Category: school

Not Back-to-School: Part 3

Diana B.6 Comments

It’s week 3 of the Not Back-to-School blog hop, and that means the spotlight moves to the students. Please allow me to introduce my little stars!

Star Student: Laurel, age 4+

Laurel is our sensitive yet spunky almost 5-year-old star student. If she couldn’t be a little girl, she’d be a mermaid no doubt. She loves everything about water (as I mentioned in this earlier post) and has made great strides in swimming lessons this summer, gaining a lot of independence and confidence. She also learned to ride a bike with training wheels and a three-wheel scooter this summer, and she can pump her legs on the swings well enough that the Swing Pusher (that’s me) is out of a job. When she isn’t playing dress-up or plinking around on the piano, Laurel is usually saying something funny and quotable. She just can’t wait for school to start and is joyfully looking forward to reading lessons and an ant farm project with live (gasp!) ants. For her birthday in October, she is asking to have a baby-doll themed party because she really wants a baby doll that drinks real water and wets. (More of that water obsession again.)

Star Student: Linnea, age 7

Linnea is our sweet and studious 7-year-old star student. If she couldn’t be a little girl, she’d be a fairy for sure. She loves exploring God’s creation, and she’s an avid collector of rocks, shells (as I mentioned in this post), sticks, acorns, seeds and anything that she can sneak into her pockets. When she isn’t outside on her scooter, playing with the neighbors or practicing piano, Linnea is most often found curled up with her nose in one of the Boxcar Children books. I think she’s read more than a dozen of them this summer, and a few twice! This summer she has mastered swimming in deep water with confidence, which we discovered at our friends’ pool when she repeatedly jumped off the diving board into eight feet of water and swam to the opposite end multiple times without any adult in the pool. In fact, my husband and I weren’t even watching the first three times she did it. (Don’t worry, another adult was watching from the edge of the pool.)

I am one very blessed mama to have such star students to teach. There’s no one else I’d rather spend my day with! 

Thanks for reading about my little stars! Happy blog hopping!

Not Back-To-School Part 2

Diana B.16 Comments

It’s week two of the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop, and time to put the spotlight on the school room.

Oh, yikes! That room is still under serious construction at the moment! I promise to offer a current photo a little later in this post so you can appreciate how truly disorganized it is. But first, please allow me to share a few shots I took of our school room last fall when things looked most presentable.

This is our classroom in the basement. Glass French doors separate it from the family room.

These fun mini-organizer tool totes for scrapbooking also work great for daily school supplies like scissors, pencils, glue sticks, ruler, eraser and crayons. I found the mini-sized ones last fall on clearance at Archivers and bought one for each of my daughters to keep on their desks. Unfortunately, I just did an online search and could no longer find the mini size, but the regular size Tote-Ally Cool Tools Tote is still available and would hold even more tools and supplies!

This bookcase from Ikea was another very useful purchase.

Besides the fact that it holds loads of books, I love that the shelves are perfectly sized to hold these boxes and many other containers that Ikea sells, too. I have labeled each square by subject or category. So, for instance, we have a square for math and another below it for boxes of math manipulatives. I also store 3-ring-binders for most subjects, boxes of small toys, boxes of school supplies, handwriting paper, construction paper, magazines, flashcards, music CDs, and our listening lab books here. When we first purchased this shelf, my youngest was not quite 3-years-old, and I liked that I could put several books within her reach and store special books and other items safely out of her reach on the higher shelves.

Learning at home doesn’t just happen in the basement, thankfully. The whole world is our classroom! And likewise, the whole house also ends up being our classroom, too. For us, the kitchen area is frequently used, and one item that has been especially useful there is our sensory tub.

In the photo above, the girls are using the tub to sort seashells from our Florida trip. It’s also great workspace for some science projects, but the main reason I purchased it was for educational entertainment during the winter months when it’s too frigid to spend much time exploring outside. The girls have played with dry oatmeal, cornmeal, sand, rocks, rice, water, snow, ice, and play dough in it. The possibilities are truly endless! For more sensory tub ideas with straw, magnets and other items, check out this helpful little video that I found on YouTube:

Okay, if you’re still with me, here’s that work-in-progress photo I promised at the beginning of this post.

