Boys, Books and Bikes

Reading... I love the fact that my boys love books and for the most part love to read but I also love how much they love to just enjoy and experience being alive. They can engulf themselves contently one minute in a mass of books and then jump on their bikes the next and ride off onto the sidewalk. It amazes me how AWESOME they are and I can't help it but to watch in fascination as they simply be themselves.

I have boys, boys who love books and bikes and if they could do both at the same time I know they would!

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Seasonal Encouragement

I love my children and I love homeschooling but there are moments when I tell myself, "This is to much, you can not handle this." and tonight I am so thankful for the blessing of those veteran homeschooling moms who are letting me know that I am not alone and encouraging me to gain perspective, look to the Father and press on...

Sally Clarkson is a name and woman you need to know as soon as possible if you don't already. Her book Seasons of a Mother's Heart is a must read for all homeschooling moms, it is full of honesty grouped with inspiration to not only endure this calling but to embrace it and thoroughly enjoy every single blessed step.

I was so blessed tonight to find her Youtube clips from on her book Seasons of a Mother's Heart... enjoy...





There are more to come and I am anxiously awaiting them.

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Our Adventures: Week 3

Okay, I just realized that I never updated on last weeks report. We were not able to get some of the other things I had wanted to do for that week that were going to be in the update, so I guess I just figured I would'nt do a part 2 to last week... we did do the doubled edged axes but I didn't get any pictures.

Well, this week was ROUGH. We all really struggled to keep focused and engaged. Our "principle" also known as head of the house suddenly left for Galveston on Monday night and did not return until late Thursday evening. I am somewhat of a worrier so my mind was torn. We did however make it through the week with smiles and some real joyful learning experiences.

Each subject shared a certain level of difficulty this week and a certain amount of joy. We really just focused on 20 minute lessons and not allowing things to get to stressful. I am to tired to do my usual examination of each subject and will just say that we are where we should be. Here are some pictures:









Honestly I really struggled with giving 100% this week and found myself doing other things along side of our lessons. I want to and must be 100% devoted to them during all of our lessons, anything else can wait. In order for us to get everything done and go beyond that into the extra exciting more hands on learning I absolutely must be wholly devoted to our time together. With a lot of prayer this week will be different.

Schedule Revised

I think my child could very well be "in danger of recieving much teaching and little education" so I am making some changes in our daily adventure...

...exploration time for 45 minutes outside before we begin school
...20 minutes of our attention will be devoted to each subject
...encouragement, understanding and grace will cover us as we face challenges
...30 minutes in the early afternoon will be set apart for a special baby/toddler time of singing and joyfilled learning.
...some little moments will be captured here and there with T-Rex and Butterfly while Superman is caught in a 20 minute idependent subject
...we will begin using a math journal and rely less on our worksheets
...JOY will prevail!
...commitments will be made to assure each subject is taught in a deligthful and engaging way

Here is our new schedule with changes in bold:

Before Breakfast: 7:45
• Room
• Dressed
• Trash and Table Chores(empty & set)

Before Exploration Time: 8:00
• Kitchen Chores (clear, wipe and sweep)
• Teeth and Hair (brush & fix)
• Quick clean up
• Couch Time: Family Meditation (in the word) and Dedication (in prayer)

Outside Exploration Time: 8:00-9:00

School: 9:00-12:00ish (only 20 minutes for each and we will have alternate subjects daily)
• Math (worksheet, games, drill and journals)
• E&K-Art on Mondays
• Grammar
• Spelling
• Break: FREE play(together) Art on Wednesdays
• History
• Break: short fun read aloud
• Science
• Nature Mission: Tuesdays and Thursdays• Independent Reading (different days different subjects) while I fix lunch if not helping

*We will try to do as much outside in the beginning fall months as possible and I will not allow us to go over 20 minutes on any subject but will allow any time later in the day for further exploration of any subject. :0) happily.

