Top Ten Things I’m Thankful For

Posted by Cindy on November 23, 2006

1.   My Savior, Jesus

2.   My family

3.   A godly upbringing

4.   The health of my family and myself

5.   The Bible

6.   Freedom

7.   Homeschooling

8.   Good friends

9.   The uncountable blessings God has provided

10.  It’s almost time to meet our new little gift from God

Our Favorite Character Building Books

Posted by Cindy on November 16, 2006

Ever since my children were babies, we have LOVED books.  Because of this love, I have used books as our character building “curriculum”.  Just about any good, living book can be used to talk about character issues – good and bad.  I’ll include a list of our favorite character building books and give a few examples of how I’ve used them.

Our copy of For Instruction in Righteousness has been invaluable in helping me to tie in Biblical examples and Bible verses to go along with a literature book.

Above are *some* of my favorites that are geared specifically for Christians.  Below, I’ve included a list of regular ol’ literature books that we like and how I’ve used some of them for character training.

The Little Red Hen (Folk Tale Classics) -  Pick out either the trait of laziness or selfishness to discuss.  For laziness, read some Bible verses that talk about laziness, tell a Bible story about someone who was lazy or someone who was not lazy and talk about how they failed or prospered.  Talk about times in our own lives when we’ve reaped the harvest of our laziness.

Stone Soup – Compare and contrast selfishness vs. sharing and how everyone prospered when sharing.  Read Bible verses about sharing and tell Bible stories of people who did share and how they were blessed.  Talk about what we can do to be better sharers.  Maybe even take on a project that day to share with someone else.

Higgins Bend Song and Dance – Jacqueline Martin (boastfulness)

Roxaboxen – Barbara Cooney (resourcefulness, creativity)

Always Room for One More – Sorche Nic Leodhas (hostpitality)

Miss Rumphius – Barbara Cooney (thinking ahead, opening our eyes to God’s beauty)

Bartholomew and the Oobleck – Dr. Suess (consequences for our actions)

The Wartville Wizard – Don Madden (consequences for our actions)

The Duchess Bakes a Cake – Virginia Kahl (following directions, allowing others to help us)

Mirette on the High Wire – Emily McCully (perseverance)

The King’s Chessboard  - David Birch (forethought)

The Grouchy Ladybug – Eric Carle (grouchiness)

Boy, oh boy!  I think I’ll stop because I could go on forever.  Just about any book you read could be used to grow into a character study!!  If you run across this idea and try it in your home, please let me know how it goes!!

Caleb’s Days

Posted by Cindy on November 12, 2006

Caleb told me the other day that first grade sure is harder than Kindergarten!  He’s right.  I’m expecting a lot more from him this year, but nothing he can’t handle.  He’s a very active child and would much prefer to climb a tree than do a phonics page.  I make sure he has PLENTY of time to climb trees, jump on trampolines, work on the farm with Dad and anything else that gives his body the movement it needs.

But, he is expected to get school work done first.  His typical day consists of Bible, math, reading, writing and doing some history and/or science with his big sister.

Bible, science and history are done together as a family.  Sometimes I make simpler worksheets or ask him to keep notebooking pages.  Other times,  I just find a coloring sheet that goes along with the topic.  Having nothing to do other than listen doesn’t keep his mind focused.  Surprisingly, building with blocks while he listens is good enough to keep him focused, too!

They both have memory verses each week, too.  Mahayla writes hers out in a notebook for handwriting practice, but I just copy Caleb’s onto card stock and let him tape them up in our school room for now.  He’s made a memory verse cave under the table that we use for school and he loves to go in the cave to read his verses.

As for reading, we started with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and stopped about halfway through.  We’ll probably pick it back up again soon, but have been using the Starfall materials, Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers, easy readers from the library and phonics worksheet books from the dollar store for now.

For math, we use Horizons Math 1, NC Math grade 1, Mind Benders Beginning Book 2 (Gr 1-2)and some other logic/problem solving books that I have around the house.  Remember, we don’t do everything in each of these curricula!

Fridays – we usually read a “character training” book rather than the Bible.  Caleb’s favorites are the Wisdom and the Millers: Proverbs for Children (Miller Family Series)books by Mildred Martin.  Mahayla likes to read anything and everything!  No matter what we’re reading, we all love to cuddle up on the couch for a good book.  Needless to say, you can imagine that my bookshelves are full to overflowing!  I think I’ll post soon on some of my favorite children’s books……

Our Homeschool

Posted by Cindy on November 11, 2006

What do we do at our house for school?  Good question – it’s always changing.  We are eclectic homeschoolers, using whatever materials and methods work best for the “season”.

I used to get frustrated with myself, wondering why I couldn’t just stick with one thing and be done with it.  It takes A LOT more effort to think, plan and change courses.  But then I started to see that my children were the same as me.  We get bored doing the same things day in and day out.  God has given us active minds, and not just “anything” can fill those minds and keep us content.  Some may call that ADD , but I choose to call it a gift from God!  You see, we are ready to take on new challenges, willing to try something new and never afraid to say something didn’t work.  And we’ve never failed to learn new things, either academically or about ourselves, in the successes AND failures.

So, what does our homeschool look like right now?  I would call my philosophy a mixture between Classical education and Charlotte Mason education.  We spend most days sticking to a fairly regular schedule, using the materials below.  But, we’re always ready and willing to ditch the schedule for a field trip!!

Mahayla’s day usually consists of Bible, math, language arts, independent reading, piano and history and/or science.

Like I said before, we get bored easily SO we spice up the week by using various curricula.  NO, I don’t try to finish everything in every curriculum. I just try to make sure we have covered and mastered what’s necessary.  My philosophy is:  Why practice the same thing over and over if the skill has already been mastered?

Bible – The Child’s Story Bible, NIV Bible – we’ll often color a timeline picture from The Big Picture Bible Timeline Book to hang on the wall, or I’ll print a coloring page to go in the Bible notebook, or I’ll find a “review” activity from the internet to add to the notebook.

Math – Math 5 / 4: Homeschool Set(only the mental math and about 1/2 of the daily problems), lessons from NC Math, logic and problem solving activities from sources like Mind Benders Book 3 A1 A2 Combined
and fun math activities that go along with units we’re studying.

Language Arts – We do at least one activity a day, sometimes more.  I wrote my own Grammar Packets this year.  She has to read a book and then do various grammar/writing/comprehension/spelling activities to go along with the book.  We’ve also used Literature Pockets: Fiction, Grades 4-6+, computer games, writing stories and poetry that go along with a unit, and grammar practice pages that come from various workbooks I find at dollar stores.

History – We’re currently taking a break from Mystery of History I.  Why?  Well, I’m trying to decide if it’s really enough world history.  There’s plenty of Bible history (which is good), but I don’t feel like it’s tying the Bible into other world history like I had hoped.  Since we’re in the middle of a large human body unit, I have a little time to make a decision.

Science – We follow the four-year-cycle of The Well-Trained Mind for science (and history).  This year is a biology year.  We just finished Exploring Creation With Botanyand LOVED it!!  Now, we’re working on a human body unit that should last through Christmas.  My main spines for this unit are Considering God’s Creationand The Body Book.

Mahayla also does LOTS of extras – crochet, knitting, sewing, baking, art, crafts, and she loves to be outside helping Dad on the farm.

We love notebooking!  We love books on tape!  (The Trixie Belden series right now.)  We love reading and going to the library!  And we love our co-op that meets once a week!  Oh yeah, we love our Keepers At Home group, too!

Caleb’s typical days…..that will have to wait for another post.