a child who doesnot yet know how to read. Even a threeyear old can offer a few sentences here and there. These little conversations are part of yourwarm and loving relationship with your child, not some complex scholarlyskill! Many years ago, our littlechildren would beg to hear my impromptu stories about the fictionalBlake family. When I was too tired tothink of anything even halfway original, Joanna, then nine, came to the rescuewith her own Max and Liz stories. Afterall, she has heard mine often enough that she had a pattern to go by, and shehas a lively imagination of her own. Theyounger ones began to prefer her stories to mine. (I won’t take that personally!) The older ones still tell stories to theirlittle brothers and sisters. These story telling sessions may be after regularschool hours, but I’d be the last one to complain!

Oralcomposition is a crucial academic skill. Parentsmay discount the value of oral narration or story telling because there is nopaper trail to prove that the child has done “language arts” for the day. If this is your concern, just mark down onyour child’s record sheet what he did: “Gave oral narration about Abraham Lincoln biography,” or “DiscussedCharlotte’s Web book with Mom,” or “Described paintings at art museum,” or“Made up original story about exploring Mars.” These are all perfectly valid educational activities, and you should beproud to have them listed in your child’s portfolio. Just think of how pleasedyou will be when your child can carry on an interesting conversation with theadults and children at your nextfamily reunion!

Christmas with Kids

2011-11-28T20:01:00.001-05:00

Dear friends,

Over the years I have written several articles on celebrating the Christmas season with kids, especially in a home school setting. For your convenience, here are the links on this blog:

My Favorite Christmas Books

Great Gifts Kids Can Make for Others

Advent Adventure Unit Study

Family Advent Night Ideas

Three Christmas Poems for Children

You can find other holiday links on the Christmas page of my main blog, Virginia's Life Such As It Is.

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com

Synthesizing Your Own Style - and - Duty and Delight

2011-09-05T11:24:00.000-04:00

Dear friends,

It's the start of a new school year, and while most of us have already chosen our curriculum to use, we are still adjusting as we go along. This article is an excerpt from the chapter "Choosing Your Own Approach to Education" in my book Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade. I've been thinking about it since we are always trying to find the right blend in our home of structured and delight-directed living and learning. What works for you?

Virginia

SYNTHESIZINGYOUR OWN STYLE

Are you boggled after reading about the differentapproaches to home schooling? Which isright? Which is right for your family? If you think about it, what the people whoteach these approaches are trying to describe is how you can most effectivelyallocate your family’s time, money, space, attention and decision-makingcapabilities to secure the best education for your children. To that extent, each one is valuable. I doubt that any single approach offerseverything you will ever want, and there are so many overlaps that we can’teven say they are mutually exclusive. I use what I call the Eclectic Approach: attempting to combinethe interest and organization of unit study, the natural methods and love forbeauty of Charlotte Mason, the order and discipline of traditional education,the freedom and imagination of relaxed home schooling, the scholarship of the classicalapproach, and the convenience and fun of computers. I cherish the freedom to pick and choosefrom whatever will work with each child. If you ask me what my philosophy of education is, I would say:

“God is theCreator of the Universe, the Author of Life, the Prime Moving Force in History,and the Ultimate Teacher. He has chosenmy husband, children and me to be members of one family, to live and learntogether. In his grace and wisdom, hehas given parents the awesome responsibility to train and educate children sothey can know, worship, and serve him in practical ways all of theirlives. Our children can learn by beingwith us, watching us, listening to us, conversing with us, and working with usas we go about our daily lives. Throughpersonal relationships, reading, and writing, they can acquire and shareknowledge and skills with others. Theycan gain direct experience with the world around them through hands-ondiscovery and projects. They can learnself-discipline as they follow plans that are not all of their own choosing,but they will also enjoy the satisfaction which comes from individually pursuing their own God-given interests andtalents.”

DUTY AND DELIGHT

Did you notice that lastsentence in my philosophy of education? Here it is again: “They can learn self-discipline as they follow plans that are not allof their own choosing, but they will also enjoy the satisfaction which comesfrom individually pursuing their own God-given interests and talents.”

The dilemma for many homeschool moms is: “Do I make my children learn what they need to know, or letthem learn about what excites them?” The answer is YES... to both! It’s not an either/or situation. Education needs to be a balance of dutyand delight. I think of duties as thosethings that must be done, the fixed expenses or work in our daily routines. Delights, on the other hand, are the things we naturally want to do, our discretionary activities, our play. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,”the saying goes, but I must add that “All play and no work makes Jack a uselessboy.” How do we find the optimumcombination between duty and delight?

Realize the value of your work, and take joy in the accomplishment. The ideal is always to lovewhat we do and do what we love, but it just doesn’t always work that waynaturally. It takes attitudechanges. As we think about the benefitsof what we must do, then we can enjoyit more. Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work at it withall your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that youwill receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christyou are serving.” He is also our blessed example in this, “whofor the joy set before him, endured the cross...” (Hebrews 12:2) Let us be an example to ourchildren!

Make your “delights” more productive. Usethem to build relationships, serve other people, learn new skills, and improvehealth. Examples of “diligent delights”for children include cooking with mom, taking a brisk family walk around theneighborhood, planting flowers, making cards or gifts, or practicing math whilekeeping score in a game.

Balance the day to make time for duties and delights. Charlotte Mason always recommended doing the more structured lessonsin the morning, and then leaving the afternoon free for “purposeful” delightssuch as pleasure reading, nature walks, art, music, tea time, etc. As I now tell my children: “Get myassignments done in the morning, and the afternoon is yours for anything atleast halfway educational!” If theydon’t get their morning assignments done, this can eat into their “delightdirected” time.

Accept that learning can befun, but it doesn’t always need to befun. Yes, our children should have a sense ofadventure and imagination in their studies. However, if they demand that schoolalways be “a thrill a minute” without any drudge whatsoever, not only will youburn out trying to be their entertainment director, but they will miss out onsome very crucial knowledge and skills that can only be gained by disciplined work. In future years, they will not likely have the perseverance necessary tosucceed in higher education, career, and family life. A person who bails out when the going getsrough will not make a worthy disciple of Jesus Christ. He will be like the barren ground litteredwith rocks and thorns instead of good, fruitful soil that multiplies anabundant crop. (Matthew 13:1-23)

Allow your child to choose some studies, but oversee the results. In the unschooling model of education, thechild chooses what to learn and when to learn it. Yes, it works for some people, depending onthe motivation level of the child. Ithink this would be most successful if the child sets a plan for each day,instead of flitting aimlessly from one thing to the next without reallyfinishing anything at all. He shouldalso still be accountable to the parent for progress, especially in weak areas.Gregg Harris has often taught about delightdirected studies, where the child chooses assignments based on his owninterests. We have done this to alimited extent in our family, especially in the middle and upper grades. Younger children usually require more directinput from their parents with this. Those who have not yet developed self-discipline need intervention. If your child can stay busy doing what needsto be done, that’s great! But if hecan’t motivate himself, he’ll need a little pressure from you.

Start a short seatwork time each day. Whileit is not wise to push massive amounts of written work in the early years, itdoes not hurt to sit down and write for a little while every day. This could bejust five or ten minutes for a preschooler to practice writing a few lines ofletters. In early elementary they mighthave a paragraph of copywork, or a short list of spelling words, in addition toa math workbook. These focused activities will help to lengthen a shortattention span. Most children can, withproper discipline, handle at least a brief session of some focused work eachday. It says to the child, “I haveconfidence that you can do this!”

Transition into more structured assignments as needed. In the primary grades, you can let children readjust about as much as they want, knowingthey will naturally pick up most of their language arts skills this way.However, they still need to be willing and able to complete whatever writtenassignments you deem necessary for them. This is especially true as theyapproach fourth grade, which is when many children can be expected toconcentrate more on structuredmaterials. Like it or not, you will need some sortof paper trail for their portfolios, including written language arts samples.When I determine that a child needs to make the transition to more formalassignments, I usually find it necessary to plan very specific lessons. I tryto target the subjects which they typically neglect, while letting themcontinue autonomously in the areas where they excel. I might buy a small brightly coloredworkbook, or assign page numbers in an easy text, or design brief CharlotteMason style grammar lessons somehow related to their favorite school subjects. Then we work one-on-one for severalweeks until they are done. Children whoare not accustomed to this will fuss about it for a while. Don’t let this deter you! It takes an adjustment to break into a newroutine, but once they get there, it gets a lot more comfortable for both ofyou. You will need to be right by theirside for a while until they can do it themselves. This takes a time commitment on your part,but it will pay off in the months and years to come!

And, a summary from the very end of the chapter...

1-2-3Ideas to Remember About

ChoosingYour Approach to Education

u Know your child’s learningstyle and personality, as well as your own preconceptions abouteducation.

v Keep a balance between structured and creative methods. Hold your children accountablefor their work.

w Research different approaches, and be open to changing methods as you go.

Let Our Ordered Lives Confess the Beauty of Thy Peace...?

2011-08-08T16:12:00.000-04:00

Let Our Ordered Lives Confess the Beauty of Thy Peace...?

Drop Thy still dews of quietness

till all our strivings cease;

take from our lives the strain and stress

and let our ordered lives confess

the beauty of Thy peace.

John Greenleaf Whittier

(from the hymn “Dear God and Father of Mankind”)

What home school mom hasn't wished for the “dew of quietness,” ceased strivings, a little less stress, and an ordered life! Daily life can place overwhelming demands on you. You are the family teacher, doctor, police woman, lawyer, judge, psychologist, manager, interior designer, seamstress, chauffeur, maid, chef and playmate all rolled into one. So what in the world is Whittier talking about? It seems that an ordered life is just an elusive fantasy or that we have to be born orderly. Many moms claim they aren't “the organized type.” By birth and rearing, I fall into the “messy” group, so I was in for a shock when I married Mr. Meticulous, had children, and started home schooling. For a while I used the excuse that getting organized would diminish my creativity and spontaneity, but that soon wore thin. I had to do something!

Home school moms cherish flexibility and autonomy, but some of us overdo it to the point of rejecting any structure. We try to wing it, making up our lives and school from scratch as we go along. We end up feeling frazzled, exhausted, unproductive, unfulfilled -- and guilty. We start to wonder if we really need a system after all, and relish the new idea of taking control of our lives with a schedule, routine, budget, and lesson plan. We realize that we don't have to be victims of circumstance anymore.

When I take the extra effort at putting my life in order, I realize that this gives me peace from the storm. Life makes sense when I follow a plan, and an added bonus is that I now have more liberty to focus my newfound spare time and energy on creative pursuits. My brain is less cluttered by loose ends. Order and organization allow us to live “on purpose,” to see our dreams and goals come to fulfillment. We can make a plan and make it happen. To be honest, there are months and even years when I am better at this than other times. My success ebbs and flows with how much of a priority I make it, as well as what’s going on in the family, such as a new baby. If I’ve let it slide for a while, it’s hard to get going again. Just a word to the wise!

Let me clarify what I mean by order. I am not talking about a regimented minute-by-minute schedule, a white-glove-clean house, robot children, strictly structured classroom-style school, or lesson plans written on stone tablets. Life with children is unpredictable, so we must be flexible. There will be down days when we only accomplish the bare basics. Even on good days, we all need room to live and breathe. If we set ourselves up with unrealistic expectations, we will be bitterly disappointed. There is plenty of room for different personality styles and comfort levels. Some people can't function well with any amount of disorder; others are comfortable with a relaxed loose-ends lifestyle. For all practical purposes, my working definition of an ordered life is:

I will have specific goals and plans in various areas of life. I will accomplish the most important ones, plus some of the optional ones. I will not go off on tangents.
I will not create extra work through neglect of details. An ounce of prevention is worth of pound of cure.
In my schedule and home atmosphere, I will enable my husband to be both productive and relaxed. When he gets home, I will have sufficient emotional reserves to cheerfully attend to his needs.
My children will know what to expect in the general sequence of the day. They will gain productive habits and self-discipline to launch them into future careers and family life. I will be able to give instructions, knowing they will obey without undue fussing or delay. They will be successful in school work because I will tailor it to their needs and make sure they do it.
I will be able to confidently invite people into my home. Since I will prepare ahead, I won't be so frazzled with the details that I can't pay attention to my guests. This will make them feel comfortable and welcome.
I will be able to find what I am looking for quickly without disrupting the household. I will also recall information from the “memory banks” of my brain without getting overly confused.
When I am sick or otherwise prevented from actively pursuing order, my system will not automatically fall apart. It will have sufficient momentum to function for a while without me.