After Lunch Studies: 12:00-1:00
• Kitchen Chores and Daily Chores
• Free Play (closet door OPEN): encourage outside or extra exploration of subjects

Before REST: 1:30
• Quiet Time… 30 minutes as a family- I am loving this!!
• Play

REST: 1:30-3:30ish
• Alternate Dessert Time with “Composer Name” and Table Time with “Artist Name”(picture study, read aloud or other)
• Bible and prayer time with Eli
• Computer Block
• And reading Block


Before 5:30 Dinner
• Latin Studies with Daddy
• Clean up from the day rooms and fingers!
• Table Chores (set the table)

Before 8:00 Bedtime
• Kitchen Chores
• Bath* and PJs
• Family Time: communion, worship (with Hymn study) and prayer
• Boys Read Aloud: currently: The Runaway Mouse

Little Effort...

It has been a rough first half of the week for us here at GMW... the lack of effort is weighing heavy on my heart. I really struggle with knowing how to handle this idleness of mind with my 7 almost 8 year old. Encouragement doens't seem to work, being silly neither and punishment... I won't go there. I feel like I am incapable to bring out his thoughts with out much probing and I just long for him to spew them out all over me, I want to know what is in his amazing little brain because I know it is full of fascinating information and thoughts.

Today is going to be a test for all of us... doctors appointment in the middle of the day, no rest time for anyone and then evening church. We are going to have to push hard to get all of our subjects in this morning :0)

JOYfully in Him,

Kelli

100 Species Challenge

Did you know..."Most people... cannot recognize even a hundred plant species within a mile of their home."

Can you recognize a hundred plant species that are living within a mile of your home?

I know that I can not name probably more than 2, very sad I know. I am hoping with the motivation the kids and I can become more aware of our surroundings and the specimens that live here among us. I am very excited about this challenge...

Think this looks like something you would enjoy with your kids, here are the rules:

The 100-Species Challenge

1. Participants should include a copy of these rules and a link to this entry in their initial blog post about the challenge. I will make a sidebar list of anyone who notifies me that they are participating in the Challenge.

2. Participants should keep a list of all plant species they can name, either by common or scientific name, that are living within walking distance of the participant's home. The list should be numbered, and should appear in every blog entry about the challenge, or in a sidebar.

3. Participants are encouraged to give detailed information about the plants they can name in the first post in which that plant appears. My format will be as follows: the numbered list, with plants making their first appearance on the list in bold; each plant making its first appearance will then have a photograph taken by me, where possible, a list of information I already knew about the plant, and a list of information I learned subsequent to starting this challenge, and a list of information I'd like to know. (See below for an example.) This format is not obligatory, however, and participants can adapt this portion of the challenge to their needs and desires.

4. Participants are encouraged to make it possible for visitors to their blog to find easily all 100-Species-Challenge blog posts. This can be done either by tagging these posts, by ending every post on the challenge with a link to your previous post on the challenge, or by some method which surpasses my technological ability and creativity.

5. Participants may post pictures of plants they are unable to identify, or are unable to identify with precision. They should not include these plants in the numbered list until they are able to identify it with relative precision. Each participant shall determine the level of precision that is acceptable to her; however, being able to distinguish between plants that have different common names should be a bare minimum.

6. Different varieties of the same species shall not count as different entries (e.g., Celebrity Tomato and Roma Tomato should not be separate entries); however, different species which share a common name be separate if the participant is able to distinguish between them (e.g., camillia japonica and camillia sassanqua if the participant can distinguish the two--"camillia" if not).

7. Participants may take as long as they like to complete the challenge. You can make it as quick or as detailed a project as you like. I'm planning to blog a minimum of two plants per week, complete with pictures and descriptions as below, which could take me up to a year. But you can do it in whatever level of detail you like.

Our Adventures: Week 2

Praise the Lord for another awesome week! He has been so good to us in His unconditional love and graciousness in bestowing strength to me. There were a little more struggles within week 2 of our homeschool adventure but we have been in a season of change around here, not physical but mostly mental and emotional and it was evident as we turn pages in books and schedules.

This week we struggled with getting up on time to start by 8:00 again and this is totally my idleness in sleep. Idid make it on Thursday and this morning. I realize that I must go to bed earlier! I use to could get by with 5-6 hours of sleep and be fine but it is prooving to be to much for my body to handle at this point in my life, being 27 and all :0). If I don't go to bed by 10:00 or so I will not even respond to the sound of the alarm or at least I don't remember responding to it... next week.

