Growing Minds of Wisdom

Our New Weekly Schedule

2009-02-18T13:35:00.000-08:00

I finally took some time to re-evaluate the rest of our year, making a few changes. I examined where we are and our new daily lives and created a new weekly school schedule for us...

I am excited about this new schedule that includes all three of my "scholars" into the mix giving me a better picture of each week. I plan 2 weeks in advance the first time and then take some time to re-evaluate and plan for next 2nd week. We followed it this week and it was perfect.

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Returning Soon

2009-01-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

I am currently re-evaluating our 2nd Trimester of our 2008/2009 school year. I will be returning renewed and revived in a few days with more thoughts!!

GMW joins the Journey!!

2008-11-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

Oh... wow, I am finding rather hard to keep up with my weekly reports!! I just can not find the time to get them up each week and I also find it hard to get in here each week. So after thinking about it for awhile I have decided to shut down this blog... but not completely, I am going to just simply joined it with my Main blog. So if anyone really did read GMW just follow me over to Embracing the Journey, that is where you can find me sharing things that we are doing!

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Our Year at a Glance

2008-10-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to share our Year at a Glance for some time but have run into computer problems when attempting and time issues :0). Here is the plan that I have set out for us but as usuall it is not set in stone just a guide to make things easier for me and to pull me along. We are behind in somethings and ahead in others.

I can not tell you how much this helps me out when I am evaluating our progress. I love having it there. We will be moving at some point and I thought it was going to be in December but now has moved to January... so changes will need to be made there. I did not put Nature Study on here and some other things. I am posting this for accountability...

JOYfully in Him,

Kelli

Mushroom Madness

2008-10-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying our study on fungus!! Imagine that... today we watched some pretty cool videos on mushrooms:

Recovering

2008-10-15T08:01:00.001-07:00

Wow, what an amazing 2 days we had at Six Flags and the Texas State Fair :0), the Lord blessed us greatly at both. We are taking today OFF to recover from our 2 very busy and exhausting days. I have so many things that I need to do here at the house. The original plan was to push hard through today, tomorrow and Friday but I am just not feeling it and I know that if we forced our lessons for today they would come up dry and unfruitful. We will get as much done tomorrow and Friday as we can for this week!

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Our Adventures: Week 5

2008-10-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

Weekly Reporters!!

(Connection is to weak to upload pictures)

This last week was probably one of the toughest weeks that I have had personally in a long time. I struggled daily with my own personal demons and that effected our overall day of homeschooling... but with the Lord we got through it and rejoiced in His grace. I am going to turn these little weekly reports down a more detailed path. I have been just vaguely updating on each subject but need to be more specific with them. Each subject I will report where we are and where we should be and what I liked/disliked about it and changes that I feel will help it or us.

Starting us out as usual is...

Math: Where we should be: Lesson 25
Where we are: but we actually just finished lesson 20 along with the test. I am not sure how that happened? I thought we were on schedule with our math... This week I made some pretty big adjustments to our lessons. I bought a timer and did not allow any lessons go over 20 minutes. It did not matter whether or not we were "finished" or not. I told him that we only had 20 minutes to do each lesson and that I demanded his full attention in that short time. I was suprised at how well he accepted this and how much more we actually acheived in that amount of time rather than the usual drawn out 45 minutes :0).

Grammar: Where we should be: Lesson 7
Where we are: we finished lesson 6 this week so we are OFF but that is okay (no pressure :0) I have been so relaxed with this and just enjoying each lesson really trying not to put on any pressure with each new idea. What I am really trying to do with our grammar is read up on the lessons and then approach each one as a casual conversation... I am learning that we both respond with restful and giving spirits to the excercises when they are just "apart of our day".

Spelling: Where we should be: Exercise 5
Where we are: We finished Ex. 5 "The laborer is worthy of his hire." Luke 10:7. This is so simple but for me that can become my worst enemy, letting it slip between the cracks of math and science. This week was nice because I had a plan. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays are SW(Spelling Wisdom)day. Tuesdays we simple observe the exercise until we are confident of each word then spell each out loud several times. Wednesday's it is copied several times while examining each word and then spelled out loud and then on Thursday we dictate it. If it is still not his then we go into to Friday for a little more examination. I have each exercise typed out and put on an index card for easy use and then put on a metal picture holder where he can see it daily.

History: Where we should be: Lesson 5 The Medievel Indian Empire
WWA: We are there and this week was a little hard to concentrate on but I am very proud of his growing concentration and articulation in retelling me each chapter. Again like in the grammar I want each History lesson to be as natural as possible so we listen to the story together and then just discuss it together like any other story, NO pressure! We didn't do any projects :0(.

Science: WWSB: Flowers...
WWA: We passed flowers and are went through Food. We all enjoyed talking about and reading book about what foods we eat that come from seeds. We are continueing to observe our bean that has "gone crazy" as Superman puts it. He draws and colors his observations, he is just amazed at it.

Our bean gone "crazy" and it has only gotten crazier since this picture.

T-Rex captivated by ALL the seeds in a pumpkin!

Superman reading a beautifly illustrated and written children's book on Wildflowers.

Explode the Code: WWSB: Lesson 5
WWA: We finished lesson 4. I love these books and the great thing is that so does he! There is no fuss when I pull them out, from either one of us :0). He just glides right through each page in his little workbook and loves how they describe the rules of decoding... magical "e"s and making new words from old words!