See what I mean? Gasp! I better wrap up this post and start putting all this stuff back where it belongs!

Happy blog-hopping!

Not Back-to-School: Part 1

Diana B.6 Comments

As a homeschool family, our “back to school” is obviously a little non-traditional. Nobody regularly loads onto a big yellow bus with her backpack and lunchbox in tow, although 4-year-old Laurel did finally get to ride a big yellow bus this summer on a family field trip to a local dairy farm.

She was thrilled! And even without a big yellow bus to catch daily, we have many little thrills to enjoy when school begins!

Our daily routine and pace change once September arrives and activities like dance and art class start up again. And we do have new fall clothes to wear and new school supplies to unwrap. I seriously love buying school supplies. But — best of all — we have new books and curriculum! Some are still arriving in packages on our front doorstep. How thrilling to unwrap it all, crack open those books, and dig in!

In light of that impending excitement and this being “Curriculum Week” for Heart of the Matter’s Not Back-to-School Blog Hop, I’d like to share what books and curriculum we are planning to use this fall. (By the way, if you read this post, I am happy to announce that some of this has just been decided in the last 48 hours. Yippee!)

DOING TOGETHER:

SECOND GRADER

PRE-SCHOOLER (turning 5 this fall):

To read the curriculum plans of other homeschool families, click the button below and enjoy the Blog Hop!

http://heartofthematteronline.com/not-back-to-school-blog-hop-2

Reading about Reading

Diana B.1 Comment

Listen up, fellow children’s book lovers! Here are some handy resources for chosing books to read to your kids or to give them to read.

I may have already posted some of these links when I posted about preschool at home, so please forgive me if I repeat myself. 

  1. Choosing the Best Books for Our Children
  2. Children’s Book Mondays
  3. Reading is for Girls
  4. Girls of Character: Teaching Biblical Femininity to the Next Generation through Literature: Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV
  5. Reading is for Boys: Part I and Part II
  6. Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt
  7. Books Children Love: A Guide to the Best Children’s Literature
  8. Best Books for Girls: 20 Books She Has Loved
  9. List of Best Picture Books: Some Key Titles to Build a Home Library

And since I know how much you love reading about reading — or maybe you don’t — I have to add just a handful of my own favorite children’s books for the record!

Board Books

  • Jesus Loves Me by Debby Anderson
  • God Lives in My House by Melody Carlson
  • God Goes with Me by Melody Carlson
  • God Made Them All by Melody Carlson
  • I Can Count on God by Melody Carlson
  • The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle
  • Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
  • Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton
  • Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton
  • Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
  • Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
  • Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
  • Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

Picture Books

  • Brave Irene by William Steig
  • A Parable about the King by Beth Moore
  • Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson, illustrated by Dan Andreasen
  • A Picture of God: 3 in 1 by Joanne Marxhausen
  • My First Little House Books (adapted) by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Renee Graef
  • The Little Girl and the Big Bear retold by Joanna Galdone, illustrated by Paul Galdone
  • Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
  • A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry
  • Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin
  • Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin
  • A House Is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman and Betty Fraser
  • The Oak Inside the Acorn by Max Lucado, illustrated by George Angelini
  • The Way Home: A Princess Story by Max Lucado, illustrated by Tristen Elwell

Early Readers

  • Little Bear series by Else Holmelund Minarik
  • Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel
  • Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel
  • Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel
  • Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel

Chapter Books

  •  The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
  • Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery
  • Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace
  • Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series by Betty MacDonald
  • The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh
  • Sarah Whitcher’s Story by Elizabeth Yates

Children’s Bibles

  • Lift-the-Flap Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
  • Lift-the-Flap Bible Adventures by Allia Zobel Nolan
  • My Good Night Bible: 45 Bedtime Bible Stories for Little Ones by Susan L. Lingo
  • The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
  • NIrV Discoverer’s Bible for Young Readers

Well, perhaps that was slightly more than a handful. But really I did it for you, my dear readers!