Math: I am really feeling a struggle from within concerning our daily math. I can see that we are to confined to the textbook of Horizons and I don't like it and can see a continual burden with the material and overall downfall of the joy of learning the concepts, it is becoming very monotonous and that bothers me. I am researching more ways to breathe life into our math. I am almost certain that next year we will pick up Right Start math for this reason. Math is the only subject that is lacking in being a more living part of our day, it is defintely the most lifeless of them all.

Grammar: Honestly... this is not going exactly like I had imagined it would, which was smooth and easy. He is having a little harder time grasping all of the terms and instruction but we are getting through it with a fairly good attitude. I think I need to be more actively involved with him in this, I do try to make it refreshing by taking it outside and just allowing the lull of creation inspire his senses and imagination.

Spelling: Just coasting along... nice and smooth.

Cursive: Just enjoying the steady excitment of the pencil striding over the slanted letters and slowly across the page each day.

History: We enjoyed a week in Rome and Britian traveling with the Celts and into the heroic story of Beowolf. Today they boys and daddy are going to make a Celtic Double Edged War Axe and fight to the death... well figuratively speaking :0).

Science: Seeds, Seeds and more Seeds! Oh what fun seeds have turned out to be so much fun in fact that Superman tried to find a movie at the library on seeds and beans, to his dissapointment he came up empty handed. He did find a science movie on experiments. Our plants are continueing to grow....

and we put some beans to observe and chart their growth over the next few weeks...

Nature Study: We have just been following along with our science so on our walks we keep our eyes out for seeds and flower and just discuss the things we are learning. Today we will go for a little nature hike at a near by park. I also try to have what I call a daily Nature Mission but sometimes they fail or we have to abort the mission but they are fun and they keep us interested and observing :0).

Artist and Music Appreciation: I just can't express how much fun we are having with these to and how much they are impacting us. Superman has become a very active artist around here and is so intrigued with Van Gogh. We have read many books about him and will read a short bio next week while studying his Sunflower painting and then he will try his hand at his own recreation. Music, we have just been enjoying Mozart all through out the week, we painted a picture of him yesterday. Next week we will start a little study on the Orchestra with a lapbook.

Latin: :0)

Other: Hands on activities for T-Rex and Butterfly...

I am still working on T-Rex and getting him more engaged in learning... he is very opposed but I am very determined. I will set in times to get on the floor with him to read, play and learn through time with momma. I believe that is the only way to reach him. Butterfly is just our little wanderer and is doing much better now that I have a table just for her.

I will probably have a follow up to this week to share our nature walk and double edged war axe!! So stay tuned :0).

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

The ART of Narration: CM Carnival

I just checked my email and found that the Simply Charlotte Mason blog hosted the CM Carnival this month on... guess what.... the Art of Narration, how providential. I can't wait to spend some time over my afternoon coffee soaking up some ideas in these articles, written by CM style homeschooling educators! Enjoy

Learning from Superman

Superman and I are wrestling with what could be a beautiful art of telling back what one has learned through reading or listening to a piece of literature. I find it amusing that he can tell me all sorts of information about certain things, things that have completely taken hold of his interest and imagination while other things he is an empty vessel. I understand that he is more likely to be captured by and own certain pieces of the stories he reads if they grab his attention but I long for him to pull all pieces of the story together to give him the BIG picture so that it is not in a bunch of interesting but seperate pieces that don't really fit together making it all a little obscure for him. I read Jeannie Fulbright's article for some encouragement on Narration, here is some thing I pulled out from it to use today and I am seeing the fruit as we speak or I type:

Remember that the teacher always learns the most. Narration employs this philosophy. For the child becomes the teacher! It is often good to use words such as, “Teach me what you just learned,” or “Now, you be the teacher! Teach me all about that!”

Let him be the teacher... BRILLANT. He is enjoying himself with the idea that he is teaching me what he is learning and I can see that he is taking in a lot of the information so that he can relay it to me correctly, it is so cute and also effective.