These are definitions to which we can all aspire! We can personalize these basic facets of order to our own family situations and know that we are taking positive steps in the right direction toward success.

I believe that this reasonable level of order is the prerequisite to true productive creativity. A world-class composer must have a handle on the “laws” of music theory before writing a symphony. The orchestra members must have the self-discipline to practice their instruments, read the music as it is written, and follow the conductor's cues, or the symphony will be a cacophony instead! Our Creator is “the God of order, not chaos” (1 Corinthians 14:33). He designed a gloriously exquisite universe, quite systematically, day by day. He is the same God who gave intricate instructions to the creative craftsmen who fashioned the tabernacle, and he is the same God who can put your life back in order if you will follow his directions!

The order in our lives starts from the center; for Christians, this focus is that “Jesus is Lord.” Everything else in our lives must flow from that, or nothing will make sense. But beyond that universal focus, God has a specific plan for each of us. Our job is to discern our individual mission in life and report for duty. Our approach to this will profoundly influence how we manage our daily lives.

~*~*~

This is an excerpt from my book The Real Life Home School Mom. (You can read it for free here: The Real Life Home School Mom 2011 Edition or order a print copy. See My Books tab at the top of the page.) A Canadian home school on-line magazine editor asked me for an article on structure, and this is what I found. Of course it's a good reminder for me, too, because I'm still not naturally organized or structured. I really need to work on these since our school year starts next week and we are rejoining a co-op where homework is assigned and checked!

Want to read more?

Will we ever catch up with the laundry?

Mt. Washmore (Laundry for a Large Family)

An old schedule... I need to make a new one! This pic is from the post:

First Steps to a Tidy Home / Children & Chores

Oh, just to keep these supply bins organized... This pic is from the post: "Bin There, Done That" (Or How to Keep School Clutter from Turning You Into a Basketcase)

Are plastic zip bags more your style? Organizing with Plastic Zip-Style Bags at Home and On the Go

You might also like to read the following related blog posts:

Home School Rules

Problem Solving in Your Home School

Motherhood Management in Your Home School

First Steps to a Tidy Home / Children & Chores

A Tribute to Sono Harris: The Legacy of a Joyful Home School Mom

Household Organization: Clutter, Clothes Storage and Chores

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com

P.S. I realized right before hitting the post button that this article also appears on my www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com. But perhaps someone will see it here that hasn't seen it there already! God bless! And now it's time for me to bring order to my house!

One Potato, Two Potato

2011-06-24T09:19:00.003-04:00

The fresh smell of spring and the heat of summer bring gardens of plentiful learning activities. Seems like every time we turn around we are enjoying another experience involving fruits and veggies. Here's a sampling of our fun, with a few extras tucked in for good measure. (For readers who heard me speak at the FPEA-Florida Parent Educators Association-Convention, some of these will sound familiar).

Math

Estimate the weight of a watermelon. Weigh on a bathroom scale. Figure out the price per paid per pound.
Purchase a five pound bag of potatoes. Compare the quantity with a five pound bag of onions. Why the difference in quantity per pound? Younger children can weigh potatoes and arrange from lightest to heaviest.
Buy a basket full of veggie. Sort according to what part of the plant is eaten: stem, leaf, seed, root, flower. Eat vegetables and dip for snack.

Language Arts

Read Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert. Make veggie soup for dinner. (Dad will love eating what the children learned.)
Read the Farm Alphabet Book by Jane Miller. Make your own fruits and veggies alphabet book.
Play Garden Match to learn beginning consonants.
Read Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert.
Read Stone Soup by Marcia Brown (a traditional tale).
Read Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens (a trickster tale).
Make a growing vegetable soup lapbook.
Read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.

Spanish

Learn the Spanish words for common fruits and vegetables

Social Studies

Tour the produce section of the grocery store.
Visit a working farm, garden store, orchard, or greenhouse.

Science

Plant a garden.
Build a grow box and grow herbs.
Spout seeds. Discuss vocabulary: seeds, seedlings, cuttings, sprout, germinate.
Read The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons
Read Green Beans, Potatoes, and Even Tomatoes by Brian Cleary
Read One Bean by Anne Rockwell.
Sprout an avocado seed.
Grow or purchase a pie pumpkin. Open. Clean. Bake. Puree pumpkin and make bread.
Read The Life Cycle of a Bean by Linda Tagliaferro.
Read Foods from Farms by Nancy Dickmann.
Read Plants on a Farm by Nancy Dickmann.
Read Farming by Gail Gibbons. Discuss farming around the world.
Read From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons.
Read Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert.
Read The Victory Garden Vegetable Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta.

Arts

Make prints using tempera paints and fruits and veggies (potato, cabbage, celery, corn, and oranges)
Read Linnea in Monet's Garden by Christina Bjork.
Make a seed collage.
Sing Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow. Act out the song with motions.
Read How Are You Peeling? by Joost Effers and Saxton Freymann. Discuss the illustrations. Children may also enjoy Fast Food by the same authors.

Movement

Play Hot Potato (hand-eye coordination)

Nature Walks

2011-06-10T09:44:00.002-04:00

Dear friends,

This is an excerpt from my book Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade. I'm really glad my kids are nature lovers! We're going back to Secret Lake Park today to catch some little fishies, with a real net this time! (See Florida Field Trips #4: Secret Lake Park) The photos and bird sketch in this post are from my son Micah's blog, http://www.godsanimals.blogspot.com/. (Note: We're having problems with his blog right now, so as of June 23, you can't access it and the pictures that I linked here from there aren't showing up. We're trying to get that fixed ASAP!)

Enjoy!

Nature Walks

Get outside and see nature! After all, nature walks are free and easy to do, and observing nature for yourself is one of the best ways to learn about plants and animals. Children get excited about their "specimens" and the fresh air is good for your health. Francis Fenelon in his book Education of a Child says, “A simple walk through the woods or splashing in a stream brings contentment to the soul and appreciation for God’s beauty in a manner that extravagant amusements cannot.”

Here are some ideas for your own nature explorations:

Start in your own backyard. If you live in an urban or suburban neighborhood, you may not have much “habitat” at first glance. Still, I’ll bet you could find lots of living things in your own backyard: birds, bugs, flowers, lizards, cats, worms... To go farther afield, hike at a trail, park, preserve, lake, river, or mountain.

Keep your eyes and ears open. Learning to pay attention is so important to nature study! We often hear a red headed woodpecker rat-tat-tatting on our back fence.

Be careful not to upset nature. Please remind your children to refrain from disturbing animal homes. They don’t always know that they shouldn’t remove an egg from a nest, even if they return it right away. This upsets the mama, and she may abandon it! Talk about nature conservation -- how pollution and human expansion affect an ecosystem’s quality of air, water, soil, plants and animal homes. Read about animals which have become extinct. You don’t need to be a “tree hugger” to be a prudent environmentalist! God has called us to stewardship!

Practice nature safety. Learn to avoid poisonous snakes, stinging insects, irritating plants, and hazardous bodies of water. Wear protective clothing, sun screen, and/or insect repellent.

Collect and/or identify interesting specimens using a pocket-sized field guide. (Obtain permission from the landowner before you do this!) Look at your “finds” with a magnifying glass or microscope. Do a scavenger hunt. Each person needs to find listed items like an oak leaf, a brown rock, a nut, etc. You don’t need to take the items, just check them off on the list. My friend Michelle suggests buying a plastic divided box in the sports department to store your treasures.

Savor the seasons of nature. Do special activities related to winter (snowmen), spring (flower arranging), summer (beach trip) or autumn (pressing leaves). My uncle in Pennsylvania hosts home school groups for syrup making when the sap starts running in the maple trees. What makes each season special? Flowers have their own annual timetables for sprouting and blooming. Northern trees bud in spring, stay green through the summer, turn brilliant colors in autumn, and are bare in the winter (except for evergreens, of course)!

Take field trips to organized nature study areas. Go to the zoo, petting farm, botanical garden, nature center, science museum or county fair. Out of their natural habitats, you can find specimens organized by category. When you go to the zoo, have your child identify whether an animal is a mammal, bird, insect, amphibian, reptile, etc. What are the characteristics of each group? (Before you go, you can learn about this from books.)

Find an experienced nature mentor. This human resource can answer your questions and help guide your explorations. It could be an adult who works in this field, but don’t overlook home schooled kids as resources. When we had questions about catching bugs or growing pineapples, we used to call two middle school boys in our support group.

Keep a nature journal. Have your children make drawings or rubbings of what they see, and then label them, also telling where they found the specimen. For language arts, they can also “paint” a word picture to describe a flower or other nature object. A nature journal is also handy for recording changes in the seasons or the weather from day to day or week to week.

Take pictures. Show your child how to take landscape pictures or close-up shots.

Bring portable field guides: I recommend Peterson’s or Audubon. At the minimum, you should have one each for birds, insects & spiders, and flowers. Trees, reptiles, rocks & minerals, and other guides will be useful too, if your child is interested. A regional field guide will focus on species which are most commonly seen in your area.

Florida Field Trips #4: Secret Lake Park

2011-05-31T23:30:00.000-04:00

Dear friends,

Now that our school year is out for the summer, the kids are eager to visit public parks as often as possible. Today, my four youngest children chose nearby Secret Lake Park in Casselberry which is nestled among the three lakes on Triplet Lake Drive. No matter where you live, you can probably find a park like Secret Lake. Just explore the possibilities!

There is a wonderful playground with a huge wavy climbing structure, a spinning metal and rope carousel, swings, slides, etc. We actually didn't spend much time on the playground today, so we'll have to go back soon.

Micah made a beeline for the lake shore with the camera when we got there, and took these pictures of the purple flower and the spider web.

When we went to look for Micah, we ended up taking a walk down by the canal. We should have been better prepared! The kids remembered how much fun it was to try to catch little fish in the canal, but we hadn't brought any containers to catch or store them. As it turned out, I happened to see a stand with doggie cleanup bags, so that's what we used for storing them. They caught them with their bare hands, which is no easy feat. Next time, we bring a net and a bucket, as well as shoes more appropriate for water! (I loaned my crocs to Naomi.)

Just got some plastic bags from the dog cleanup station...

They caught some and are taking home their trophies in the doggie bags...

A white ibis

Beautiful park!

A vulture swooping around above

The guppies in a container at home, before their new bowl was set up.

Our plan is to visit at least one park each week. I'll let you know if we go to any really good ones! If you have any ideas for us, leave a comment!

Meanwhile, here is some information from the Secret Lake Park web page.

Nestled within three lakes, Secret Lake Park boasts an abundance of options for any lifestyle. For the more active there is basketball, softball, tennis, racquetball and soccer. For those looking to relax and enjoy nature there is the boardwalk connected to the sidewalk which meanders through the entire park, as well as the newly built fishing pier. There is even a playground for the little ones. Secret Lake Park is home to the Casselberry Recreation Center. Whether you're looking for a peaceful place to walk, a pick up game of hoops or even hoping to watch a game of soccer or baseball, Secret Lake Park is the place to be.

Facilities
Ball Field, Basketball Court, Racquetball Court(s), Tennis Court(s), Playground, Recreation path/boardwalk, Restrooms, 3 Pavilions (1 with electricity), and Casselberry Recreation Center. For reservation/rental information for the pavilion, call or visit the Casselberry Recreation Center, (407) 262-7700 Ext. 1575 or at 200 N. Triplet Lake Drive. Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

Summer Writing with Journals and Blogs

2011-05-25T19:15:00.002-04:00

Dear friends,

We are officially finishing our school year this Friday, though we have been tapering down for a couple of weeks. I still want my kids to keep their brains active over the summer, especially with math, reading, and basic writing skills. (Those are the 3R's, right?) Yet I don't want them to feel like they are "doing school" (or at least much of it) during our time off. Two of my kids have some of their math workbooks to finish up (oh well!), but I think we can also come up with some hands-on projects and games to use their math skills. They already like playing Monopoly, Pente, Yahtzee, and other games. They can read books of their choice from the library about subjects that interest them.

For summer writing, my first big idea is to have them keep informal journals about what they are doing and thinking each day. In fact, my 10 year old daughter has kept a journal this past month, and it seems to be an engaging and fairly painless way to get her to write. Not only that, it gives me an extra window into her world. The journal is a cute, colorful little one with puppies on it. I bought it at a dollar store. Nothing intimidating! She likes to write about her baby nephew coming to visit, or what she is making, all the fun things she thinks our family should do this summer, or sometimes that things that frustrate her. I didn't start journaling until I was a teenager, and though there were long gaps during my adulthood where I didn't keep one regularly, it's still I habit I try to cultivate.

My second summer writing idea, also something we're already doing, is blogging. All of my school age kids, except for the one in kindergarten, have their own blogs. This is a particularly fitting idea for middle school, especially if your kids know how to upload photos and videos. Most of them are private, accessible only to family members, but it gives them a way to learn and have fun at the same time. They often write about educational activities like bird watching or science experiments.

Give it a try!

What are your plans for continuing a learning lifestyle during the summer? Leave a comment for me!

See also:

Learning on Their Own -- independent delight-directed learning -- perfect for summer!
Friday Favorites #6 ~ and ~ A Curiosity Journal - after my links on parenting with grace, you will see a video for a neat science experiment demonstrated by my son Andrew, as well as links for making a kaleidocycle paper toy and playing Pente.

Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com

What We're Doing for School in 2011-2012

2011-05-10T15:05:00.003-04:00

What We're Doing for School in 2011-2012

Dear friends,

In March 2010, on one of my other blogs, I wrote a post about what we would be doing this past school year: What We're Doing for School Next Year (The Big Switch!)

We evaluate as we go along to see what our best options will be for each child each year. Last year, our best option for our five elementary and middle school was to quit the co-op we had been in for four years, and stay at home to do an intensive study of American history and literature along with science and math. So that's what we did! We read through hundreds of books from our own shelves, as well as some from the library. My kindergarten daughter learned to read, too.

I can't say we did everything that I had planned out, but enough that I'm happy! We could have done better with some of our formal language arts skills, but since we read so much, I think some of that they picked up naturally. We didn't finish up our intended science curriculum either; after Christmas, I let them start picking out science books of their choice from our shelves - or something I picked related to our history topics. We joined the science center, so we got in a lot of field trips for that subject. We also enrolled in twice-a-week P.E. classes at the local YMCA. They also did a lot of "learning on their own."

I would love to be able another year just at home -- for intensive world history and literature -- but my oldest son needs some high school classes that he can take most efficiently and effectively in the co-op, and the younger ones are anxious to return and see their friends there, too. So back we go! I will be teaching middle school English, as I did before.

I can't tell you the specific curriculum the co-op classes will use this year since I'm waiting to hear that myself! However, I told the kids that no matter what their homework assignments are, I am still planning to read to them at least an hour a day from books of my choice, and that I reserve the right to give them other extra assignments of my own. We are also going to start two weeks earlier and end two weeks later than the regular co-op year, which only provides 31 weeks of assignments and 33 class weeks.

I also want to let you know that I have added pages of favorite curriculum links to this blog. If you aren't reading this directly on the blog, you can click here to access the page tabs just under the header: www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com The ones for Math, Science, and Language & Literature are already up, but I'm having trouble with the Social Studies page for now (everything keeps disappearing!) and I don't have time to twiddle with it yet until this school year is over. We've just got less than 3 weeks left, and we're coasting down to the end with reading history and science, doing a little writing, and finishing up the math books. I wouldn't say we're "going out with a whimper" but it's not exactly a bang either. Just sort of winding down...

How are you all doing with school? What worked this year? What's your plan for next year? Leave a comment for me!

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com

The Benefits of Home Schooling

2011-04-25T09:25:00.001-04:00

Dear friends,

I'm starting a new little series that I hope to add to every now and then. For today, just a little excerpt from the first chapter of my first book The Real Life Home School Mom, which is available for free download or on-line reading in the sidebar of this blog, www.startwellhomeschool.blogspot.com. I have another book, Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, which is available for purchase. You can e-mail me at virginiaknowles@gmail.com for more information on ordering that. I also invite you to visit my middle school blog, www.ContinueWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com, my high school blog at www.FinishWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com, my blog of inspiration and practical tips for mothers, www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com, and my regular blog, www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com.

Next time, I'll share about how our family, which now has six school age children and four young adults, got involved in the home schooling movement over 20 years ago.

The Benefits of Home Schooling

Sometimes to keep ourselves on track, we need to go back to the beginning and remind ourselves why we chose to home school in the first place. Let's focus for a few minutes on the visions we had at the start. If I were writing a pro-con list about home schooling, the “pro” side might be like this. Home schooling allows us to:

nurture a lifetime love of learning in a natural, affirming atmosphere
grow in unity as we spend time learning with and about each other
watch our children blossom and know that we played a major role
refresh our own knowledge of school subjects
direct the education and upbringing of our children (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)
present issues in the context of our family's values and beliefs
select and customize effective methods and curriculum for each child
give individual attention so each child can work at his or her own level
weave school subjects together logically and creatively
delve deeper into fascinating topics, while cutting out busy work
let our children pursue personally motivating interests and projects
find out what truly works for our children with learning disabilities
protect our children from physical dangers rampant on school campuses
reduce peer pressure and competition, while offering positive training and opportunities for socialization
set our own daily and yearly schedules
train our children in the work ethic and responsible living
stay in touch with our child's environment
deal with problems promptly in accordance with family policies
teach children to make wise choices and set solid standards for excellence using the Bible, good literature, and mature adults as resources.

It sounds exciting, and what's more, statistical research on home schooling shows success. As a whole, home schooled children far surpass the national norm in scores on standardized academic tests and have also excelled on psychological profiles measuring self-concept and leadership aptitude. According to studies by Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute, the academic scores are not even very dependent on the socioeconomic status, education level, or professional certification of the parents. It appears that the key factor to success is the commitment of the parents to making sure their children receive an excellent education.

Learning on Their Own

2011-04-22T12:33:00.000-04:00

Dear friends,

While I try to be very purposeful in planning lessons for my children, I find that so much of their learning consists of what they come up with on their own!

Today, since it is Good Friday, we aren't doing much for formal school. We finished up our book on World War I this morning, and read the poem "In Flander's Fields" by John McCrae about one of the battlefields. My 13 year old, Andrew, has been doing his on-line math lessons, but everyone else is doing other things right now.

My 16 year old daughter Lydia is home from public school for the holiday and making biscotti (Italian cookie sticks) with her 10 year old sister, Naomi, who has also been busy making colorful booklets about cubes, cones, triangular prisms and other solid shapes.

Melody painted a green ladder picture with water colors at the dining room table.

Ben put together a small terrarium, soon to be stocked with lizards or crickets. Micah set up a larger one on the back porch and transferred a grasshopper into it from the big pretzel jar he had been using.

In the afternoon, Naomi and Ben are visiting their married sister Mary, who is planning crafts and swimming for them. I'm sure they'll love playing with their little nephew Jacob, too! I can't believe my grandson is 10 months old now!

Here are some other recent pictures of independent learning in our home.

A U.S. map drawn freehand by Micah (6th grade).

Ben (2nd grade) decided to make a map, too! Our kids inspire each other.

Micah's nature pictures -- more here: http://www.godsanimals.blogspot.com/

Ben, reading up in the backyard magnolia tree.

Preparing for their aunt's birthday party

Our largest aquarium out of several -- these are baby convict cichlids that hatched from eggs a few weeks ago.

Andrew, our 8th grader, making a green screen to use in video production

And with the web cam, with the green screen in the background.

A screen shot of a video in which he cloned himself using video effects.

I guess that is one of the beauties of home schooling --

the kids have time to learn things for themselves without me even assigning it!

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

http://www.startwellhomeschool.blogspot.com/

Easter Card Outreach and the Jesus Game

2011-04-11T10:06:00.001-04:00

EASTER CARD OUTREACH by Virginia Knowles

Our family likes to make regular contact with our neighbors to let them know we are thinking about them. Here is an idea we tried several years ago.

Make springtime shapes such as flowers or butterflies from colored paper. With fine-tip markers, letter a friendly greeting, such as “Jesus is Alive! Hallelujah! Happy Easter from....” Sign your names. Then deliver these to your neighbors with some cookies or muffins and a Gospel of John booklet. (You can get these free at www.pocketpower.org) If your church is having special services for Good Friday or Easter, be sure to tuck an invitation in with your card! You never know who may come, or what conversations this may open up.

Another way to make butterfly decorations is to use coffee filters and either paint or colored water. Take a coffee filter, hold it with the small end at the bottom, and cut off the two sides. Open it up, then put small blobs of washable tempera style paint in between the two layers. Close it back up again so that the paint spreads symmetrically on both sides. Open it up and let it dry, then cut around the edges to give it a butterfly shape. OR use medicine droppers to dribble colored water on an opened coffee filter. For either kind, make a black body and antennas for it and attach it to the middle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE JESUS GAME
by Virginia Knowles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My neighbor Marie used to bring over day old baked goods that she picked up for free at a local grocery store. One year, just before Easter, she brought over a huge sheet cake. We knew we couldn't eat it all ourselves, so we decided to have an Easter party for about 10 neighbor children, ages 4 to 11. I decided not to plan anything fancy, just cake, soda pop and the following game.

I gathered up several objects from around the house and hid them in a pillowcase. I blindfolded each child in turn, and had them try to figure out what I put in their hands. Each item represented some facet of the story of Christ. When they said what the "thing" was, I asked everyone, "Why did I choose this item?" I was pleasantly surprised that even the children who don't usually attend a church knew many of the answers. They also thought up some extra ones that I hadn't.

apple -- the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden which has been passed down to all of us
3 lb hand weight -- the burden of sin feels heavy on us -- we need someone to lift it away
toy lamb -- Passover lamb, sacrifice for sin
baby doll -- Jesus came as a baby
Band-Aid in wrapper -- Jesus healed people
flash light -- Jesus is the light of the world
hand towel -- King Jesus washed his disciples feet and set the example as a servant -- this can also represent his burial shroud
cross -- Jesus died for us
nail -- the nails went through his hands and feet
dice -- the soldiers gambled for his clothing
rock -- the angel rolled the stone away from the tomb
soap -- Jesus washes our sins away
heart -- Jesus loves us
small house -- he is preparing a home for us in Heaven
G, O, and D letter shapes (from a wooden puzzle) -- we can't see God, but he is there!

The game went over very well with our neighbor kids, some of whom had no church background at all. One 2nd grader commented that it helped him think about Jesus and God, so I know it was worth the small effort on my part! Another year, I used the same game in the four year old Sunday School class, and they enjoyed it as well. The class was big, so we split them into three groups, and had the other two groups do other activities.

This reminds me of the Resurrection Egg sets that you can buy, which have tiny little symbols inside of plastic eggs. We used to do these each year at our former church's Good Friday picnic, and there are instructions for this in one of the following articles. The benefit of using large objects, though, is that the children can see and handle them more easily, and it lets them guess what each thing is.

Monkeying Around with Curious George at the Orlando Science Center

2011-02-17T20:13:00.002-05:00

Dear friends

I wish I had time to write a full description of the new Curious George exhibit at the Orlando Science Center (http://www.osc.org/). There are a lot of hands-on educational activities for young children (preschool and early elementary). In the adjacent room, there is also a reading nook stocked with many of the Curious George books.

You can read my blog post about the rest of the museum here: Florida Field Trips #3: The Orlando Science Center

Here is what the Orlando Science Center web site says about the Curious George exhibit:

Taking place in the neighborhood where Curious George lives with The Man in the Yellow Hat, visitors will recognize familiar characters and places featured in the classic stories and the popular PBS KIDS television Series. Here are some of the fun activities waiting for you and your family:

Using machines to move materials, design your very own building and construct it here with our building materials in our Construction Site area.
Explore the galaxy with Curious George by hoping on the rocket that George took on his space adventures! Pose for pictures with George in his space suit and email them home.
Ever wanted to try climbing a fire escape just like firefighters do? Now, you can! By climbing the fire escape, children jump into Curious George’s world to learn about color, light, and shadow.
Curious about how George came to be? Take a walk through our Museum Within the Museum to learn new things about George. Follow the works of H.A. and Margret Rey, their escape to safety during World War II, and learn about Curious George throughout the years.

From the classic stories by H.A. and Margret Rey, this new exhibit will inspire children’s curiosity as they get hands-on interactive play based on science, math, and engineering. Don’t miss out on playing with Curious George. Come in and get curious with us today!

Florida Field Trips #3: The Orlando Science Center

2011-01-02T18:55:00.005-05:00

Dear friend,

This is the third post in my Florida Field Trip series. You can find the first two here:

#1: Historic St. Augustine

#2: Silver Springs Nature Park

(I thought I had posted #2 back in November, but apparently I never hit the post button! So, it's actually a new post! Check it out!)

Our family just signed up for an Orlando Science Center annual membership, which is $125 per family. For a large family like ours, this is quite a deal, especially since it includes parking, which is usually about $5. Regular daily admission, which includes entry to the giant screen IMAX movies, is $17 for adults, $16 for students with ID, $11 for children ages 3-11 and free for under age 2. You can calculate how many trips it would take your family to break even on an annual membership. For us, it is just two, and we've already been twice!

There are four floors of great exhibits. We haven't had the time to fully explore all of them yet, but the weather and Dino Dig rooms were my favorites on our last visit. I know we'll be back to spend more time in those. We have also enjoyed petting the baby alligator and playing in the physics room.

The Kids' Town is a perennial favorite in our family, especially the Orange Grove.

OSC has a very special exhibit, The World of Mechanical Muusic, which is just about to end next Sunday, January 9. I went this week with my kids and thought it was well worth it. Here is the blurb from the OSC web site (www.osc.org): "Do you still think of a music box as a trinket or novelty, something pretty to look at for a while, then placed on a shelf or stored and forgotten? The up-coming exhibit at the Orlando Science Center might just change your thinking! This new exhibit called The World of Mechanical Music; Science, History, Craftsmanship and Art will take place at OSC beginning November 13, 2010 through January 9, 2011. Mechanical Science, where it all began, will prelude this musical interlude. Visitors will be given hands-on, self paced lessons in the basic physics of sound and instrumentation, as well as the physiology of hearing. They may even learn how to tell the difference between music and noise…. if there IS a difference! Next, visitors will step back in time to the Victorian era where they will enjoy a glimpse into lifestyles and leisure activities of the day. They will be escorted by docents to hear, see and experience live musical entertainment just as ears heard it over 100 years ago!"

In case you are wondering what kind of instruments they are talking about, there are vintage music boxes, metal disk players, mechanical bands, organ grinders, player pianos, and much more. The guide will play most of them for you on the tour.

We have seen both of the current IMAX movies, The Forces of Nature (about volcanoes, earthquakes, and tornadoes) and The Ultimate Wave: Tahiti. Both films interweave scienctific principles, nature, and world culture and were highly educational. The visual effect of the huge screens is stunning. Just a heads up, though: the dramatic natural disasters in the first film can be alarming to small children, and the second film shows bikini clad surfers which may offend some people. I think an IMAX on chimpanzees is coming soon, but I don't know when. The current films are playing at least through the end of January. You can see video trailers for both of them on the web site.

We enjoy the Orlando Science and we're glad we signed up this year. The kids have been asking me for months to do this. It's going to be our main source of science field trips in 2011. We hope to see you there!

Virginia Knowles

http://www.startwellhomeschool.blogspot.com/

Florida Field Trips #2: Silver Springs Nature Park in Ocala

2011-01-02T18:51:00.003-05:00

Dear friends,

Silver Springs is a beautiful nature theme park in Ocala, Florida, about an hour and a half drive from Orlando. It borders the Ocala National Park. The oldest theme park in Florida at 132 years old, it is now owned by the state of Florida and managed by another company.

The admission fee is about $30 per person, but they sometimes run a Buy 1 Get 1 Free deal for adult tickets for certain days, as well as annual passes. They still have the Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon on-line, but it says it expires December 31, 2010. Call to see if it is still good. The park is not open every day of the week. They also have country and rock concerts once in a while. The park is generally open from 10 AM to 5 PM. It takes just about that long to see everything in the park, maybe longer if you have children. (My husband and I went by ourselves.) Check the web site, http://www.silversprings.com/, for current information.

The main features are the three different glass-bottom boat river cruises, the animal shows and displays, and a very bumpy Jeep safari. Keep in mind this is not Disney World! The park is simple and very nature oriented, not luxurious and commercialized. But for the price, I felt it was well-worth it, especially as an extremely educational field trip. On the cruises, you'll find out more about the history. The water is quite clear and visibility is astounding. You can see right down to the bottom of the many springs that feed the rivers. You will see a huge variety of animals, far more than I could show in this blog post.

Without further ado, a few dozen pictures!

OK, that's enough for now!

Go enjoy Silver Springs!
http://www.silversprings.com/

Virginia Knowles

How to Memorize a Spelling Word

2010-12-27T10:49:00.000-05:00

HOW TO MEMORIZE A SPELLING WORD

Look at the word carefully. Really pay attention to it!
Close your eyes and picture the word in your head.
Notice natural groups of letters, like the root, syllables, prefixes or suffixes.
Notice if there are any other words within the word, like to-get-her in together, or ear in hear, or pie in piece.
If the word does not look like it sounds, try saying it a different way to remember the actual spelling. For example, exhaust sounds like egz-awst but you can say it with x and h sounds in it just for the purposes of remembering the spelling. (Just remember how it is really pronounced for saying it at other times!)
Think of other words that have a similar spelling pattern, such as thought and brought. Think of a sentence that uses both words to link them in your mind.
Copy the word three times.
Spell it out loud while you are looking at it.
Spell it out loud while you are NOT looking at it.
Write it down while someone else says it.

Those are just some tips I came up with by myself. There is also a comprehensive list of spelling tips at All About Spelling. Just follow the instructions to sign up for the free report

20 Best Tips for Teaching Spelling. They will also continue to send you helpful e-mails about teaching spelling.

Three Christmas Poems for Children

2010-12-09T11:58:00.004-05:00

Dear friends,

Here are three poems for Christmas, to share with your children. I used these in my middle school co-op class.

Jesous Ahatonhia (Jesus is Born)

by Father Jean de Brébeuf, missionary to Canada
Written in 1642 in Huron

English interepretation by J.E. Middleton

'Twas in the moon of wintertime
   When all the birds had fled,
That Mighty Gitchi Manitou
   Sent angel-choirs instead;
Before their light the stars grew dim,
   And wondering hunters heard the hymn--
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,
   In excelsis gloria.

Within a lodge of broken bark
   The tender Babe was found,
A ragged robe of rabbit skin
   Enwrapped His beauty round;
But as the hunter braves drew nigh,
   The angel song rang loud and high--
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,
   In excelsis gloria.

The earliest moon of wintertime
   Is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory on
   The helpless Infant there.
The Chiefs from far before Him knelt
   With gifts of fox and beaver pelt--
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,
   In excelsis gloria.

O children of the forest free,
   O sons of Manitou,
The Holy Child of earth and Heaven
   Is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant Boy,
   Who brings you beauty, peace, and joy--
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born,
   In excelsis gloria.

little tree

by e e cummings

little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would,
only don't be afraid look the spangles
that sleep all the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads, put up your little arms
and i'll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won't be a single place dark or unhappy then when you're quite dressed
you'll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they'll stare!
oh but you'll be very purod

and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up our beautiful tree
we'll dance and sing
"Noel Noel"

Star-Silver

by Carl Sandburg

The silver of one star
plays cross-lights against pine-green
And the play of this silver cross-wise against the green is an old story.
Thousands of years.

And sheep grazers on the hills by night
watching the woolly four-footed ramblers
watching a single silver star.
Why does this story never wear out?

And a baby, slung in a feed box back in a barn in a Bethlehem slum
A baby's first cry,
mixing with the crunch of a mule's teeth on Bethlehem Christmas corn
Baby fists, softer than snowflakes of Norway

The vagabond mother of Christ
and the vagabond men of wisdom
all in a barn on a winter night
and a baby there in swaddling clothes on hay
Why does this story never wear out?

The sheen of it all--is a star, silver and a pine, green
For the heart of a child asking a story
The red and hungry, red and hankering heart
Calling for cross-lights of silver and green

Family Advent Night Ideas

2010-11-27T15:47:00.000-05:00

Family Advent Nights

Here are suggestions for four family Advent nights.

To make it easier for young children to understand, you may wish to choose a simplified Bible version such as the NIrV. Your children can take turns reading the Scripture verses for each evening. If your child struggles with reading, assign just a verse or two, and have them practice it ahead of time.

It may also help to provide song sheets for when you sing the Christmas carols. You can download lyrics from the web (I have provided the links) and print them out. You can even talk about the historical backgrounds of some of the carols.

These ideas are just suggestions. You can choose whatever Scriptures, songs and activities fit your family. I found it helpful to weave in things we already wanted to do, such as drive around to see Christmas lights.

When we did this in 2005, our four nights were crammed into a one week period. I took a bright yellow piece of paper and divided it into several blocks, one for each day until Christmas. Then, in bold letters, I wrote out a brief description of what we had planned for each evening, including the four family nights and other planned events, such as a child’s basketball game or the Christmas Eve service at church. Last year, we spread it out, doing an Advent night once a week for four weeks.

~*~*~*~*~

Family Advent Night #1

“God is With Us – Prepare Your Heart!”

Tell your children ahead of time that you will be having a special time in the evening. Talk about a few of the things that you will do together. If you can think of a way for your child to participate, ask him to prepare for this, such as practicing Bible verses to read out loud, or a song on the piano, etc. Another child might make copies of a song sheet. You will talk about this advance notice and preparation a little later.

Scripture

Isaiah 7:10-14 – Immanuel promised
Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 -- darkness and light, a child shall be born, Wonderful Counselor
Isaiah 53:10-12 -- the suffering Savior
Isaiah 61:1-3 – the ministry of the Messiah
Matthew 1:18-25 – Immanuel comes

Discussion: Immanuel means “God with us” and Jesus means “The Lord saves.” Why do we need a Savior? Because we are sinners! Remind your children that you told them ahead of time some of what you would be doing, so they could know what to expect and how to prepare. Relate this to how God took the time to tell his people, through the prophet Isaiah, several hundred years early, that a special messiah would be born. He told them many details so they could know what to expect.

Songs

“O Come, O Come Immanuel” – The lyrics of this song (originally written in Latin) are a prayer for the Messiah to come and set the people free from their misery in sin. The tune was written in a minor key, which makes it sound melancholy to fit the lyrics. You may wish to point this out to your older children. What makes it a minor key? If you play a C major chord, it will be the notes C, E and G. If you play a C minor chord, you will use C, E flat and G. If you sing this TO your children, have them join in on the chorus after each verse. http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/c/ocomocom.htm

“Joy to the World” – The lyrics of this song are an answer to the lyrics in the last one. The Messiah has come, so we can rejoice. What can we do to prepare room in our hearts for God? http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/j/o/joyworld.htm

“O Come, All Ye Faithful” – God has come to us, but each of us must come to him in faith. http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/c/ocomeayf.htm

Handel’s Messiah – play a selection such as “For Unto Us a Child is Born” (which is from Isaiah 9) and tell your children how George Frederic Handel wrote a whole concert using verses from Isaiah that prophesied about the Messiah.

Activity

Drive around through different neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights. Remind your children that Jesus came to light up the dark world. We should be lights in the world, too, if we have Jesus in us.

~*~*~*~*~

Family Advent Night #2

“Jesus is Our Glorious King!”

Scripture

Luke 1:26-56 -- The angel told Mary that she would give birth to a king. When she visits her relative Elizabeth, she speaks forth what is now called the “Magnificat” – a psalm of praise to God. When you read the Scriptures this evening, choose people to read the parts of the narrator, Mary, the angel and Elizabeth. Practice ahead of time, if possible.

Discussion: Ask what good things we can say about God and what he has done for us.

Songs

“Joy to the World” (try to sing this one every night for continuity) http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/j/o/joyworld.htm

“O Little Town of Bethlehem” – talk about how “the hopes and fears of all the years” were met in Jesus http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/l/olittle.htm

Choose other favorite Christmas carols.

Activity

Watch the movie The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which you can rent or buy on DVD. Talk about it and how Aslan represents Jesus as the King who came to redeem his people.

You can also have each family member write a psalm of praise to God.

Allow one of your children to perform a song he or she has learned to sing or play on an instrument, or read a poem. This will be good practice for tomorrow night, if you choose to visit other people.

~*~*~*~*~

Family Advent Night #3

“Angels Sing!”

Scripture

Luke 2:1-21 – the birth of Jesus

Colossians 1:15-20 – the deity of Jesus (optional)

Discussion: Who was Caesar August? What is the census? Talk about how many people would have to travel to Bethlehem for the census, and that’s why there wasn’t any room in the inn. Shepherds were some of the lowliest and least respected members of society, but God chose them to be the first visitors to the newborn King. Perhaps that is because Jesus is our Good Shepherd, who lays his life down for his sheep!

Songs

“Silent Night” http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/s/i/silntnit.htm

“Away in a Manger” http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/w/awaymang.htm

“Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/h/hheralda.htm

“Angels We Have Heard on High” http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/n/angelswe.htm

“Joy to the World” http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/j/o/joyworld.htm

Activity

Go Christmas caroling! You can walk around your own neighborhood, drop in on special friends or relatives, or visit a nursing home. If you do visit a nursing home, check ahead with the administrators to make sure this is OK, since there may be other groups visiting or the residents might go to sleep really early in a particular facility.

If you plan to stay home, choose another activity, such as:

   Read your favorite books about the first Christmas.
   Act out the Christmas story.
   Draw pictures of the Nativity scene.
   Make a simple nativity scene with felt or clay.
*~*~*~*~

Family Advent Night #4

“Wise Men Still Seek Him”

Scripture

Luke 2:22-40 – Simeon and Anna were very old, but they had been waiting many years for the Messiah to come. They were wise enough to recognize baby Jesus as the one God had promised through the Scriptures – and to praise God for it! The Holy Spirit even told Simeon to go to the temple courtyard that day!

Matthew 2:1-12 – The Wise Men had come from a long distance to see the newborn King. God can even use a special star to guide someone to Jesus! Compare their response to Jesus to the jealous reaction of King Herod. You can also talk about the meaning of the gifts the wise men brought. If you sing all of the verses of “We Three Kings” (as listed on the Cyberhymnal site linked below) they tell us that gold is for a king, frankincense was used for prayer and worship, and myrrh was a burial spice reminding us that the Messiah would die for our sins.

Discussion: Are we led by the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit? Do we love to spend time at the Lord’s house like Simeon and Anna did? Are we willing to go anywhere for Jesus, even if it is a long way from home? What gifts can we give to God?

Songs

“We Three Kings” -- we don’t know how many wise men there were, and the Bible doesn’t say they were kings, but the song is good anyway! In this song, orient means the eastern region of Asia. That’s why we say people from China, Japan, Korea and other countries in that area are oriental. Maybe you could eat oriental food for dinner tonight!

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/w/e/t/we3kings.htm

“O Come, All Ye Faithful” – we, like the wise men, are to come and worship the Savior. http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/c/ocomeayf.htm

“Joy to the World” http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/j/o/joyworld.htm

Activity

Decorate Christmas cookies which you have baked ahead of time. Deliver some of them as a gift to someone who might need a lift in their spirits – because what you do for other people in his name, you do unto Jesus. Or, if you want to be really ambitious, choose a needy family and buy presents for them. Enclose an encouraging note with Scripture, and deliver the bundle secretly to their doorstep.

~*~*~*~

The Wexford Carol

12th Century Irish

Good people all, this Christmas-time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done
In sending his beloved Son.

With humble hearts we all should pray
To God with love this Christmas day;
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born.

With thankful heart and joyful mind,
The shepherds went the babe to find,
And as God's angels had foretold,
They did our saviour Christ behold.

With humble hearts we all should pray
To God with love this Christmas day;
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blessed Messiah born.

Elementary Writing Ideas

2010-11-09T13:51:00.005-05:00

Elementary Writing Ideas

This post is excerpted from the Language Arts chapter of my book Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade.

Writing Formats

For a well-rounded education, your child needs to learn several different kinds or formats of writing. Here are some of the most useful ones:

Lists: These may not seem creative, but they help your child organize thoughts, and serve as an introduction to the venerable outline which he will use in later writing projects. He might write a list of:

foods he wants served at his birthday party
things he wants to do during the summer
kinds of insects he has seen in the backyard
books he has read this month (let him keep his own school records!)

Acrostic: An acrostic is a rather creative list in which each item starts with a different letter in a chosen word:

Graceful dancer
Red polka dot shirt
Always hugs and kisses
Neat house with lots of toys
Doesn’t scold
Makes yummy cookies
Awesome!

Poems: There are many different forms of poetry: simple rhymes and jingles, Limericks, free verse, haiku, etc. A good poetry anthology is a treasury of examples, but a book on writing poetry will give you specific instructions.

Letter writing: What a practical way to build writing skills and communicate with others! This can start with a preschooler’s simple “I LUV U” notes, and progress to letters to relatives and friends outside of your home. Grandparents always seem to appreciate this, and many children will want pen pals. When my oldest daughter was first starting to write letters, I got rather tired of her asking me how to spell “Dear Grandma” over and over again. I made her a letter writing guide on a piece of sturdy white poster board. It had names of all family members to whom she might be writing, plus common phrases like, “Thank you for the...” and “Please write soon!” and “Love always.” It also had the format for writing addresses on an envelope. If your child is not ready to write a whole letter by himself, you can help him with it. For example, you could have him tell you what he wants to say. You write it out neatly, and he can type it or copy it in his own handwriting. Using attractive stationary is a great incentive for neatness. Letter writing is a project with a purpose! The main parts of a letter are the heading (date and address in upper right corner), the salutation (“Dear Grandma”), the body (the child’s thoughts and ideas), the closing (“Sincerely” or other capitalized phrase followed by a comma) and the child’s signature.

Family newsletter: Send this to friends and relatives. If you do this each year, why not have each child write a paragraph about his or her own life? You might be surprised at what they think is important or not. Family newsletters are often produced on a computer, so this may be a good time to introduce inserting graphics or digital photographs into a word processing file, using a column format, and playing with fonts.

Realistic descriptions: Before you set off on a big writing project, start at the word, sentence and paragraph level. A full writing assignment for a 2nd grader might only be two or three sentences at first. Work at developing the child’s power to describe an object or situation with specific, interesting words. Many writing teachers explain that our words should “show and not just tell.” Painting a vivid picture with words helps the reader imagine it in his head. Instead of saying “I ate some food,” a child should progress to describing what kind of food and how they ate it: “I munched on a crunchy red apple” or “I gagged on that last disgusting spoonful of slimy noodles.” You can make a game out of this. Give him a very general word, such as furniture, and then have him get gradually more specific: seat, couch, green couch, sagging green plaid couch, sagging green plaid couch that is covered with cat hair. This activity helps teach observation and classification skills.

Short story or narrative: This can be something that happened to the child (“Write what you know!”) or a made up tale. One of the key things to remember is that a story needs a beginning, middle, and end. In the beginning, you introduce the setting, the characters, and the start of the plot, perhaps the dilemma of the main character. Then you develop the plot throughout the middle part of the story. At the end, you attempt to resolve the problems and bring closure to the situation. (For a young child, this usually means, “And they all lived happily ever after!”) Meanwhile, back at the sagging green plaid couch: “Tony flopped down on the sagging green plaid couch. Muffin, his plump tabby cat, rubbed against Tony’s blue jeans. Tony reached down to stroke her velvety fur and sighed. At least he had one friend in this world!” Ah, do you see the story unfold? Now, why is Tony upset? What are you going to do to solve his problem? The plot thickens! No, you don’t have to write a whole story right now. It’s OK to leave it hanging; this might just draw your child back for another exciting session tomorrow! You could also start with a plot idea and then fill in the character and setting details from there. If your child can’t think of a story topic, you might want to give a story starter; Harvey Weiner includes several pages of these in his book Any Child Can Write. I once gave my eight year old daughter three random words/phrases (clown, school bus, and flower pot) and asked her to tell me a story about them. I was trying to make it very easy for her by doing it orally. Instead, she giggled, snatched a pencil and paper, and disappeared. A half hour later, she handed me a hilarious tale which she hadn’t bothered to punctuate at all. The words had just gleefully tumbled out on the page. If I had made her do spelling and grammar at the same time, I would have gotten only two or three very dry and dutiful sentences. I’m just glad she had a fun story writing experience, because attitude is everything!

Picture journal: Show your child a picture (photograph, masterpiece painting or simple illustration) and ask him to write about it: what he sees, what may be happening, what the people in it may be thinking, etc. You could also use a series of pictures, such as snap shots he took on your last vacation, and ask him to write a short narrative or even simple captions. Many families use acid-free archival quality albums, colorful background papers, plastic templates and special markers to create beautiful lifetime memories with their children. Another option is for the child to draw pictures and then write the text to go with them.

News report: Answer the 5Ws and the H: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How? Check your facts. Write a spiffy headline. How about doing a whole neighborhood or home school support group newspaper?

Biography or autobiography: The word biography, translated from the Greek, means life-picture. An autobiography is a self-life-picture, and can be an expanded personal narrative covering the sequence and flow of the child’s life thus far, rather than a single event. If your child likes to read biographies of famous people, he might want to write a simplified version about one of his favorites. Create V.I.P. page forms with spots to record the name, their claim to fame, when and where they were born, what their childhood and/or family life was like, a quote, other interesting information, and a list of books they have read about the person.

Factual report: This is the format which most extends into other areas of the curriculum, such as history (“Living in a Sod House on the Frontier”), geography (“Let’s Explore Italy!”) or science (“All About Bobcats”). A kindergartner might start out with one or two sentences: “A turtle is green. It has a hard shell.” A first grader could write one paragraph, a second or third grader might do up to a page, and an ambitious older elementary child might complete up to two or three pages. A longer factual report is usually divided up into sections, requires an outline, and has a short bibliography of resources used; it obviously takes more planning and more abstract thinking. If your child is producing this report using a computer, teach him how to import pictures (maps, photos, diagrams, etc.) from an Internet site, CD-ROM encyclopedia, digital camera or scanner.

How-to Instructions: Your child gets the chance to be the teacher with this format of writing! “How to Eat a Bowl of Spaghetti Without Getting a Red Face” or “How to Make and Fly Paper Airplanes” could be useful topics for this age. Here are a few things to remember when writing how-to instructions: Essay: Also known as an persuasive piece or opinion piece, the essay gives your child a chance to speak her mind. In a one paragraph format, the first sentence can tell her main point, the next few sentences can expand on it or prove it, and the final sentence can restate or summarize it. If the essay is longer, the first paragraph will state the thesis, the middle paragraphs will cover each supporting point, and the end paragraph will summarize the writer’s opinion. Don’t worry if you never get to this format in elementary school, as it will resurface in high school. However, if you have an ambitious writer in your house, it never hurts to prepare ahead of time! One of the best motivations for essay writing is when your child wants to persuade you to do something or buy something. Then you say, “So write me an essay on why you think I should take you to Sea World next week!” This is another fine example of writing with a purpose!

Be complete. You know all of the steps and ingredients in your brain. Make sure they all make it to the paper.
Be sequential. Don’t skip back and forth between steps. People will be doing them exactly as you write them.
Be consistent. Each of your steps should be presented in the same basic sentence style, which will usually be a command.
Be flexible. If there is an optional way to do a step, and it can be explained simply enough, add it in.
Be interesting. Find a way to spice up what could be a dull list of instructions.

Book report: What did you like about that book? What did you learn that you hadn’t known before? What were your least favorite parts? Who was the author? Who were the main characters?

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

2010-11-09T13:06:00.001-05:00

Dear friends,

I love stories and I love the Bible, so it would stand to reason that I love Bible story books. That's true.... sometimes! Since I have 10 kids, we've bought at least a dozen different Bible story anthologies over the past 23 years. Some of them are too stuffy and dry, others too silly or dumbed down. Others have been downright inaccurate or misleading. Sigh...