Nature Study: This was fun, we went on a Mushroom hunt after reading the book Mushroom Hunt. We only found some very small ones but it was still fun. We have also been on the look out for any fungus we can see and I just love how excited my boy gets about a piece of old bark that has green fungus on it! :0)

Artist and Music Appreciation: We are nearing the end of Vincent and Mozart. We have njoyed them both so much. This week Superman created his own painting using the same technique as Van Gogh, Impasto. He had fun and I just love his creation. I have all of his paintings that we have hanging on the walls of our home. It is our own little Vincent Van Gogh exibit. It is fun when company comes over wondering why his paintings are placed all through out our house :0).

Extras: He decided last week to write a book. I honestly didn't think he would follow through with this but he did and he wrote about 5 pages. I was amazed and so pround. I am hoping to help him edit it and illustrate it and then turn it into a "book" :0).

I am praying that this next half week will be much more enthusiastic, disciplined, joyful and complete. It is a "half" week because we are taking 2 days completely off. One day to go to Six Flags and the other the Texas State fair. Mon. and Tues. are the only 2 days we can fit them in for sure. I hope that the Lord will grant me strength to push hard but joyfully the rest of the 3 days left in the week to complete all of our weeks lessons... but if not we press on and leave it all in His hands.

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

A Pitiful Week 4 Report

2008-10-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

Math: We just took it really easy with our math lessons. I have been trying to shorten his workpages and then just work with him on concepts and facts that he struggles with.

Grammar: Taking it slow... he is beginning to come around in what I will call "creative thinking" in forming sentences. It was really hard at first for him to think of any sentence at all and if any they were very short and dry. He is getting much better and I am impressed :0).

Spelling: I have not been force feeding him in this area. I have us scheduled for 2 lessons a week but know that each week will be different with the different sentences given. So far it has been very smooth.

Cursive: He is still just loving this, he really enjoys connecting the letters to form words and is constantly practicing on any piece of paper he can get his hands on.

History: We enjoyed learning about Emperor Justinian and Emperoress Theodora although he didn't seem to interested in the dress up dolls in the activity pages. Go figure :0).

Science: We are continueing to observe our bean and just going with the flow in our flower study.

I realize that this is a pitiful excuse for a Weely Report... this week just kind of slipped through my fingers and time to actually "report" about it has been hard to find. But for somewhat of a record... here it is. :0(.

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Boys, Books and Bikes

2008-09-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-29T19:40:00.003-07:00

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

2008-09-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-25T05:03:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-19T05:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-17T08:32:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

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:

2008-09-08T04:52:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-09-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

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

Anxious yet Nervous

2008-08-28T14:10:00.000-07:00

I am very anxious about beginning our new school year but also a little nervous. I have so many plans and expectations that I fear I will buckle under the pressure and constant demands. I struggle with giving ALL of me as I feel the natural pull of the rest of my house tugging at me and not to mention this world beyond the screen. I lack discipline and battle an emotional force with in me that tries to control where I move my hands in service causing me to take an easier path forsaking my priorities. I wonder if I am alone in this struggle. I long to have a strong accountability that reminds me daily of my God ordained Christ centered priorities as a stay at home mom who has taken her children's education under her wing.

With this idea of accountability this year I have decided for one to put my husband in his rightful place in our little schoolroom as Principal and with that, with him being my authority and and my kind of "accountability supporvisor" I will set out to turn in a weekly and monthly progress report to him, so that I will feel more responsible in my daily educating (as if the future of my children wasn't enough?) and so that he can feel assured of the things we are doing and the progress we are making. I think it will proove to be a blessing to all of us. Also with the reality that we will probably if it is the Lord's will be moving at the end of the year I will need the reports for when we get settled in our new place. (This is not for sure yet) I will also join the Weekly Reporters in my attempts to have more accountability.

I am currently working on our progress reports and praying that God will enable this mom to be 100% devoted to her children and their beautiful individual Growing Minds in our 2008/2009 homeschool year.

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Originality-Potter

2008-08-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.

Beatrix Potter

After summer update!

2008-08-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

I am so dissapointed in this summer! I had so many wonderful plans for our little homeschool but all were tharted due to our involvement with the youth group at our church. I am not complaining about being given the privilege of being the youth ministers for a few months during the summer, it was amazing but with the experience taking most of our time I had little time nor energy to do much else.

School will begin on September 7th for us. A little bit of a late start but I have some things that I must do in the whole month of August before we can begin our next year. I can not tell you how excited I am about our next semester! I completely re-organized and re-arranged our play/school room, it took me 2 fully devoted days and it was worth it. I am waiting on 1 piece to seal the re-do of the room and then I will post a picture. I desperately wanted to get some things organized and filter through some of the old things to make room for the new things coming.

I truly LOVE being able to stay home and teach my boys. What an amazing, truly humbleing and down right near impossibly hard experience as a mother. I am amazed at the amount of emotions I feel as I journey down this God ordained path of homeschooling, no one day is alike. I have those completely joy filled days and then I have those what am I doing days and then so many in betweens! I didnt' set out to homeschool, homeschool found me and it completely captured me in all of it's beauty. Later I found the struggles that came with it but the JOY and BEAUTY always overshadow them.

I will be taking the boys school shopping to get them excited about their upcoming year hopefully soon and I am planning on sitting down tonight or at least this week and ordering all of our 2008/2009 school books. I can't wait to get my hands on all of them and flip through each page anxiously awaiting each lesson. I am going to try some new things with my planning this year I hope and I am going to begin now to pray for my diligence and discipline as a teacher.

Stay tuned....

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Our Summer Schedule

2008-06-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

6:00 (I am going to work down to 6:00 by 15 minute increments, starting with 7:00am) This is my block of Morning Quiet Time where I will first get dressed, wash face and apply make up and then start coffee but begin with water as I spend some time in prayer and in the word.

6:45 Turn on the radio and grab a cup of coffee, check email, bank account, bills and other things and if time allows enjoy a few pages of a current book and then begin a quick straighten up along with laundry.

7:30 While laundry is going begin breakfast for soon to be awaking family.

8:00 Instruct/train boys to make bed, get dressed and find themselves ready to serve and eat. then they will take turns washing dishes and clearing table every other day with some assistance.

9:00 Finish up laundry and then have a little family Devotional

9:15 Outside nature walk/study time.

10:00 Play a math game Outside if not to hot or windy other wise at the table.

10:30 Spelling time with words taken from current reading books and other while T-Rex has a 15 minute sit still training time (and this will vary according to his current struggles)

11:00 FREE PLAY

12:00 Lunch, clean up and discussion on our memory verse

1:00 Music time and family play time!!

2:00 Rest hour... while Butterfly and T-Rex rest/nap Superman and I will quietly read, create and just enjoy some alone time. :0)

3:00 Superman will enjoy some time to do puzzles and various other kinds of quiet play(Tuesday and Thursday 45 minutes of video game time) while I learn Latin from Memoria Press and do other needed activities.

4:00 Book read aloud time with small snack

4:15 Everyone is up and given a special 30 minute video time while I start dinner

4:45 A special clean up time to prepare for Daddy to arrive home from studying, this includes faces, hands and feet cleaned up along with a nice and tidy house with joyful attitudes.

5:00 Family dinner and table prepping time (all littles will be envolved) while daddy is given 30 minutes to just enjoy being home without any expectations!

5:30 Dinner and Discussion and then family clean up.

6:15 Desert and History with Daddy! and then family free time!

7:30 Bath, pjs, clean up and family worship.

8:00 Bedtime for all littles!! Special clean up time for Momma.

9:00 Creative and Planning Time for me! Hopefully I will make good use of this time to make special fun things along with important things and plan out things for the next day or week!

10:00 Night time routine and then some scripture reading and prayer with Expresso before I call it lights out!

Visitor from the past few weeks...

2008-06-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

A Calapa Spinx Moth

Mr. Robin collecting straw for his nest.

A baby fledgling, who I just found outside sleeping sadly eternally.

A friendly Garter Snake.

Slug Slime

2008-05-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

We woke up this morning to a long windy path of slug slime in our playroom. It is always a delight to find the glittery paths of slime along the sidewalk outside but not necessarily on my carpet. we found out that our slimy friends can actually get squeeze under our door! There is no other way they can get in. Last week Superman unfortunetly slimed his sock after he stepped on one early one morning. We were all sad, he was a big one to. T-Rex is completely taken with them and claimed them all as "friends". I looked up some information on these extremely interesting creatures and found a nice little slug friendly site with a lot of information from a true slug lover! Take a look: All About Slugs.

I am still here!

2008-05-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, so I have been really neglecting this place! We have been pretty relaxed with school right now which has been great for all of us. I enjoy both a very strict and structured format to our days but also a very relaxed and spontaneous format. A few weeks of the strictness and then a week or so of the relaxed keeps it fresh around here. Right now we are in the middle of studying birds still, also rocks which we are all very fascinated with. Tomorrow we will make a crystal garden and Friday we will possible make a volcano.

Learning to Spell through Copywork, has anyone had any experience with this program? I was able to flip the the pages of it this weekend and really like the looks of it but would love some thoughts of a user. I have decided on Simply Grammar after looking at it. History is still undecided for me, I was thinking of continueing Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer but have been thinking about All Through the Ages by Christine Miller. I like the idea of getting the cd for SOTW and listening to it together each week.

Well it is pouring outside and my boys just woke up ready to eat and start the day! Have a great day! Things will start back in order around here soon.

JOYfully in Him,
Kelli

Olympics

2008-05-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

We held the Olympics in our backyard a few weeks ago, it was a blast!

We crowned two winners at the end and they both went on for hours in the "Backyard Obstacle Course".

Superman enjoyed reading Tales from the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne. He made a helmet from one of the Greece books he read.

Hey There Pretty Mama

2008-04-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

Dear God,

I don't know how to pray by myself

very well,

but will You please

protect my little nest from wind and rain?

Put a great deal of dew on the flowers,

many seeds in my way.

Make Your blue very high,

Your branches lissom;

let Your kind light stay late in the sky

and set my heart brimming with such music

that I must sing, sing, sing...

Please, Lord.

Prayers from the Ark, Carmen Bernos De Gasztold

Isn't she beautiful, so elegant and peaceful in her nest. Last week while we were outside observing the birds in our backyard we went over to a tree in our neighbors yard to look for some bird nests and to our surprise found this pretty mama Mourning Dove. I am assuming it is the mama here. I read that the female and male actually alternate sitting on the nest. We check on here daily.

Our Little Visitors

2008-04-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

Hurt no living thing:

Ladybird, nor butterfly,

Nor moth with dusty wing,

Nor cricket chirping cheerily,

Nor grasshopper so light of leap,

Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,

Nor harmless worms that creep.

Christina Rossetti

Our memory poem for the week above, lovely little thing I think. We have a rule in our house, that we are to respect all of life ugly, disgusting and even annoying because they are God's creatures, with exceptions of course. If it is in the house it is usually fair game unless someone is feeling particularly merciful one day. If it is outside and not potentially dangerous to us then we are to let it be and observe, moving it is an option if we are to disturbed by it's presence.

Now, I want to share a few friends that we have met in our backyard this week. I would like you to meet Mr. Garter, the snake. We actually found 4 of them in 2 days. Very exciting. We all enjoyed some time visiting with them and getting to know them a little better. They were quiet joyful little guests. We then let them go where we found them, T-Rex had a hard time saying good-bye.

T-Rex enjoying some one on one time.

Superman taking his turn

Here is the third guest that I found in the grass.

And here was one of our guest rooms, I hope they enjoyed their stay as much as we did. :0)

*I am hoping to begin a little lapbook on our backyard, some time soon.

Let's sign and learn

2008-04-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have decided to begin signing with all of my littles. I feel that this will be a good way for us to communicate with eachother in quiet places and it will help my little Butterfly express to us what she is wanting when she can't yet say it, such as Momma. She can not say Momma yet. She says many other words, dog, duck, dinosaur, bird, baby, ba-ba, da-da and diaper and thank you, there it is, that and others but she is unable to pronounce certain sounds. I found the perfect site, Born to Sign, a few years ago that I enjoyed and began doing some of it with Superman then 4 and he just revealed to me some of the signs that he remembered from then.

I am really excited about doing this. Also, I am going to really try to encourage T-Rex to enjoy some kind of learning. I do not want to push him but I really want to do some things with him. He refuses to do anything with me! Even fun things, all he wants to do is play. Thinking of the CM method I know not to push him and that it is not all that important to be formally teaching him at this point, he is only 3 nearly 4 (3 months). I have been trying to read with him and creatively disguise learning into games. He calls me out sometimes and escapes. One thing I did with him that he really loved was put 5 little orange squares on his desk each numbered 1-5 and then had 5 more bigger squares numbered 1-5 for him to match and then count. He loved it and did it over and over again. Another thing I did was play cars with him and snuck in some counting, he didn't seem to notice. I think I am going to pick up some from Letter of the Week until the end of the semester to releave some of my guilt of not doing anything with him, that is if he will entertain me with it.

Green Hour Challenge #8

2008-04-08T04:50:00.001-07:00

Our Sweet Gum

We set out in our front yard to examine nature and find some real treasures to bring in a study more about. I told them to go look around our yard and find 3 things that you think look interesting and would like to learn more about. They came back with a Sweet Sum ball in our front yard, another little thing from the Sweet Gum tree and a little wild flower. We anxiously went inside to learn more about the little nature treasures.

We found out that the Sweet Gum balls that are so fun to play with in the front yard but not so much when you step on one were actually the fruit of the tree. From it come little winged seeds. We immediately ran outside to find these little winged seeds and sure enough they were everywhere. We took a few inside and compared it with a huge one we found a few days ago outside.

They then found that these little winged seeds made good "spinners". When they are thrown into the air on their way down they spin making them "spinners" They had a blast.

We enjoyed learning about our Sweet Gum tree. This week we have had many wonderful encounters with nature that have been very exciting. I hope to share all of these later. We did not make a journal entry this time unfortunitly. Last week I made a little nature shelf to display our collections from nature, I am glad to say it is growing quickly. Find more Green Hour Challenges at Heart of Harmony.

A Weekly Report

2008-04-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful week! A wonderful few weeks actually. Superman has been on a reading spree, I am so proud of him. He read 6 books this week. We finished all of our math sheets and Superman anwsered his test 100% correctly, :0). In history we are in Greece and loving it and all other learning that fills our life. Here are some pics from our week of learning:

A Beautiful Collection

2008-04-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

Whenever it is possible, the pupils should themselves bring the material, as the collecting of it is an important part of the lesson.

~Handbook of Nature Study, pg 8.

I have a passionate treasure hunter that whenever he sees something that captivates him he must not exceptions bring it home. We started filling mason jars years ago and have many of them displayed in his room full of "treasures". When we started our nature walks we experienced the same thing only this time they were real treasures that we all wanted to keep. For weeks we have been collecting these little treasures from nature but sadly they all seem to meet some sort of doom because they can not find a home, well we have finally found a home for them. It is a small home that I know we be overtaken soon but the good thing about shelves is that you can add more! I am anxious to see our little collection grow as we venture more in nature. There is nothing like bringing the outside in :0).

I also found a nice little spot for our nature journals, Handbook of Nature Study and colored pencils.

2 Week Family Excursion :0)

2008-03-31T13:43:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day back from a 2-week long Spring break! Did you hear that... 2 weeks! This was not really in my plans, I had us set out to go full speed through the end of our year but life presented the opportunity to just enjoy time and so we accepted. I have been researching so many curriculums that I feel would fit us this next year. I have decided to kind of slide Superman into the "third grade" according to curriculum, I feel he is able to very easily go right into it and in some areas he is already there so it will be a very smooth transition. We will continue to use God's Design for Science along with Nature Study and Horizons for Math along with more living math books.

We jumped back into our typical day give or take a few things here and there. It is always such a struggle to get back into our habits when we have neglected them for so long. Some habits I had just started to inforce around here and now must start all over again. It was a really good day! We enjoyed ourselves dispite the obstacles we were forced to climb over and we actually accomplished everything that was set out in my mind to accomplish. I am about to visit Barb to see about our Green Hour Challenge for this week and hope that the rain will stop so that we can venture outside to enjoy His creation.

I do have a lot of pictures to share of some Nature walks we were blessed to take and some observations from Maw Maw and Be Be's houses.

Green Hour Challenge #4

2008-03-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

We have been unable to get outside and have a time for nature study recently. We finally got outside to participate in the Green Hour Challenge. I am not going to say a lot about it other than how exciting it was to find a focus area to examine for 6 weeks. We decided after walking outside to focus on birds. We have seen some exciting visitors around our house lately and we have been fasicinated to watch the little birds build their nest, the big unidentified odd black bird search for food in our front yard, the doves observing from obove, the Red Robin singing and searching in our backyard for bugs and the Wood Pecker scavengering for bugs high in the trees and many other birds just coming and feeding from our bird feeders. I am excited to learn more about these busy creatures. Here are some beautiful birds that we have been blessed to catch in the moment, enjoy:

I was particularly fascinated with this one. I heard an unfamiliar bird call and looked up to find it and found him and a few friends. I was intrigued by him, isn't he beautiful? Interestingly enough I accidently stumbled upon a site that identified him for me as a Cedar Waxwing. (not the orinal site I found him on, lost it somehow)

Visit Barb for more Green Hour Challenges!! I am late with this post, sorry.

Unexpected Excursion

2008-03-11T07:12:00.000-07:00

Don't underestimate the power of nature. It has taken hold of my children and intrigued their minds. They find themselves yearning to be in her presence surrounded by her mystifying and entrancing beauty and it isn't just enough to simply enjoy her with eyes of wonder they are overtaken by their curiosity to touch and feel and learn more about her. Last week while out doors at a local park just enjoying some nice weather they became quickly bored and unsatisfied with the superficial created structure they played on and found themselves drawn to their natural surroundings. They ran off away from the colorful structure meant to fullfill all their playful desires and into another world. I was suprised by this spontanious excursion and felt very proud as we ventured off.

I could not have predicted this little spontaneous adventure. My children's natural curiosity with nature is growing into a true love. I was truly amazed and excited to see them run into the arms of nature as she embraced them and they enjoyed eachothers company.

We all really enjoyed ourselves. The boys enjoyed gathering up acorns and using them as "bombs". T-Rex found a little "sleeping" snail in the dirt...

and on our way back to the car we found this, what appears to be a dog skull or possibly and more excitedly maybe a Coyote skull or something altogether different, we haven't examined it much since we got home.

Nature study is obviously not going to be any kind of a problem in our communion with Charlotte Mason and I knew that already. I am excited about the learning experiences that are going to be found in this aspect of the CM method, we have already learned so much and it has already brought so much to our school room.

Thinking thoughts

2008-03-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

I am wondering where we are going here... my mind is in some kind of catastrophic phase of thinking that is terrorizing the interior walls of my brain and I have lost complete control. Okay so it isn't that severe but I really can not seem to stop thinking about all of the different ideas I have chasing eachother. I will reveal something about myself. When I become overtakened by an idea I enjoy "thinking" and fantasizing about it for a long time but lack the skills in going much further than that mostly because I am a copier, a follower and not a leader. Something here that I am trying to stray away from is conforming to other peoples molds of how they have chosen to use the CM style. I want us to create our own unique mold that fits us. I am so amazed at how hard it is for me to organize all of the things that I am learningn even with the amount of motivation and enthusiasm I have stored up with in me. I think that I struggle with the fear of not doing it correctly and some how failing completely at my attempt to create the perfect school of "delightful" learning molded just for us, is that possible?

I also fear that I am not capable of the path I am begining to walk down because I feel it is one that requires a lot from me. I feel like this path isn't exactly marked out for me so that I can "follow" and instead I am having to "make" our own path but then isn't that kind of what I wanted to do in the first place, create my own mold? I guess what I am understanding now as I type this is that I am having a difficult time stepping outside of my comfort zone with following the well marked out path and setting out my own. So, are you as confused as I am? :0)

To be continued...

On a journey to: Perfect Harmony

2008-03-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

I read an article this morning on Homeschool Methods titled "Planting Your Garden" by the Parker Family. It basically dicusses 2 methods, the Classical and Charlotte Mason, and how they can ultimately be harmonized. It was very encouraging for me as I think through these 2 styles of education. I am in love with Charlotte but still cling to the Classical. I feel a kindred spirit with Charlotte Mason and a noble companionship with Classical Education.

Harmonized... "Both Charlotte Mason and Classical methods of instruction have the capacity to be the flame that ignites a love of learning and kindles the essence of a true liberal education;we believe that if we keep their common goal in view,we can more surely hit the mark with techniques drawn from both camps." Parker Family

As of right now I am describing our Homeschool like this: We are Growing Minds of Wisdom down the flourishing path of Classical Education walking closely in communion with Charlotte Mason as we are daily guided by the Light.

Just thought you might want to know :0).

Spring is Coming..

2008-03-04T04:58:00.001-08:00

Heart of Harmony is hosting the Charlotte Mason Carnival this month titled Spring is Coming Edition! I am excited to begin diving in all of the thoughts from so many wonderful minds.

Enjoy!

Reforming the reality of Education

2008-02-29T06:03:00.000-08:00

Education, you know it, it lives and breathes in your home on a daily basis. Education is something that we can not escape no matter how hard we run and the darkess corner can not hide the light of it's reality, of it being a life. Education is not limited to a desk, to the moving of a pencil, in the pages of a book it happens in the mind as we experience life and when I say book what I mean is a textbook not a "living book". It is such a common misunderstanding or ignorance to understand education in this way, that is that if the child or adult is not knee deep in a dry textbook and busy work then knowledge is not being obtained, that it can only come through at a desk, table or floor with a book and a worksheet in an atmosphere of serious rigidness. Basically the idea that knowledge can only be found in the formal way of learning, this is a disillusionment passed down from many generations through the govermental public school system. Children"are in danger of recieving much teaching with little knowledge"* in the hands of this type of education. Now I have to be honest, I have been guilty of this idea of education! This has been our habit of learning over the past couple of years and it was the path we were continueing to tred until CM stopped us dead in our tracks and pointed out to us, me, that education is much more than that, simply "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life."* What a profound thought, no what a profound reality!

Life being a continual never ceasing experience of learning is the mother of all lessons! Life is full of lessons that God has put in our path to challenge us to grow in a life of transformation to the image of His Son. I challenge you to view education as a life experience of growing in the knowledge of Him.... challenge the norm, challenge the traditional way of education, experience education in the way God meant it to be... a daily experience through not only our lessons but also through His creation and with grace, with hope, with love, with joy, with liberation and with a lens of it being an amazing way for us to come closer to Him uniting us closer as a unit, a family.

I am in the process of transforming Growing Minds of Wisdom to this reality of education. I must express my thoughts as to the struggles going on within me. I know that CM's philosophy of education is dead on but my "old" mind is having a hard time agreeing with my "new" mind. The fact that education for my child does not have to be a tormenting experience constantly interrupting life is almost unreal to me, that I can actually lead my children's minds down a delighted path of learning!

My thoughts this morning were dug up after reading this quote:

“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.”
~Tom Bodett

I wasn't posting this to enter but if the shoe fits....find more dug up thoughts at the Heart of the Matter.

* Charlotte Mason's words found in her Original Homeschooling Series.

The Green Hour, Challenge #2

2008-02-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

So we didn't stay in our back yard this week we decided to venture out there and go to a near by park. It was an absolutely oddly gorgeous day, 80 degrees! We were outside all day long, after my miserable visit to the dentist.

Now relax and join us in our Nature Walk highlights:

This was a funny little guy, he unexpectidly jumped on Superman into the water. He surprised us all. We lost him for a minute in the water but soon found him snuggled up under a rock. I moved it and he allowed us to snap a few pictures of him. We found out he was a Plain Leopard Frog, very cool!

A hole! What the imagination can think of when one sees a hole in the ground!

Superman speculated that lightning struck this tree causing the split down the middle of it, as for all the holes in it, he is stumped.

Interesting and a little scary was to find a large cage out in the trees, some sort of trap we all concluded. T-Rex and Superman assumed to catch the wandering Lions, Dragons and Hippopotami.

These, whatever they were, hurt.

Here are Superman's Hairy White Flowers.

The thorny tree that lead us into a discussion about the crown of thorns that Jesus wore.

Clover with purple marks in the middle of each leaf, we searched for a 4 leafer but left empty handed.

A cluster of berries on a bare bush.

A slippery slope into the mud shed a few tears from T-Rex.

On our drive down our street I noticed some blossums and thought Superman would enjoy looking at their faces. I reminded him of the closed flower, Daffadil, we saw last week and showed him what they look like when they are opened:

And then on the way back to our house he accidently disturbed a big hill of ants with his foot and we watched as they frantically searched about in the devastation:

We had a truly amazing experience in our Nature Walk today! After we finally got home I began dinner and encouraged the boys to journal about their nature walk:

Superman's Journal is above and Momma's is below, I am working on helping T-Rex with one of his own. He has a journal but I am trying to assist him.

At dinner we all discussed our words of description.

Our 1 word to express what we "heard" on our nature walk: tweet, splash and snap.

Our 2 words to express what we "saw" on our nature walk: berry tree, underwater frog and thorny tree.

Our 3 words to express what we "felt" on our nature walk: White hairy flower, inclined uncomfortable bench and rusty old branch.

I leave you with a picture of my handsome boys and myself together after our excursion!

Green Hour Challenges can be found at Heart of Harmony! Thanks Barb, you are an awesome encouragement!

Stay in the Lines

2008-02-25T05:27:00.000-08:00

Children become discouraged by their lack of expertise if they are used to "coloring in" an adult's outline. For the Children's Sake, p.129.

I am eager to begin a study of art with my children and experience their creativity! How truly wonderful to allow them the room to express themselves with a pencil and piece of paper with out relying on lines to stay in leaving little or less creativity and possibly causing discouragement for the future. The thought of coloring pages has never occured to me before. Charlotte Mason discourages the use of these "creativity limitations" for children. I think that in handing our children coloring pages we are discouraging their minds to create and express itself in all of it's beautiful and magnificent capabilities, it is forced to hold back. I love to place a crisp white sheet of paper in front of my children and put an idea into their mind and then sit back and watch eagerly as they transform it into a collection of colors or just a few but there on that piece of paper no longer blank is the mind the creative beautiful images that were stored in the child. The blank paper gives him all the room to explore his own mind and express what he sees and feels and it never fails to be an amazing experience in the eyes of the teacher. I feel that I have missed out on many of these opportunities to allow for creativity to blossum in my children because of the ease of coloring pages.

Let the mind of the child express itself in its own original pictures!

*art from the little mind of Superman at age 4

Cursive Decision...

2008-02-23T01:05:00.000-08:00

We have decided to begin cursive next year. Here are two of the handwriting books that I am attracted to for obvious reasons, or at least what I think are obvious:

Classically Cursive... I am drawn to this one, why? Well just the beauty of the cover grabs my attention but even more is the description given.....

Volume I, Bible Primer, begins by teaching the proper way to write the
letters of the alphabet. It continues with letter combinations, the books
of the Bible and the Lord’s Prayer. Volume II teaches more letter combinations and then has the student copy the Ten Commandments. In volume III, the students write out all one hundred and seven questions and answers of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Volume IV covers the attributes of God through the copying of Bible verses on God’s existence, holiness, omnipotence, immutability, power, wisdom, dominion, love, goodness and patience.

Another guide that I am drawn to is...

Pictures in Cursive...

Our Pictures in Cursive series contains six volumes, each based around fine works of art. You may take a peek inside these books on our web site! They are incremental in nature; each book getting a bit more challenging than the last, with slightly smaller writing spaces. Consumable, each book contains 12 weeks’ worth of cursive practice, assuming you are doing cursive each day.

I would be very interested in your opinion of these two if you have had any experience or contact with either :0) and I would love to hear your suggestions for any other Cursive guides for a 2nd grader!

Right up our alley!

2008-02-21T11:15:00.000-08:00

Our nature walk that is....we stepped out our back door into Nature to enjoy His creation! Really that is as far as you have to go sometimes, very exciting and dangerous! Posted on almost every chain length face we read this: Beware of Dogs, and the sounds of thunderous barking followed us like a wave, I tried to shut my mind off my fears and imagine that their bark is probably worse than their bite.

It wasn't a long journey just around the block but we did find a lot of interesting things to ponder at. Superman was on a search to find a stick bug while T-Rex was looking for roley poleys, beautiful Butterfly was just along for the ride and I was just delighted to enjoy His creation together. I had to re-focus little eyes and minds off of little "treasures" and onto leafs, sticks and trees in search of intrigueing creatures and mysterious wonders of plant life.

Superman carried the bug habitat just incase we found an interesting creature to bring home, like a stick bug. T-Rex was packed with a clear back pack to collect objects of interest and to make him feel very important! Under each picture are the curious questions and statements that the object of interest brought about from little or bigger minds.

Want to see what we saw...

I wonder what type of weed this is? It is very interesting.

Wow... a HUGE ant hill.

Does a squirrel live in that hole?

What kind of flower is that? It is my favorite color.

Look at this! Feel it, it is soft, I have never felt a piece of wood soft like this before!

Hey, look what is that! A snake, I wonder what kind he is? and where is his head?

My little T-Rex holding a stick he found and a flag!

Okay so the water meters in front of everyone's house was the most interesting place to find hiding bugs! Go figure.

Here is our complete collection after we go home. The big piece of wood was a home for a lot of roley poleys.

Superman decided he wanted to learn more about the snake we found and the piece of wood that mysteriously feels like a sponge. He can not understand how it is so soft unlike any pieces of wook he has every felt before. :0) Thanks Barb for the encouragement in the Green Hour!

3 Great Minds

2008-02-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

I have been consumed in 3 great minds over the last couple of weeks, Macauley, Beechick and Mason. For the Children's Sake, Heart and Mind and the CM series volume 6 are prooving to be extremely benificial in the direction and current passion of my heart and mind :0). I am also amazed at how they are all coming together meeting eachother and conversing unknowingly; the saying is true: Great minds think alike. They have crossed eachother many times as I have gone from one book, to the other, to the other wading in 3 intellectual and very spiritual minds who's passions alike are all intwined around the Maker of the 3 subjects discussed of mind, heart and education.

I began reading the CM series in Charlotte Mason's orginal wording before I realized that there was a paraphrased version in Modern English, it has been a lot easier for my mind to decode all of her thoughts. I was reading her series with a dictionary by my side and a continual pause and reflect patteren, slowly obtaining information but not sure how much I was actually retaining able to reproduce it in my own words as I repeat it to my husband, know what I mean? So the paraphrased version has been a wonderful blessing to my mind and my time, though I like to look back at the original for the exact wording.

If anyone has any helpful information on Charlotte Mason's philosphy of education I would be delighted to gain your resources. What are you reading that has been benificial to you?

Now Airing...

2008-02-19T05:22:00.000-08:00

Don't miss the 11th edition of Charlotte Mason blog carnival:

"Mother Culture"

A Reading Bug

2008-02-14T19:56:00.000-08:00

Superman has been bitten by a Reading bug. He loves to read, enjoys it and there is no pushing coming from me. He picks it up at almost any chance and even "almost" chooses it over playing with his friends. He isn't there yet though :-). He is enjoying The Magic Tree House Space guide and Midnight on the Moon. Today after he read 2 chapters in Midnight on the Moon he very enthusiastically came in and told me all the details of Annie and Jack and their accidently trip to the moon.

I am one happy Momma!

The Beginning of my CM Evolution

2008-02-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

I have become engrossed in the philosophy of Charlotte Mason and I have only barely begun to reach in and unwind. I can hardly put down For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay it keeps drawing me in with the intent for more, more, more. I have a feeling that my ideas or direction of my teaching in some subjects and the way of each day are going to change slightly as I continue to be drawn in more and more into her passion and life. I have very naively adapted some of our education to follow her ideas but not with out a full understanding, now I will not stop until I understand her ideas more clearly for myself and that of my children.

I think it would very benificial for every school teacher to read her thoughts on education, on teaching, on life and on the personhood of each child. I think that one of the huge downfalls in the school system is the fact that most authorities in the walls of education lack the vital importance of understanding all of these factors, those of CM, and implementing them in their methods of teaching. They only see a class of children, desks filled, rather than a class of individual "persons" and I realize the enormous incapability to achieve this at its full capacity but even if the idea, the passion the understanding were there... then the heart of education would be, or possible could be.. found.

True Education

2008-02-11T09:21:00.000-08:00

"True education is, in a sense, a spiritual process, the nurture of a soul... Every line of true knowledge must find its completeness in its convergency to God, even as every beam of daylight leads the eye to the sun. If religion be excluded from our study, every process of thought will be arrested before it reaches its proper goal... A non-Christian training is literally an anti-Christian training." ~ R.L. Dabney

Our New Home

2008-02-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

I have switched from my original homeschooling blog to this new one. I just can not keep up with two completely seperate blogs, seperate as in blog home seperates, blogger and homeschoolblogger. It will be much easier for me to update both of my blogs, Embracing the Journey and this one, if they are easily clickable. So here is the new home of Growing Minds of Wisdom... grab a cup of coffee or tea and make yourself at home!