Monday Prayer

Oh Father... I am so tired this morning and feel completely incapable to handle the responsibilities of this day. Father... you have created an absolutely glorious and beautiful day outside our little windows and the cool breeze that blows through our house is such a blessing, thank you. When I feel the breeze upon my face may I remember your grace and mercies that are new every day for me and my family. Father... I pray also that you would give my children hearts that are receptive to instruction and allow your Spirit to wash over them giving them the power to choose to love you through loving eachother and honoring their parents and working with joyful hearts, oh Father... and give this momma patience as I try to train them and teach them in a way that is pleasing to you and brings you all the glory. Amen.

Week 1

All through out the week... he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And I praise God for His continual presence through out our week, our very fruitful and enjoyable week. Since it was the first week it prooved to be a challenge, the first day was exciting and full of energy but every day after steadily slanted slightly down hill as we pushed ourselves to stay in a somewhat straight line with our daily plan. He daily supplied me with His power to not only walk in a straight line but also to beable respond with grace to all of the behavior issues and daily distractions.

(Isn't he handsome!)

Math: Superman completed all 5 lessons from his Horizon 2 workbook and each day we played a simple but fun math game to follow our lesson. I was very proud of how quickly and eagerly he took to his math lessons. I have his workbook by his desk so that he can reach it and pull out the daily worksheet and then he completes it pretty much on his own. If he struggles with anything I assist him and explain on our white board. I am loving our daily math game, it is a nice way to lighten up our lesson and have some fun practicing our lessons.

*A funny math quote from Eli this week: "65... is embarrassing me." No idea, just thought it was cute and funny.

Grammar: We didn't go as fast as I thought we would with our grammar lessons, it seems that Superman has a lazy brain when it comes to thinking about verbs and sentences. I know that over time he will begin to run a little faster, I am not rushing him but it is hard, this is one of those areas where His grace is poured all over my head as I sit there and just know what he is capable of but realize he is holding back.

Spelling: Super simpe and awesome! I don't really have a year or even weekly plan for this, we are just going to "go with the flow" of it because it is all about learning through sight and dictation. This week he focused on CM's children's motto: "I can; I am; I ought; I will." Ought was the focus word, he got it!

Cursive: Oh my goodness does this boy LOVE his cursive, he would do it all day if I would let him. I am so suprised at how well he is doing and how diligent he is about not only doing it but learning it correctly.

History: It started off a little rocky when Superman couldn't anwser any of the review question but as the week went on he did better. I decided to try out head phones for him to listen to the chapter and that worked a lot better, no distractions. I will have to listen to the chapter the morning or night before so I know what is going on. We did our coloring sheets and carpet craft and today we will do one of the activities. I am determined this year to follow through with my plans to do one craft a week + an activity if one is given. I want History to be alive, to jump off the pages of the book and live in his imagination.

*Note: we were using the revised edition of the book but not the Activity Book and when I looked through it at the store yesterday I was amazed at the illustration differences in the two and purchased the revised edition. They are amazingly better!

Science: Ya know we are just truly enjoying ourselves here and it is only going to get better, I have A LOT up my sleeve. 2 days ago I took a little trip to the library to assist us in our Plant study and Nature study. I will begin pulling alot out of my sleeve this weekend to begin doing. We studied a little bit about the seed, made a little booklit on it, read some books and planted some flowers. Just this afternoon I noticed they have already sprouted, we were all excited about their life.

Before lunch Superman has his independent reading time. I do not have this scheduled out, it really depends on the subject and availibilty of it. So far he has been able to dive into artist, history and science books while I cook lunch. Sometimes I had him read it to me and sometimes he read silently.

Artist and Music Appreciation: Amazing... we have had such a blast with each of these and I can not tell you how much I have personally enjoyed watching him growingly increase in enthusiasm and appreciation for them. I will say that I have allowed him to lead in this. He observed The Starry Night one day, read a book on Van Gogh and then decided to try his hand at recreating The Starry Night. For music we have simply enjoyed listening to Mozart's music and his life, I (the big student in the room) was very intrigued by Mozart's life. Superman already has a favorite of his works.

Latin: Ha! We have struggled with our latin lessons, we only made it to one this week. That is not good. We will extra hard to make it apart of our day next week and following, I really do not want it to fall between the cracks of the day.