Quick side note: If you read this post earlier this week, you already know that I am undecided on what to use and what to do with regard to the Bible and history in our homeschool this fall. And now I have another item to add to the confusion: Through the Bible with Your Child . Sigh.

But enough about that. Grab one of these books, plop down in a comfy chair — inside or out — and then snuggle up with your favorite little people. Happy reading, friends!

What to use, what to do?

Diana B.Leave a comment

“What to use, what to do?” That’s the deep question I’ve been asking myself and God lately in regard to homeschool curriculum this fall. I thought I’d have all this settled by now, but I don’t!

A fellow homeschooling friend recently asked me what I’d be using to teach religion/Bible to my 7-year-old second grader. That was a tough one to answer because I haven’t yet figured that out.

The previous two years we have used the materials and Bible lesson plans provided in My Father’s World since Bible study is a big chunk of their curriculum packages. I do not think I’ll be using MFW again until 3rd grade; we used their 2nd grade curriculum this past year so we’ve created a little gap. So now the problem seems to be too many options! And which combination of options is right?

Here’s a list of some the options I’m prayerfully weighing at this point:

  • Reading Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland. It’s for ages 4-8. We’ve had this book for a while, and I think it will work fine for both my 4-year-old and my 7-year-old. But it has only 86 lessons, which will get us just part-way through the year.
  • Reading the Bible in 90 days challenge using the Kids’ Devotional Bible. We may just do the reading part and not stress out about the 90-day part. The handy reading plan for 6 to 10 year olds is pretty nifty.
  • Enrolling in Awana at a nearby church (our home church doesn’t offer it yet).
  • Reading this new family Bible called the Mighty Acts of God by Starr Meade. Here’s a fantastic review of it.

On another note, Ann Voskamp, one of my favorite bloggers, just posted this comprehensive list of 29 well-loved picture books for children. And “well-loved” might downplay it a bit. She literally just duct taped many of these back together for her home library! I’ll be studying this list further to see which books might make good birthday and Christmas gifts. 

Ann also happens to be the author of another book I just received in the mail a few days ago. It’s called A Child’s Geography, and I am so thrilled about working through it this fall. 

The “Reaching out to His World” segment is what sold me on the book.

“Knowledge without love is an empty, heartbreaking gong. It would be a very sad state if our young geographers knew much of His world…but had hearts that were indifferent to the people with whom we share our home. What are we without love? Each chapter includes a “Reaching Out” segment that takes the information of  the chapter and places it into a practical context, encouraging geographers to  do something to show His love to His  world.  We are called to be Christ’s hands and heart to a hurting world. Let’s not fail Him!”   -Ann Voskamp, author of A Child’s Geography

Ann’s words were fresh in my mind yesterday when I stumbled upon the site of an organization I had never before heard about: The White Cross, which provides support for missions work in the U.S. and overseas. They offer a downloadable 56-page book of Mission Service Project opportunities, which I’ll be checking into further to see how what service opportunities might be a good fit for our homeschool and perhaps even our church’s children’s ministry.

Presentation Day

Diana B.4 Comments

Last week our homeschool group held its 2nd annual Presentation Day — a wonderful event that allows the students in our group to display some of their hard work and also perform before a live audience. It’s a fantastic way to wrap up the school year, and it’s also good medicine for us moms! When we are all wiped out at the end of the school year, there’s nothing more encouraging and inspiring than seeing the kids put on an incredible program — piano, violin, guitar, skits, poetry, ballet, singing, live science experiments, and even some magic tricks. It’s also really a treat to check out all the amazing projects other homeschoolers have been working on in art, science, history, etc.