Yet there is one I turn to most often when I want to read to my kiddos. It's The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. Granted, the illustrations by Jago are sometimes a little bizarre for my tastes, but there is nothing really wrong with them and the kids love them. The strength of this particular storybook is hinted at by the subtitle: "Every Story Whispers His Name." No, this isn't just a book of New Testament stories. Every story, starting with Genesis, tells us something about Jesus. It's foreshadowing for kids, and it's done very well, very poetically (not rhyming, but profound), very humorously, and very appealing even to young children. It is not an early reader's Bible, so don't try to use it to teach your child to read. It is, however, designed to kindle your child's sense of wonder about Jesus. It sure kindles mine, too.

A couple of weeks ago, I finished up reading Genesis to my kids from the real Bible. (We read at least a chapter a day; now we're well into Exodus.) I wanted to spice things up for my younger kids, so I also pulled out The Jesus Storybook Bible and read the story of Joseph, called "The Forgiving Prince." In this story, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, accused of wrongdoing by his master, and sent to prison. Later, he interpreted Pharoah's dream, saved the entire region from famine, and then was reunited with his unsuspecting brothers, whom he reminded of God's sovereignty in using this evil for good purposes. The story ends this way, looking forward to Jesus: "One day, God would send another Prince, a young Prince whose heart would break. Like Joseph, he would leave his home and his Father. His brothers would hate him and want him dead. He would be sold for pieces of silver. He would be punished even though he had done nothing wrong. But God would use everything that happened to this young Prince -- even the bad things -- to do something good to forgive the sins of the whole world."
I had never before quite seen the story of Jesus in the life of Joseph, but I love the comparison. Or how about the ram that Abraham caught when he had intended to sacrifice Isaac?

I can't quite do this book justice in my brief descriptions, but fortunately you can see a whole lot more right here at the official web site: http://www.jesusstorybookbible.com/ Each week, they feature a short video of a different story from the book. The book is also available in Spanish or in audio format.

Download free sample PDF stories and MP3 audios here: http://www.jesusstorybookbible.com/index.php?option=com_downloads

Don't miss the interview with the author here: http://www.zondervan.com/m/kidz/JONES.pdf

Christmas is coming, friends, and The Jesus Storybook Bible makes an excellent Christ-centered gift for any child ages 4 and up! You can order it for only $9.99 (which is 41% off list price) at Christian Book Distributors here: The Jesus Storybook Bible.

"A Bible like no other, this book invites children to join in the greatest of all adventures, to discover for themselves that Jesus is at the center of God's great story of salvation--and at the center of their story too." (from CBD's web site)

Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
http://www.startwellhomeschool.blogspot.com/

Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin

2010-10-08T13:16:00.000-04:00

Dear friends,

Just an hour ago, I finished reading the book Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin by Marguerite Henry to my kids as part of our unit study on colonial America. We love this book! Even my teenage son who read it in 4th grade snuck back into the living room to listen with his younger brothers and sisters. (Oh, his other assignments could wait. Fine with me!)

The book is the a children's biography of the Father of American Painting, a young lad whose Quaker religious beliefs discouraged such a gaudy and useless diversion as creating pictures. But Benjamin was driven along by a strong inner desire to paint that won over his family and church. He even made paintbrushes from the fur of his loyal cat Grimalkin! His native friend Sassoonan showed him how to use clay and other natural ingredients to make paint, at least until kind Uncle Phineas sent him a paintbox and real brushes. His family and church came to realize that the beauty of art glorifies God. (This gives me goosebumps. I love art and I love God!)

Eventually Benjamin West became court painter for King George III in England as well as President of the Royal Academy of Arts. He trained such pupils as Gilbert Stuart, who is famous for his portrait of George Washington. I love the book because it is not dry and stuffy. It is a story of a real boy with real feelings and real adventures. It is recommended for ages 8-12. I love Marguerite Henry's other books for children, too, such as her horse classic Misty of Chincoteague.

We finished the book in three sittings, and in the closing pages, I read that his birthday was October 8, 1738. I was excited since that is today (and it's also my mother's birthday, so I thought she was born on his 200th) but on-line biographies say his birthday is October 10. That may be because they changed the calendar system in 1752 and adjusted lots of dates.

While I was on-line looking that factoid up, I located several of his paintings and showed them to my kids. He was especially famous for using period clothing in his historical works.

At the National Gallery of Art web site, you can find an index of some of his works and a biography. One of the paintings shown on the NGA site is "The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise." I also found his painting "Penn's Treaty with the Indians" at another site. Benjamin West's maternal grandfather was a personal friend of William Penn, the Quaker gentleman who founded the colony of Pennsylvania (Penn's forest) as a Holy Experiment with a goal of religious tolerance and fair treatment of native peoples.

Related to this, we just finished reading Hostage on the Nighthawk, a fictionalized account of William Penn that touches not only on his role as colony founder and governor, but also on his battle against the piracy which plagued his area. (My 11 year old son was drawing pictures of pirate ships as I read.) The book made the point that at first the Quaker pacifist Penn did not want to raise a militia to fight pirates, but he realized he couldn't turn a blind eye to wickedness and crime in the name of peace. Hostage on the Nighthawk is part of Dave & Neta Jackson's Trailblazers series aimed at the upper elementary and middle school age range. I checked to see if the book is available at Christian Book Distributors and notice that is it now bundled in a single volume with books about Martin Luther, John Paton, Hamilton Jones, and Marcus & Narcissa Whitman. You can find it here.

By reading Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin you can learn about art, American history, and Quaker beliefs all while enjoying well-written, heart-stirring literature. That's a mini unit study right there! At one point this morning, I stopped reading for a moment and told my kids, "This is why I'm home schooling you guys." And it is. Sharing great books and sharing life!

(If you click on the title link above, you can order it at CBD and even read an excerpt on-line. They also carry a picture book for slightly younger readers, The Boy Who Loved to Draw: Benjamin West by Barbara Brenner. I haven't read it yet, but we've enjoyed some of her other books from the library. Our Seminole County Library has this book, too, so I'll check it out tomorrow.)

Joy and beauty to you and yours,

Virginia Knowles
http://www.startwellhomeschool.blogspot.com/

Florida Field Trips #1: Historic St. Augustine

2010-10-01T20:24:00.001-04:00

Dear friends,

I'm starting a new monthly series on this blog of field trips in the state of Florida. Most of them will be near Orlando and low or no cost. For example, next month I'll photoblog about Big Tree Park, and I foresee other posts about Leu Gardens, the Orlando Science Center, and maybe even the Orange County Regional History Center. Even if you don't live in this area, this might give you an idea of what to look for in your own town.

For this first post, we're venturing about two hours northeast to St. Augustine, the oldest continually inhabited city in the United States. Come along!

There are so many other things to see in this beautiful city with a rich history, though, such as the Oldest Schoolhouse, the Lightner Museum, the St. Augustine lighthouse, Ponce de Leon's "Fountain of Youth" exhibit, or if you are in a bizarre mood, the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. Thad and I honeymooned in St. Augustine 25 years ago, splurging on one night in a romantic bed & breakfast before moving over to a more affordable motel for the remainder of the week. We've enjoyed going back as a couple and strolling through the quaint gift shops, eating at the Columbia restaurant, and browsing in the art galleries. So whether you're going as a family or "just the two of us" there is something for everyone in St. Augustine.

For this trip, since my husband wasn't feeling well and we still have young children, we had only two destinations for the day: Castillo de San Marcos (a massive fort built by the Spanish in the 1700's) and the Colonial Spanish Quarter. This fits in well with our current unit study on early colonial history. We had just studied St. Augustine the week before!

Admission at Castillo de San Marcos is $6 for adults and free for kids age 15 and under. Our visit lasted just under two hours, which is how long the parking meters will let you go on one feeding of four quarters, and which is just about right for our family.

We arrived just as this guide was finishing up describing how the Spanish defended their fort from the Englsh. It's one of my favorite stories about the Castillo, and I wish my kids had heard the whole thing. But you can read about it here: Covering Your Coqina: How to Withstand Enemy Book.

We watched a short film about cannons and muskets,

including a segment on how they drilled to train for using it.

These next several pictures were taken on the top level of the fort,

which overlooks Matanzas Bay and the distant lighthouse.

Is this cannon making a face at me?

Naomi is not in the cannon -- she's behind it!

I search out beauty and art wherever they can be found, even if on the barrel of a cannon!

A tower at one corner -- they could shoot out of the gun holes.
Our kids all had on their red American flag T-shirts which makes them easy to spot.
I like to have them wear these whenever we take a family field trip.
I couldn't find Melody's though, so she just wore a red T-shirt. She's not in the picture below.

Thad had quite a time keeping track of 5 year old Melody.

She didn't quite "get" this fort stuff, but she did like to run and climb!

St. Augustine and Castillo de San Marcos have been under Spanish, British and American control during their long and colorful history...

Our helpful guide took us on a tour of the lower level.

Native American culture is also featured...

Steps to the upper level from the inner courtyard...

Picnic lunch under a palm tree, and then time to run around.

Our next stop -- the Colonial Spanish Quarter -- is just a couple of blocks away from Castillo de San Marcos, so we left our van there and fed more quarters into the meter.

There is an entrance fee of about $7 for adults, $4.25 for kids or $20 per family. Hours are 9 AM - 4:45 PM. We were here for two hours. You can find more information (rates may be obsolete) here: http://staugustinegovernment.com/visitors/spanish_quarter.cfm

The carpentry shop...

A typical home, simple and charming.

I love the shelf hanging over the table -- more handy storage!

At the leather shop, this crafter was drinking lemonade from a leather tankard he had made.

It is waterproofed with a coating of beeswax, so he can't use it for hot drinks.

We were very impressed with this man's presentation because he was really trying to draw the kids in to the conversation.

The man at the blacksmith shop also explained his job well.

No matter where we are, we can't resist taking nature photos!

Hibiscus

Crowing rooster on the fence

Spider on a web

Well, that's about it for the field trip we took last month, but I wanted to give you a taste of the Lightner Museum, too. I visited there with my daughter Rachel and her friend Cassidy in January. I think I paid $5 admission (which is half price) with my Florida Parent Educators Association membership card. This museum may be of less interest to elementary age children, but I loved all of the Victorian era curiosities. These pictures are just a sample of the sumptuous feast for the eyes!

Giant clam shells?

Automated musical instruments -- a whole room of them!
The guide demonstrated most of them for us.

Vintage dolls, clothes, cut crystal, furniture, vases and other pretty and/or funky things

OH, I can't write about St. Augustine without mentioning Don Oja Dunaway. He's been singing folk music (much of it original) at the second story Milltop Cafe for decades. Thad and I met him on our honeymoon, and Rachel and I saw him again in January. When we were passing by a few weeks ago, we could hear him warming up. Sweet memories!

Take a trip to St. Augustine!

P.S. If you are my Facebook friend, you can see more photos of St. Augustine on-line!

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

http://www.startwellhomeschool.blogspot.com/

Taming the Fidgets While You Read to Your Kids

2010-10-01T14:07:00.009-04:00

Busy Hands: Taming the Fidgets While You Read to Your Kids

by Virginia Knowles

One of the main reasons we decided not to continue in our home school co-op after four years was because I really craved the opportunity to read aloud to my own kids for a significant amount of time every day. We have hundreds (maybe thousands) of kids books in the house, and I wanted to fill their hearts and minds with great literature, fascinating history and wonder-building science. My only problem with this is that my five younger kids, ages 5-13, tend to be fidgets! The excess movement invariably caused distractions and even conflicts as someone would fling a pillow across the room or hang over the edge of the couch upside down.

My friend Debbie, whose daughter attends a Montessori school where hands-on education is a key component of their program, suggested that I give them something to do with their hands while I read. So the next morning I announced that they were welcome to go find something small to do with their hands as long as they didn't move around too much. Naomi instantly thought of pipe cleaners. She braided hers while Micah turned his into a small pipe cleaner family of people. The next day, she brought out some modeling clay (not play dough, which is more messy) and started crafting a miniature bedroom set. Micah has started making clay spiders and origami dinosaurs. One of my adult daughters, Rachel, taught Naomi to knit, so I'm going to buy her a pair of needles and skein of yarn. Imagine how many projects she could make just during our read aloud time each morning!

Has it solved the fidget and interruption problem? Not entirely -- but it sure has helped! Then I let them run around outside for a little while like active kids love to do.

Give it a try!

P.S. Here's something I won't let them do in the living room since it's too messy -- those are pretzels nibbled into letter shapes!

Home School Rules

2010-09-08T22:47:00.001-04:00

These are some habits we are working on developing at our house. You would think we would already have them down pat after nearly 20 years of home schooling!

Home School Rules

1. Always follow Mom's instructions right away.
2. Ask questions if you don't understand something.
3. If you can't get help right away, keep busy until you can.
4. Work hard and get everything done on the day assigned.
5. Do an excellent job.
6. Be quiet so others can work, too.
7. Put your name and date on all of your papers.
8. Make sure you keep all of your papers in your notebook.
9. Clean up after yourself as you go.
10. Enjoy learning with your family!

What are your family's rules? How are they working out for you? Do you have any great tips for the rest of us in actually carrying them out? Do tell!

Virginia Knowles
http://www.startwellhomeschool.blogspot.com/

Favorite Books for Teaching American History

2010-08-21T12:05:00.001-04:00

FAVORITE BOOKS FOR TEACHING AMERICAN HISTORY
by Virginia Knowles

Favorite Series Fiction

American Girls series -- elementary level fiction about seven young ladies from different eras, such as Colonial Williamsburg, the Civil War, immigrant pioneers, etc. Each girl has six books which give a fascinating flavor of typical lifestyles. There are supplemental craft, cooking, and drama titles for each character, as well as the dolls, accessories and trading cards.
The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder -- the classics for a study on pioneers. Look for other spin-off books (cooking, crafts, etc.) and easy readers.
The American Adventures series by multiple authors such as Norma Jean Lutz -- 48 novels, covering time period from 1620-1945 (these may be out-of-print but you can find them on-line or in used bookstores)
Christian Heritage series by Nancy Rue -- novels covering Colonial period until World War II, for ages 8-12. (Bethany House / Focus on the Family)

Favorite Biography & Other Non-Fiction

If You Lived... series published by Scholastic Books -- easy books which tell about daily life, especially for children, during various historical eras
Meet George Washington and other Step-Up biographies (early elementary)
Childhood of Famous Americans -- series of easy biographies covering the early lives of dozens of the greats. See related blog post by Cheryl Bastian.
Pocahontas, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin and other books by Ingri and Edgar d’Aulaire -- highly illustrated, but lots of text
Cornerstones of Freedom series -- focuses on key events and landmarks in American history, such as the California Gold Rush or the Statue of Liberty.
Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May?, George Washington’s Mother and other history books by Jean Fritz -- written with a tongue-in-cheek style
The Thanksgiving Story and The Fourth of July Story by Alice Dalgliesh (early elementary)
In God We Trust: Stories of Faith in American History by Timothy Crater and Ranelda Hunsicker (published by Chariot) -- short, readable biographies of American’s Christian leaders, all in one volume. This is a must have book!

Favorite Historical Picture and Easy Read Books

Samuel Eaton’s Day and Sarah Morton’s Day by Kate Waters (early colonial, picture books)
Squanto, Friend of Pilgrims and A Lion to Guard Us (about Jamestown) by Clyde Robert Bulla -- early elementary
The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh -- easy novel, early pioneer times in Pennsylvania
A Picture Book of Paul Revere and other books by David Adler -- you should be able to find these in your public library
The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz -- a sweet tale, based on a true story, about living in Western Pennsylvania in the 1700s (easy novel)
The Blue and the Gray by Eve Bunting -- two modern friends, one black and one white, looking back on a Civil War battlefield (picture book)
Growing Seasons by Elise Lee Splear, paintings by Ken Stark -- farm life around 1906 (picture book with lots of informative text)
Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin by Marguerite Henry -- picture book story of the famous artist
Lights on the River by Jane Resh Thomas (picture book about migrant workers)

Favorite Historical Novels for Upper Elementary and Middle School

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Puritan era) See my free study guide here: http://continuewellhomeschool.blogspot.com/2009/08/witch-of-blackbird-pond-study-questions.html
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Revolutionary War) See my free study guide here: http://continuewellhomeschool.blogspot.com/2009/08/johnny-tremain-study-guide-by-virginia.html
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (pioneer times)
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (Civil War)
Turn Homeward, Hannalee and Be Ever Hopeful, Hannalee by Patricia Beatty (Civil War and Reconstruction as told from perspective of young displaced Southern girl
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor (racism in 1930s Mississippi -- part of a series)
Words by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen -- another book about racism, and a young girl with Scripture tucked into her heart to help her through tragedy and forgiveness -- you can also get the DVD
Rascal by Sterling North (the story of a raccoon and a boy in the early 1900s)

Note: Our family has accumulated hundreds of American history resources. To keep track of them, I created a spreadsheet chart. I include the unit study number (1 - 6), book or video title, author, grade level, specific time period, genre (fiction, photographic reference, biography, picture book, poetry, etc.), and a comment on the specific topic if it isn't apparent from the title. If there is a story, article, or poem in an anthology (such as William Bennett's Book of Virtues or The Moral Compass), I list the title of the piece along with the page numbers. The same goes for chapters in history text books, such as A Beka, which we also use as needed. So when I get ready for teaching a particular time period, I just need to consult my chart and look for the books. This isn't too hard, because I organized my school bookcases so that all of my American history books are clustered on about 6 shelves, roughly in order by time period.

This list is a companion article to Weekly Grading and Lesson Planning. I'll try to update it as I think of other books, so check back!

Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
http://www.startwellhomeschool.blogspot.com/

American History Unit Studies at Our House

2010-08-21T12:00:00.001-04:00

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
American History Unit Studies at Our House
by Virginia Knowles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My younger five children, ages 5-13, are studying American history with me this year. For the past four years, we have been enrolled in a large home school co-op, but this year we're on our own again, and I'm really enjoying it. I love this opportunity to spend the better part of each morning directly teaching my own kids Bible, literature, history, and science before they go off for their individual assignments. Here are some ideas I have developed over the last 20 years of home schooling about how to teach history.

Younger elementary: History should focus on those last two syllables of the word history: STORY! In my opinion, little children are just not ready to memorize oodles of names and dates. How much of these will they remember? Complicated scenarios of what caused this or that, abstract principles of philosophy -- save them for much later! I’ve been all too guilty of trying to cram complex facts and theories into my young children’s heads, usually when I was attempting to pull off a grand multi-level unit study on a topic that couldn’t reasonably be stretched to meet the needs of preschoolers and middle schoolers. The results: boredom and frustration! If you take the time to know your child, you will discern what he is ready to comprehend with interest. I find that young children appreciate simple books, easy craft and cooking projects, lively music, and anything else that involves their senses or imaginations. For this reason, my kindergartner is not required to participate in our regular morning history time, though she usually hangs around anyway. I don't expect her to get much from it at this point, so I do other things with her, like reading picture books with historical stories.

American Pioneers and Patriots by Christian Liberty Press is a great example of history for younger children -- easy stories, a few activities and questions
Least of All by Carol Purdy is a very sweet picture book about a little girl in a farm family way back when who teaches herself to read -- and then teaches the rest of the family! One of my favorites!

Time period unit studies: This year, I decided to teach American history in six units, each lasting up to six weeks long. After each unit, we take a week off, which gives me time to prepare for the next one. We started school in early July so we can spare the weeks off. Our time periods this year are Explorers (only 4 weeks, due to our extended American history field trip), Early Colonial, The Revolutionary Era, Pioneers, Civil War/Slavery, and the 20th Century (World Wars, the Great Depression, Civil Rights Era, modern technology and government). To plan for the year, I created a spreadsheet with the week number, date, history unit study topic, and science topic. This way I can know when I will need resources for that time period.

A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840 by Barbara Greenwood is a like a unit study within a book. It follows the story of a pioneer family, and gives abundant supplementary information at the end of each chapter on topics such as beekeeping, home building, recipes, farming methods, making fabric, etc. Read a detailed review at http://www.educationworld.com/a_books/books069.shtml

Hiistorical fiction and biographies: I love teaching history through literature; one of my main goals is to use true or realistic stories to impart life lessons to my students about courage, justice, liberty, diligence, resourcefulness, loyalty, and compassion. I want my kids to kids think deeper about these themes and how they can apply to our 21st century lives. (At the Finish Well conference this fall and at the Books & Beyond conference next year, I hope to do a new session on "With Literature and Justice for All.") Many of the great historical titles, including many Newbery award winners, can be found in your public library. You can also scout around for vintage out-of-print books in used bookstores or on-line. My dad's step-father, Dr. Howard R. Driggs, was born in the 1870's (he was much older than my grandmother). He was a pioneer historian and prolific author, so I have quite a collection of his books on the Pony Express and other frontier topics.

Scripture and God's Providence: I also like to relate events and people to the principles of Scripture. What would the Bible have to say about what happened? If this or that person had followed these truths, how would history have been different? Along with this, how has God's providential hand been seen in turns of events in history? For example, the pilgrims were blown off course by a storm, so they settled in Massachusetts, out of range of the legal charter that would have bound them in Virginia -- thus the opportunity for an experiment in self-government!

History notebooks: Whether or not you give lots of written assignments, do help your child set up a history and geography notebook. This could include quotes from famous people, timelines, maps, pictures that your child draws, copy work and dictation exercises, history-related spelling lists, creative writing attempts, photocopies of information from books, clipped magazine articles, and so much more! This notebook could be a lifetime treasure!

Music: pieces for each time period, such as from the CD and book Celebrate America! by Twin Sisters. Your home school support group could put on a whole concert of patriotic and folk songs, as ours did many years ago. Learn the stories behind the songs, too! Why were they written? Here are several to get started:

"This Land is Your Land"
"America the Beautiful"
"My Country 'Tis of Thee"
"The Star-Spangled Banner"
"God Bless America"

Poetry: I always include poems written by people who lived "back then" or by modern poets reflecting on history. These are easy to find on the Internet! Some of my favorites:

"Columbus" by Joaquin Miller
"The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and "The Village Blacksmith" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Barbara Frietchie" by John Greenleaf Whittier (Civil War)
"The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus (inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty"
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
"I Am an American" by Elias Lieberman

Art appreciation & history: drawings, paintings, sculpture, folk art, etc. In the pictures, notice what people are wearing, what tools they are using, and what their homes and gardens look like. Also, study the works of American artists such as Gilbert Stuart, Rembrandt Peale, Benjamin West, Grandma Moses, Grant Wood ("American Gothic"), Louis Comfort Tiffany, etc. I found lovely hardback art books for these last two artists on the Books-A-Million $1 bargain cart! Go see the art up close in a museum if you can, such as at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. or a local museum. In Orlando, we have the Morse Museum (http://www.morsemuseum.org/), which features art by Louis Comfort Tiffany, who was famous for his stained glass work.

Arts & crafts projects: sketching, painting, historical crafts (such as quilting, candle making), making period costumes, etc. This year, I bought the book Draw and Write Through History: Pilgrims, Pirates, and Patriots by Carylee Gressman and Peggy Dick for my 6th grader who likes to draw. It has detailed pictorial instructions for sketching full-color scenes about Columbus, Australia, Pilgrims, Pirates, and the American Revolution. These are definitely more advanced than the popular Draw-Write-Now series that we also enjoy.

Cooking and baking with historical recipes: you can find historical and regional cookbooks in your library, such as The Little House Cookbook . The Cooking Throughout American History series includes such as Food and Recipes of the Revolutionary War (j641.597409). See related blog posts here:

A Farmer Boy Lunch
Reading Aloud Is as Easy as Apple Pie
My Scrapple Experiment (family heritage cooking)

Field Trips: Take longer trips or even just local museums or sites. There have been two times (in 2000 and 2010) that our family has taken a longer trip to visit American history sites in the eastern United States.

A Tour Through Liberty (a very informational blog post about places we visited in September 2000)

Photo albums from 2010 trip:

Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's estate in Charlottesville, Virginia):
Historic Philadelphia (Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, etc.)
Valley Forge (Revolutionary War encampment site near Philadelphia)
The National Zoo

Virtual field trips: educational web sites are the next best thing!

Videos and DVD's: especially the NEST animated history DVD's about American heroes such as George Washington, Alexander Graham Bell, Harriet Tubman, Thomas Edison, etc. This year, I also ordered a DVD called Saints & Strangers about religious influences in America from the time of the Mayflower until the Great Awakening, including the Church of England, the Puritans, Baptists, Quakers, and others. I really appreciated the balanced approach, since it didn't gloss over conflicts or problems with each of the churches. (It also gave me a renewed respect for Roger Williams and his fight for religious liberties in the colonies.)

National documents: The Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, etc. What do they say? What do they mean to us today?

Speeches: Lincoln's Gettysburg address, Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech, etc. Listen to audio dramatizations as you read them. Ask your kids to recite them in their best dramatic voices.

"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" - a historian recites the famous speech!
Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" (see text, video, and my free study guide)

Quotes from famous people: Use these for copy work and dictation and be sure to talk about what they mean and what the historical context was.

Great American communicators: I taught a series on this in our co-op classes. I featured about a dozen men and women who had made significant contributions to American communications either by what they spoke or wrote themselves, or what they did to improve communication for others. Some of them included Benjamin Franklin (statesman, newspaperman, inventor, library and college founder, etc.), Thomas Jefferson (author of the Declaration of Independence and 3rd president of the USA), Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone and teacher of the deaf), Sequoyah (inventor of the Cherokee syllabary for written language), and Phillis Wheatley (slave poet).

Time lines: Make a simple time line using heavy paper or cardstock. Draw or paste on small illustrations of key people and events. You can even buy time line kits. Just don’t make it too complex!

Geography and history of regions and states: landforms, habitats, plants, and wildlife (such as desert region for southwestern U.S. or forests for New England). For each American history unit, we will also cover Florida state history, starting with the explorer Ponce de Leon and the later founding of St. Augustine, which is the oldest continually inhabited city in the United States.

"History threads": Trace a single topic throughout several time periods, such as the history of American clothing, medical practices, home building methods, food, recreation, education, weapons, etc. Show lots of pictures, or go to a museum and see old things! Check out library books such as: Everyday History series by Rupert Matthews, including Cooking a Meal (j641.509), Keeping Clean, Sending a Letter, and Toys and Games.

Reasons and results: As you study an event, try to determine why it happened -- the reason for it. What led up to this? If you are studying history chronologically, this will make more sense. This led to this led to this led to this... That chain of events, like a domino effect, also leads us to results. This event, which was caused by something previous, also may become the trigger for something that follows it. For example, the invention of new manufacturing machinery ushered in the Industrial Revolution, which in turn drew workers from rural areas to the cities, and shifted the economy away from family-based cottage industries.

Different perspectives: There is always more than one side to a story, and it's only fair to get as many perspectives as you can. Usually, there is at least some truth to each version of it. Teach your children how to evaluate the credibility of a source. Was the person an eyewitness? Was he or she known for integrity or deceit? Did this person have a motive for reporting the details as they did? What is the demographic background of the person -- and how did that affect his or her viewpoint? If the work is a piece of fiction, what world view did the author hold, and what was the aim of the story? When we study the Civil War and slavery, I generally teach from the northern/abolitionist perspective. However, I have ancestors who fought on both sides of the war; one of my great-great grandfathers was a Confederate sharpshooter from Louisiana. I realize that the issues aren't all cut and dried, so I like my children to hear from the southern point of view as well. The children's novels Turn Homeward, Hannalee and Be Ever Hopeful, Hannalee by Patricia Beatty are told from perspective of young displaced Southern girl, showing the disruption that the war and Reconstruction era caused her family. Or, when we study about the early explorers, such as Christopher Columbus, we read books that discuss his great accomplishments and his heart for spreading God's word, but also ones that acknowledge the faults he had in allowing or even causing mistreatment, enslavement and even massacre of native Americans. It is refreshing to read a library book called We Asked For Nothing: The Remarkable Journey of Cabeza de Vaca by Stuart Waldman about one explorer who learned to respect them, and in the end, courageously defended their freedom and safety at the ultimate cost of his own.

HERstory: Speaking of perspectives, don't forget to include the accomplishments of American women! Abigail Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Clara Barton, Helen Keller, Jane Hull, Amelia Earhart, Sally Ride... You go, girls!

Genealogy and family history: Look for copies of family records (we have books from several segments of our family tree) and ask older relatives for their recollections. Who were your ancestors? When did they come to America, and under what circumstances? Did they fight in any wars? Be sure to record your own family history for future generations. See here for examples of how you can do this:

Holidays: Discuss the history and significance of Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day and other patriotic holidays as they occur throughout the year. Many books are available, such as The Thanksgiving Story and The Fourth of July Story by Alice Dalgliesh (early elementary).

Around the World: When you are studying your nation's history, be sure to relate this to what else is going on around the world, and how this affects your own history. Genevieve Foster has written a series of books that put American history into a global context.

The World of Capt. John Smith by Genevieve Foster
George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster
Abraham Lincoln's World by Genevieve Foster

History fairs: You can do this in your own family or, for even more fun, in a home school support group. Each child is invited to set up a project display, and everyone mills around oohing and aahing over the exhibits. Our family has invested in some tri-fold display boards that we use from year to year. Also at the fair, we might have a special speaker; one year it was a Civil War re-enactor, and once we had a Native American from a Florida tribe.

How do you teach history? Leave a comment!

Would you like to see a list of books we like for American history? Read this companion post!
Favorite Books for Teaching American History.

Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
http://www.startwellhomeschool.blogspot.com/

Weekly Grading and Lesson Planning

2010-08-20T22:00:00.000-04:00

Weekly Grading and Lesson Planning

I find that our daily school times go so much more smoothly and we get a lot more done if I plan and prepare everything ahead of time. I want their notebooks and school bins fully loaded so everything is ready for action!

I try to block out several hours of time for this process, but I usually have to do it in shorter chunks of time, starting Friday afternoon and finishing up Saturday morning. I hate to be interrupted by distractions while I do this, so I have to frequently remind everyone else to stay out of my way! I'm still breaking into this routine, but it becomes less awkward each week. I have to guard against going down bunny trails, such as spending too much time designing my own worksheets.

Supplies and Equipment:

1" teacher notebook with dividers
1 "current week notebook (with subject dividers) for each child, clearly labeled with their name (I buy packs of 6 at Sam's Club)
2" archive notebook for each child
One medium sized clear plastic bin for each child and for mom, labeled in permanent marker at each end (see Bin There, Done That) -- they cost about $5 at Walmart
One bin for archive notebooks and bulky workbooks
Computer with word processing
Printer/copy machine combo
Sturdy 3 hole punch, stapler, scissors, pens, pencils
School books
Lined paper

Each family is going to do things differently, but here are the basic steps I use each week:

1. I gather the children's school bins and make sure all of last week's work is in them. Then I grade any lessons that haven't already been graded. Next, I move last week's school work from the current week notebook into the archive notebook. I remove from the bin any books that won't be used next week. Then I move the bins over to near the computer.

2. I open a word processing document for this week's school assignments. It is easiest to start with last week's document, save it under a new name (such as Week 6 All Assignments), and then make changes to it for this week. That way I don't have to retype the basic format, names of books that are consistently used, etc. I have a group assignment page first, and then an individual assignments page for each child. Each one is clearly labeled with the week number and dates, as well as the child's name. While I have everything on the screen, I also make any updates to last week's assignment pages, taking off what we didn't finish and adding in any extra stuff we did do.

3. I gather the books and DVD's I will use for group teaching time, which we do first each morning for an hour or so. (This assumes that I have already picked out books at the library or from our own shelves, of course!) After I determine how many pages I need to cover in each on each day of the week, I type in titles, authors, page or chapter numbers, and other information on the group assignment page. When I am teaching each day, I just have to go down the list in order. I always leave science for last since my oldest son leaves the room to do his own science then.

Monday:

Bible: Read Genesis 16
History: Read pages 5-23 of Francisco Pizarro: Explorer of South America by Sandra J. Kachurek
Historical Literature: Read chapters 12-13 of The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell (historical fiction about the explorer Coronado)
Science: Read Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day (SC5th) pgs 87-89 - Fish intro and Bony Fishes

4. Next I gather the children's regular workbooks and textbooks, as well as short-term resources, such as library books on a specific topic that will be read quickly. I decide which page or lesson numbers they need to do this week. For example, if they have 30 pages in a book, I usually assign 6 per day, but I keep in mind natural stopping points, such as the end of a chapter. For the son who has an on-line math course, I log on to his http://www.flvs.net/ account and check the assignment chart to see where he is and what needs to be done next. On the child's individual page, I type in the assignments for each subject, day by day. I look over the total package to make sure the work load seems reasonable. I try to leave lighter work on Friday since I usually start doing grading and lesson planning that afternoon.

History

Read Juan Ponce de Leon by Gail Sakurai.

Mon: Read glossary on page 55-56. Read chapters 1-2 on pages 7-20. Write a paragraph.
Tue: Read chapter 3 on pages 21-28. Write a paragraph.
Wed: Read chapters 4-5 on pages 29-40. Write a paragraph.
Thu: Read chapter 6 on pages 41-50. Write a paragraph.
Fri: Read chapter 7 and Timeline on pages 51-54. Write a paragraph.

5. I print or make copies of any handouts for the children. This might include coloring pages, reproducible worksheets, spelling lists that I have created, or articles from the Internet. If we are using isolated pages from a workbook, such as Comprehensive Curriculum, then I tear them out. I do this because the books are bulky and because I am assigning pages from different sections of it (such as Spelling or Reading Comprehension) and I don't want them to have to flip through to find the right ones. I stick these in the archive notebook bin until I need them the next week. However, I leave the pages in their Horizons Math workbooks because they are doing them in order and the books aren't very thick. For a younger child, I might label each of these pages with the day of the week they are to be completed.

6. I print a copy of the group assignment page and the individual assignment pages for each child, as well as a complete set for my own teacher notebook. Then I collate and hole punch all assignment pages, handouts and loose worksheets. I put a pile on the table for each child.

7. I move all of the school bins to the dining room table. Then I put all pages from each child's pile into the current week notebooks in the correct subject section. The individual and group assignment pages go in the very front of the notebook. I check to be sure there is an ample supply of lined paper in the notebook. Finally, I put the notebook and assigned books in each bin -- including my own teacher bin -- and put the bins back on their shelf. During the week, each child is supposed to be responsible to keep all of their papers stored neatly in their notebook and all notebooks, books and supplies (such as their pencil and scissor box) stored neatly in their bin. In reality, I often find things left around the house, but at least I know where to put them when I find them! This makes things so much easier for me. Last year I wrote about using bins in a blog post here: "Bin There, Done That" (Or How to Keep School Clutter from Turning You Into a Basketcase)

Start Well In Your Home School

Oral Language Learning for Young Children

Christmas with Kids

Synthesizing Your Own Style - and - Duty and Delight

Let Our Ordered Lives Confess the Beauty of Thy Peace...?

Home School Rules Problem Solving in Your Home School Motherhood Management in Your Home School First Steps to a Tidy Home / Children & Chores A Tribute to Sono Harris: The Legacy of a Joyful Home School Mom Household Organization: Clutter, Clothes Storage and Chores

One Potato, Two Potato

Nature Walks

Florida Field Trips #4: Secret Lake Park

Summer Writing with Journals and Blogs

What We're Doing for School in 2011-2012

The Benefits of Home Schooling

Learning on Their Own

Easter Card Outreach and the Jesus Game

Monkeying Around with Curious George at the Orlando Science Center

Florida Field Trips #3: The Orlando Science Center

Florida Field Trips #2: Silver Springs Nature Park in Ocala

How to Memorize a Spelling Word

Three Christmas Poems for Children

Jesous Ahatonhia (Jesus is Born)

little tree

by e e cummings

by Carl Sandburg

Family Advent Night Ideas

Elementary Writing Ideas

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin

Florida Field Trips #1: Historic St. Augustine

Taming the Fidgets While You Read to Your Kids

Read for the Heart: Whole Books for Wholehearted Families book review

What We're Doing for School Next Year (The Big Switch!)

Home School Rules

Favorite Books for Teaching American History

American History Unit Studies at Our House

Weekly Grading and Lesson Planning

Home School Rules

Problem Solving in Your Home School

Motherhood Management in Your Home School

First Steps to a Tidy Home / Children & Chores

A Tribute to Sono Harris: The Legacy of a Joyful Home School Mom

Household Organization: Clutter, Clothes Storage and Chores