Rest Time: Okay so rest time isn't a subject but it was a success this week! It is a giant chore to get T-Rex to actually sleep at rest time, he usually plays the whole time which is 2 hours usually. Well I thought up a plan. I told him that he wouldn't get his afternoon snack if he didn't sleep, I told him I would leave it on his night stand but only if he was asleep, it worked:

Butterfly has her own little "desk" that she climbs in and out of as she pleases working on her own little creations and education.

And here she is tormenting poor precious, who was trying to get some sleep:

It was a great week! I need to start getting up earlier to soak each day in prayer.

JOYfully in Him,

Kelli

Our GMW Daily Adventure

This is our daily plan or adventure as I like to think of it, though it is in the process of transforming into a better fit for us... all times are simply a guide

Before Breakfast: 7:30
• Room
• Dressed
• Trash and Table Chores(empty & set)

Before School: 8:00
• Kitchen Chores (clear, wipe and sweep)
• Teeth and Hair (brush & fix)
• Quick clean up
• Couch Time: Family Meditation (in the word) and Dedication (in prayer)

School: 8:00-11:30
• Math 20-30m (Horizons)- I may put our Cursive here considering his eagerness
• Break with Game for E&K-Art on Wednesdays
• Grammar 10m (Simply Grammar)
• Spelling 5-10m (Spelling Wisdom)
• Break for FREE play (together) Art on Mondays
• History 20-45m (SOTW)
• Break with short fun read aloud
• Science 20-45m (106 Day/Condsidering God’s Creation)
• Nature Mission (daily seek&find or make&design)
• Independent Reading (different days different subjects) while I fix lunch if not helping

*We will try to do as much outside in the beginning fall months as possible and I will not allow us to go over 20 minutes on any subject if there is any resistance and we will take breaks when necessary.

After Lunch Studies: 11:30-12:30
• Kitchen Chores and Daily Chores
• Free Play (closet door OPEN): encourage outside

Before REST: 1:30
• Quiet Time… 30 minutes as a family- I am loving this!!
• Play

REST: 1:30-3:30ish
• Alternate Dessert Time with “Composer Name” and Table Time with “Artist Name”(picture study, read aloud or other)
• My Cleaning Block
• Bible and prayer time with Eli
• Computer Block
• And reading Block


Before 5:30 Dinner
• Latin Studies with Daddy
• Clean up from the day rooms and fingers!
• Table Chores (set the table)

Before 8:00 Bedtime
• Kitchen Chores
• Bath* and PJs
• Family Time: communion, worship (with Hymn study) and prayer
• Boys Read Aloud: currently: The Runaway Mouse

I will post what we are using soon...

Day 2 Examination

Last night I did a lot of examining as I am now over today. It was another "Awesome Day!" but we had a hard time fitting in all of our subjects between 8 and 12. I had an idea that was going to be a problem but I was hopeful. One of the reasons is because I have little blocks of time set out for family time and learning "breaks" between our harder subjects, which you will see in our daily schedule when I get around to posting it. I thought maybe we need to get up earlier but we are good to be making it by 8:00, 8:00 is good, actually perfect for us so that will not change. I guess I will be forced to move some subjects into our "rest" time in the afternoons. I am also not sure what to do with T-Rex, my 4 year old, who just can not and will not sit still long enough to do anything. Tomorrow, I am planning on closing our closet door which is the flood gate to all or most of the toys in our house. After trying to do a set out curriculum with him I think I am realizing that it is just to much for him and me so I am going to have to figure something out tonight or by the end of this week. I personally can not allow him to just wander and play all day while I actively pursue Superman's education. Some thoughts I have are to just have some things available throughout the week to do with him, with the idea that I would steal a few moments here and there to spend with him learning. I don't want to push him to much, he is only 4 but I do want to engage with him in some way through out the 3 hours.

We finished today around 1:45ish and entered our my sacred rest time, oh how I look forward to this time each afternoon, though I am hoping not to lean to much on it in the future because I would really like to take advantage of the majority of that time with Superman... and I do sometimes but honestly I allow the time to overtake me and my desires to just be in my own space.

Superman was so excited yesterday when Classically Cursive came in and he wanted to start it right then but I swaded him to wait until today. When we finally rolled around to our time he begged me to do more of his cursive, I orginally said no but after continuous beging I gave in and he did it for at least an hour covering many pages. I wasn't sure about letting him do it but I was watching him and guiding him the whole time. It was exciting to see him so eager to learn and today while we were in the middle of our lessons he told me that "School was fun".