Where we are at:

2008-01-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

I sat down this morning with my teacher book and calendar to evaluate where we are at or how far behind we are and found this:

With 42 weeks scheduled out in our 2007-2008 School Year we are currently in week 11 which is 11 weeks behind where we are scheduled to be on January 9. I know... 11 weeks, I am not even sure how we fell so far behind. A day here, a day there, a week over there, a month here... sigh. Here is my plan:

By January 29 we will be ending week 19 which will have us caught up to 9 weeks leaving us only 2 weeks behind. If we are diligent and catch up to week 20 by the 29 and then stay on course till the end we will finish up by Jun 27 but that is with NO breaks and honestly I don't see that happening because of Easter break which we always travel. We could double up that week before we leave so that we can stay on course. I will have to think about that. June 27 is a okay date to finish up though I would prefer earlier because that only gives us 1 month off before we begin the next year.

Here is what our next 3 weeks look like in each subject:

Bible Truths: We are going to do 1 of 2 things, either just continue as we are in it combining some of the easier lessons together until the end of the year with out stressing it out, just enjoying God’s word where we are or we will substitute this with a more causal bible study and wait until next year to start this again. It was actually a little above Superman’s grade level.
FLL: Simply combining 3 lessons each day until the 25 of Jan and then continue as usual a lesson a day until June 27.

Spelling Workout: We are actually not behind in our spelling lessons but we will be combining so that we will finish them by the 27th because on my schedule I had us finishing 9 weeks after… ? So we will double up on each lesson until the 12 of May where we will then be able to just do 1 lesson a week.

Horizons: In order to catch up in our math we will be doubling x 2 for 2 weeks and then doubling for 1 week and then by the 28 of Jan we will be exactly where we should be. We have already begun to to do this and it is working just fine, he enjoys math and is very quick at it.
SOTW: Read 3 chapters a week with good discussion and lots of books from library until the 4th of February and then we will be caught up.

Science: We are just having fun with space right now, we are not on any schedule. Where ever we are lead until the 27 of June!

Nature Walks: resume as usual

Amazingly we will be able to do this with a lot of prayer and diligence! May God walk with us through the next 6 months of our homeschool year!

Homeschooling with distractions

2008-01-08T16:08:00.000-08:00

With homeschooling it is easy for others to casually think that we can take off at any time since we are home and all. The idea is that we can simply put school on hold for a few hours or even a few days to comply with new plans and this is acceptable in some cases but not always. I have taken school on the road before and in Walmart but when the whole day is going to be sabotaged what do you do? We live out of town and so I want to try and allow both visitors and school to co-exist. Trying to compile all of our subjects into a very small amount of time can be to stressful on all of us and can take away from the in "depth" learning of each subject when we have to do this but it is do-able. I sometimes wish we had our own building that we could run out to and that way we are not "home". This would help with a lot of things such as daily distractions such as phone, cleaning, computers, toys, and cooking and it would take away the casual idea of school because you must actually "go" to school which gives the illusion somehow that it is more important and can't be interrupted. Maybe not but it seems like that is the way it would work.
When considering the daily distractions I am realizing these things:

1. That I need to commit a designated amount s of time strictly to homeschooling. During that time if the phone rings then it will just have to ring, it is not vital that I answer every call in case of an emergency. There is such thing as a message that I can check just for that reason.

2. Cleaning must take a back row seat in our classroom even though the classroom is it's domain. In order to help relieve the temptation of picking up the broom or vacuum I must have a cleaning routine that allows me to have a clean house before we begin school. And then if I allow it to slip and not follow it then I must be disciplined in putting homeschooling as an absolute first.

3. Cooking again needs to have a specific time of its own so that it does not call me away from my priority of teaching my children.

4. The computer and tv. These 2 distractions need to be highly supervised and restricted during any and all school hours. The computer can become a major distraction for me personally and the tv can play a big hindrance in the obtaining of and enjoyment of learning. I hope to give myself an open pass to "play" on the computer or blog at a specific time in the morning only with absolutely no exceptions can my time run over, a bodyguard would be nice to escort me out if I do decide to resist. The tv is restricted until Friday in which they are given 2 hours of time to watch either individual cartoons or 1 select movie.

5. Always start directly on time otherwise the clock can cause havoc.

6. Self can really get in the way to if she is aloud to rein the emotional pool. Let's face it we don't always "feel" like enforcing school on our children because it drains a lot from us and causes us to pour all of the energy that we have out just to get through it all. She is always with you and she is hard to silence sometimes but there is another that is gently guiding you… But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16

Homeschooling is a major responsibility that we have taken on, the education of our children is in our hands and we will be held accountable for what they know and what they do not know. I don’t know about you but I need to take this a little more seriously and be more disciplined at times, there is NO room for a any relaxed learning.

Books and other stuff

2007-12-29T16:11:00.000-08:00

We took the whole month of December off, which was not in our plans. On Monday we will jump into another ring of homeschooling. I am ready to get back into the groove. I was encouraged over the break by a friend/family member to be more organized and disciplined in our daily school. I am the type that is lead by my emotions and so if I don't "feel" like doing something... I usually if possible don't. I have tried to be more orderly before but always gradually go back to my old ways.

I picked up a little gem of a book yesterday while at Halfprice called Talks to Boys by Eleanor Hunt. It sounds like it is going to be a great read aloud, full of values and virtues to discuss and think about. We are still reading Mouse and the Motorcycle, well actually we are picking it back up after I found it under a stack of Christmas papers yesterday. For Christmas the boys were delighted to get a Silverstein of their very own! A Light in the Attic which will become a nightly poetry book I am sure. Silverstein is popular around here, as you know, but there is a new name that we have recently grown very fond of. He is only a few steps right behind ol' Silver. Jack Prelutsky is his name and It's Raining Pigs and Noodles is his game or book. We have really been enjoying it! Silly and fun.

What book are you reading aloud?