Linnea has been studying U.S. history all year — from the Leif Erickson to Thomas Edison, and from Delaware to Hawaii. So she put together a pretty nifty U.S. history display, which included her tri-corn hat, her paper patchwork quilt, her drawing of the Statue of Liberty, her drawing of George Washington, her replica of the Oregon Trail, her replica of Jamestown 1607, and her 93-page U.S. history scrapbook that she labored over diligently all year.   

the Oregon Trail replica

She also had several pieces of artwork on display from her Friday art class with Mrs. Henriksen. The one pictured above is one of my favorites.

During the special program, Linnea played “Pink Polka Dots” on piano, and then she recited the poem “Bed in Summer” by Robert Lewis Stevenson.

Laurel recited “To the First Robin” by Louisa May Alcott. Then, accompanied on guitar by their dad, the girls sang “Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue.”

They did a fantastic job! I’m so proud of them and all their hard work this year. We all have learned so much and made so many great memories together! I’m enjoying summer, but I’m also looking forward to start fresh again in the fall.

Lovely and Pure

Diana B.4 Comments

“Praise His name with dancing.” -Psalm 149:3

Doesn’t she look as delicate and lovely as a flower?

Here she “sits tall like a dancer” to show off the flowers on the back of her costume.

Linnea’s Ballet 1 class danced to Jack Johnson’s “We Are Going to Be Friends,” from the Curious George movie soundtrack.

Laurel’s Creative Movement class performed skips, twirls and leaps, which were all choreographed by God, as her instructor put it.

She was completely overjoyed with wearing her costume and dancing on the big stage. We weren’t permitted to take pictures during the performance, but here’s a shot from the dress rehearsal.

Aren’t they precious?

School is “Out”

Diana B.Leave a comment

Even though we have yet to finish all our projects, and our last day is still slated for June 4, school is “out” this month.

School is outside: With gorgeous sunny weather, we’ve done lots of schoolwork on the patio.

School is out of order: Lately we seem to be doing schoolwork in the afternoon rather than our usual morning routine, especially on hot days.

School is out-and-about: More and more we take a field trip and call it school for the day. We may not make great progress on book work, but field trips are an essential tool in keeping everyone’s attitude in check.

Even though most of the book work is wrapping up in the next week, school at home doesn’t really end just because it’s summer. So much of what parents do on a regular basis relates to their child’s education somehow: taking them to swimming or piano lessons, teaching them to ride a bike, reading together, visiting the library, modeling behavior and teaching life skills like cooking, cleaning, laundry, money management etc. All are significant learning experiences.

Perhaps the best advice given to me when I was first considering homeschooling was from a dear friend of mine who said, “Diana, you’ll be surprised how much schooling you are already doing.” And indeed, I was surpised by how much of life outside of our curriculum is educational when you really think about. Two years ago I didn’t consider myself an experienced educator, yet homeschooling seemed like a natural next step because I had been my child’s teacher since Day 1. So, I encourage any homeschool newbies out there to read this article and take comfort that it’s really not-so-new territory afterall.

Even though this time of year makes me realize how ongoing and seemingly endless every parent’s job is, I’m feeling a little sentimental, too. And I’m not the only one. I was so touched by this homeschool mom’s letter to her child. It says so much of what I hope my children will remember someday when looking back on their education at home.

Our First Robin Tea Party

Diana B.3 Comments

To the First Robin

by Louisa May Alcott

Welcome, welcome little stranger,

Fear no harm and fear no danger.

We are glad to see you here,

For you sing, “Sweet spring is near!”

Now the white snow melts away,

Now the flowers blossom gay.

Come dear bird and build your nest,

For we love our robin best.

Last month spring arrived in the Frozen Tundra. It came early — about a month earlier than usual — and our family celebrated with a First Robin Tea Party on the last day of March. 

These teas are becoming an annual tradition around here, and we have a lot of fun with them. The only rule for our tea party is that everyone in the family must see a robin in our yard before we can have the party. (By the way, we stole this rule, and the whole tradition actually, from my aunt who also raised two girls in Minnesota.)

My daughters each invited one friend to join us. This way the party counted as lunch and two playdates! I would say we killed three birds with one stone, but that just seems disrespectful in a posting about the first robin.

Anyway, on our menu this year was an assortment of daisy sandwiches served with pretzel sticks, fresh strawberries, and cheese sticks. Laurel enjoyed a cucumber sandwich.

Linnea’s was cheese, and we also served a PB&J sandwich to one of our guests.

The day before the party, the girls and I made these edible nests using chow mein noodles mixed with melted chocolate chips and melted butterscotch chips. I forgot to include melted marshmallows, which really help the “twigs” stick together better. But these turned out pretty cute anyway, especially with the chocolate robin egg candies nestled in them.

During the party, we listened to some music — Carmen MacRae’s “When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bobbin’ Along;” Joel Hansen’s “Songbird;” and “Carnival of the Animals: Aviary” by Saint-Saëns.

The best highlight of the party, though, was when the girls took turns making their own mud pies with earthworms. Here’s Laurel showing the ingredients for such a pie.

  • small graham cracker pie shells (ours were from Keebler)
  • finely crushed chocolate Teddy Grahams (the dirt)
  • milk chocolate pudding (the mud)
  • gummy worms
  • whipped cream (melting snow)

Stick the worm(s) in first and then assemble as desired for a delicious mud pie!

Prior to the party, my daughters and I read A Nest Full of Eggs, by Priscilla Beltz Jenkins, which would have been great to include during the tea party. And, incidently, we found the robin poem by Louisa May Alcott earlier this year when we read a book called Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau’s Flute, which was also a great book.

Happy spring!

The Paramount Reason We Homeschool

Diana B.1 Comment

Homeschooling — that’s what I having been doing with my daughters since birth, though I didn’t really realize it in those early years. Yes, I considered myself a stay-at-home mom, but I never thought of myself as a homeschool mom until much later. Even so, in those early years, we spent hours playing with playdough, baking together, digging in a makeshift sensory tub, going on field trips, coloring, pretending, making up stories and reading, reading, reading all sorts of children’s books. It was very challenging many days, but it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Taking my oldest to preschool when she was almost 5, on the other hand, felt very unnatural. Yes, she had a wonderful time there and made friends. Yes, we both liked her teacher and the teacher’s assistant very much. But I just never had a peace about sending here there, especially after the terrible asthma episode she had that fall. She constantly needed breathing treatments and was still too young to use an inhaler. How I fretted each morning, trying to fit breathing treatments into the already tight morning routine. Then every time I kissed her goodbye, I wondered what her oxygen level was and whether her lungs were working well. Yes I prayed, but I also worried a lot.

In retrospect, I can say that God spoke to me that preschool year. Through my daughter’s asthma and the trials we faced, God showed me that He was calling our family to do something different. He showed me that — at least for now — homeschooling is an opportunity for Him to reveal Himself to our family and display His glory, power and strength.

In her book Discerning the Voice of God, author Priscilla Shirer says,

“When you face two options and each seems to please God, consider the one that displays God’s glory, power and strength. This makes room for God to reveal Himself to you and show Himself through you. God wants us to see the wondrous things He will accomplish in us. Don’t be fearful about the hard road He may ask you to take. Be encouraged and excited about seeing His divine, supernatural activity in and through you… God’s voice commands the option that will display His power. He desires to show Himself strong in you and will encourage you to do things that require trust and faith.”

In deciding to homeschool, I came across many, many reasons why it would be a good fit for our family. But this one  is paramount — that God’s power could be displayed through homeschooling. For me, it requires much trust and faith to educate my kids. Since I don’t have a background in teaching, God really has to show Himself strong in our homeschool. And He does. Even in planning the little details, as you may recall in this post about orchestrating the swans. God is faithful to equip me and encourage me and do it also!

So, whether you are contemplating homeschooling or contemplating some other hard road, may you listen closely to God’s voice and allow Him to display His incomparably great power in your life!