Yes...

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Our 1st GMW Adventure

I learned a lot today, about myself at this season of motherhood and homeschooling and about the structure of our day as well as the floetry (is that a word?) of subjects and children :0). I feel like the Lord blessed us in our attempt to honor Him in our adventure, I am calling it that because it is just that an adventure in simply living, loving and learning we are all walking and sometimes hiking together and we will need to be there to encourage eachother when the road gets rough and we will definetly need to pick eachother up when we fall on the rocky ground below us and nurture our wounded knees and hearts at times. I, only with the Lords strength, got up earlier than I have in months and got off to a fairly close start to the one I had written on paper and deep in my mind.

Initially I had planned on taking a lot more pictures but I guess we just got to caught up in our day that I forgot. I had everything planned out but did not have the intentions to be a legalist about it but rather to use it as a guide. It worked out pretty well other than a few things. Here is what we did...

...family meditation in the word and in prayer... we gathered on the couch in our playroom and went over what the bible says about authority and then with a request from Butterfly we all very loudly proclaimed "Our God is not dead... NO" as we all joined together in song and then followed with a time of prayer for our day.

...we then went to our desks to dive into some math concepts... and after gathered around the kitchen table for a game of addition Bingo. At first I thought only Superman and I could play but with T-Rex's persistence that he was "big enough" to play to he joined us and I was very glad because it was a great learning experience for him and his numbers.

...next was our copywork and grammar lesson, which was super simple and fun... Superman enjoyed the lesson on sentences. For copywork he just copied his memory verse for the week: 1 Corinthians 11:3.

...we enjoyed some time just hanging out together and planting some indoor window plants.

...it was hard to go back inside after being outside so we brought our radio outside and listened to our SOTW Chapter one and then colored the map and had a nice little discussion.

...after our history lesson I put several library books on the table for him to read about Rome... he loved them and couldn't get enough. We then went into lunch time and after moved into our cleaning time, this was nice and I was so suprised at how much fun they all had, Butterfly had fun spraying her cleaning solutio,water, all over herself and everyone else and the boys did an excellent job at getting all of their dirty hands and feet markings off the hall wall while I cleaned the bathroom...

... right before our rest time we had a nice little family quiet time together just enjoying some books together...

...during our rest time Superman enjoyed some time with Vincent Van Gogh and The Starry Night. I was very impressed with his enthusiasm to just observe art and discuss what we looked at together... we are both looking forward to more.

We had a pretty nice, calm and short day considering we were missing our cursive, science and spelling, which all came in directly following our lessons :0). They will be added to our day tomorrow. Superman is excited about cursive.

Something that I learned today was that Butterfly needs her own table and chair so that I don't have to keep battling with her on T-Rex's desk or on the kitchen table. At one point she actually grabbed a book and put it on the table and began to climb in the chair, it was then I realized she wanted to be apart of what was going on. All in all it was in Superman's words "Awesome day!"

JOYfully in Him,

Kelli

Note to Self:

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

HAVE FUN WALKING TOGETHER THROUGH THIS GLORIOUS DAY!

*it is our first day of our 2008/2009 homeschool year... stay tuned.

Waiting to finish...

I am half way expecting this up coming year to be a bit unpredicatable and in some places a tad bit crazy with the possibility of us moving in the middle of December and taking a new position at a new church in a new town and near family for the first time. All of those meshed together could cause some unknowns to occur for us, some good unknowns and some bad. I am planning for the whole month of December off in expectation of a move and little days off through out the rest of our year to make up for lost time and the fact that we will only be having 4 day weeks and 36 weeks to the whole year, or at least I am hoping for a 36 week year :0).

I am still waiting for some of my books to come in, a bit unpatiently might I add. They really should have already been here but all in His timing, all in His timing. When they do finally drive up my driveway I will greet them with an over-joyous and maybe a little obnoxious "HELLO" and then with out any manners at all sit down with them at my table and observe and give them the third degree of how they will serve us this year for hours just like I have all the others ;0) and I will love it. Can't wait to share all of my overly zealous plans for our, in 5 short days, upcoming year.

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli