September '09 - Week 1

OK, I'm a bit late getting this out. Life has been busy, busy, busy. We made a few changes to our education plan and family work. With the addition of foster children coming and going, we had to make a few adjustments.

1. A chore wheel rather than assignments. This makes it easier on me. Each of my children can easily be assigned a "buddy" to help with the chores without me having to change the entire plan each time children come and go.
   
2. We have a list of "Daily Expectations" and "Weekly Lesson Schedule". (See Mom Notes).
   

Together Lessons

Devotional - "Let Him Ask of God" daily inspirational readings.

Government - "The 5,000 Year Leap" by Cleon Skousen - Part I - Discussion on how the Founding Fathers did not want the US to become a "welfare state".

Science - "Concepts and Challenges in Physical Science" - Gravity - "Chemistry for Every Kid" - Experiment #21.

Latin - Latina Christiana I - more review of Lessons 1-3.

Family Projects - Reading: "On the Banks of Plum Creek" - Young Jammers - My kids started a fantastic free program where they are learning Guitar and Harmonica.

Individual Phases and Studies

Marlayna (Project Scholar) - Projects: Guitar practice. - History: Story of the World 2 - Chapter 34 - Reading: "Wizard Heir", "Princess Ben", "Utopia" (The real one by Thomas Moore). - Math: Math-U-See: Epsilon.

Christian (Love of Learner) - Projects: Guitar practice. - History - Story of the World 2 - Chapter 3 - Reading: "Wizard Heir", "Beyond the Deepwoods" - Math: Math-U-See: Delta

Mom (Ready to be a Mentored Scholar - but, still looking for a Mentor) - Reading: "King Arthur: Tales from the Round Table", "The Communist Manifesto" - Math: Math-U-See Algebra

Mom Notes: "Daily Expectations" are a list of what I feel my children should work on each day. This includes a math lesson, review grammar and spelling rules, daily reading, daily journal entries, etc. By giving my Scholars these expectations, I feel it has enriched their focus on what they need to know to be successful in life.

"Weekly Lesson Schedule" is a basic outline of what we will do together each day (Kids School). Monday - Grammar & Spelling Lesson (rules reviewed throughout the week), Tuesday - Government Lesson, Wednesday - History Lesson, Thursday - PE, Friday - Science Lesson and experiment, Spelling Test.

August '09 - Week 1

I love homeschooling! I know you have heard it before, but I just wanted to say it again. Sam was with us the first two days this week and I discussed with her how I wished she had homeschooled. She has ALWAYS insisted that she loves public school, but she finally admitted that it is because of social reasons. HA! I always knew it, but it was nice to hear her say it. She also admitted that she enjoys being with us during our Kid School discussions because she learns "how the world REALLY works".

Devotional - Daily reading of "Let Him Ask of God"

Government - Introduction to "The 5,000 Year Leap" by Cleon Skousen - This lead into a 2 hour discussion of current events, how it relates to the past, and the mistakes of the past that are being repeated. We also got into topics of economics, cycles in history, budgeting and how interest works. Very powerful day.

History - Middle Ages - Still working on making chain mail - Reading: Stories of Beowulf Told to Children and Story of the World, Vol. 2. "Beowulf the Hero"

Science - Chemistry - "Concepts and Challenges of Physical Science" Chapter 1 - Scientific method and basic skills.

Read A-Loud - "The Diamond of Darkhold" and "Little House on the Prairie"

Individual Phases and Studies

• Marlayna (Project Scholar) - Projects: Chickens and Rabbits, Chain Mail making - Reading: "Tricksters Choice"
  
• Christian (Love of Learner) - Projects: Chickens and Rabbits, Chain Mail making - Reading: "Warrior Heir"
  
• Samantha (Practice Scholar) - Reading: "The Hunger Games" - Studying for SAT and ACT tests and preparing for her first week at school starting next week. Can't believe she is a Senior this year!
  
• Mom (Ready to be a Mentored Scholar - but, still looking for a Mentor) - Reading: "Anne of Green Gables"
  

MOM NOTES: We also spent two days gathering firewood, hauling it back to our house, and stacking it up neatly to be split later. It was probably the hardest we have ever worked before! - right up there with moving.

Detox

One of the mistakes I made when I first brought my children home was to push them. I have found that they need some time to "detox". It takes a good six months, which scares most people away from doing it, yet it is one of the MOST IMPORTANT things you can do to switch gears from public education to home education. During detox, we had the following rules:

1. No TV, video games, or computers during school hours - 9am-1pm at our house - 30 minutes break for lunch.
2. During school hours they were to keep busy with - books, educational games (board games, card games, etc.), educational toys, and educational videos that were on the approved list (included many classic movies).
3. I encouraged them to start projects - like building models, learning to crochet, painting, coloring, etc. These projects were also considered "school".
4. The only required participation was to Mom School - which is when I teach what is mine. Mom School includes our read-a-loud book and whatever else I decide to teach that day.

During this "detox" time, I spent my "school hours" working on my own education, for myself and as an example to my children. How do you know when detox is over? Easy! They start choosing to learn on their own, they ask questions and want your feedback, and they start coming up with their own goals. You find a child with a book they can't put down or a project they HAVE to finish.

I hope this all makes sense. It is so easy to do what we did as children and so hard to change and do something else.

Week 23

I do not have much to report this week. Chris has been at Scout Camp all week. When I was planning which months to take off, I was not aware of when the various camps would be and what not. Apparently I should have planned to take June off and school during July.

Chris - At scout camp he earned some Merit Badges - photography, animal study, bird study, and pioneering.

Marly - Reading: "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"

Mom - Reading: "Man of the Family" by Ralph Moody and started "Walden" by Thoreau. I couldn't get into Walden so I switched to "Man of the Family" which is the sequel to "Little Britches", one of my all-time favorite books. Math: Math-U-See Pre-Algebra - relearning different properties. Government and Freedom: Re-reading "The 5,000 Year Leap" by Cleon Skousen.

Mom School is dropped for this week and next due to various camps.