Circle Time Term 2

We just finished up our exams for Term 1 last Friday so today we started Term 2! It's always exciting to start a new term because we get to study new things! Some books stay the same, of course, but some do change and our artist & composer changes too!

Today I thought I would share my Circle Time plans for Term 2 :

8:45 Prayer

8:50 Bible Reading (during Advent I am using selected passages)

9:10 Bible memory work (The Nicene Creed & Psalm 8)

9:15 Poetry - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

9:20 Artist Study - John Constable (Mondays)
        Copywork (Tuesdays/Thursdays)
        Hymn & Folk Song Singing (Wednesdays/Fridays)

9:30 Composer Study - W. A. Mozart (Mondays)
        Spanish Lesson (Tuesdays - Fridays)

9:40 Grammar / Dictation (Mondays/Wednesdays)
        Shakespeare "As You Like It" (Tuesdays/Thursdays)
        Drawing (Fridays)

We are using Simply Charlotte Mason's Artist Portfolios for our John Constable study. The pictures are beautifully done.

This term, our hymn selections are "O God our Help in Ages Past," "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence," and "Great is Thy Faithfulness." Our folk songs will be randomly chosen from my American Treasury of Songs book.

For our study of W.A. Mozart, I created a playlist of Mozart's most famous pieces (it's about 2 hours worth) on my Amazon Prime music library (all free!) that we will slowly listen to over the next 12 weeks. We also listen to the website Classics for Kids on the shows pertaining to Mozart- we do this at lunchtime because the selections are short and sweet.



This website has some free printable pages about Mozart that help the girls stay focused while they are listening to music.

We also will be reading this Opal Wheeler book during our Composer Study time:

We continue to use the Duolingo app on our iPad for our Spanish lessons. It moves pretty fast but the girls are catching on and so far it has worked well. They are able to translate sentences pretty well and their vocab is decent but I've noticed that they don't incorporate many greeting phrases or everyday ways of using Spanish. We will stick with it for at least another term and then reevaluate.

So, these are our Circle Time plans for Term 2, which is the funnest time, because we are doing it all together!

October reading

Before we went on our long road trip, I bought a few new books for the girls to read. They had been recommended and on my list for awhile so I thought this was a great time to purchase them!

For Louisa:

Louisa especially liked The Little White Horse and they both fought over reading it on the way home.

For Kailyn:

Kailyn loved all her books but said Where the Red Fern Grows made her cry. She read it twice on our trip.

Have your kids read any good books lately? I am always looking for suggestions!

We're back.

We are coming up on the end of our first term and it has gone very fast. We've taken a few big trips that were not originally planned for, but we have enjoyed the flexibility that homeschooling gives us!

It's been a challenge to get back into a normal routine after so much travel but I think this upcoming week will be our fist full week of school since September and we are all ready for it!

We did make some great memories on our trips and the girls were learning even though it looks like it was all fun and games :)

Tubing in Northern WA in October! 

Making apple cider

 

Next post I'll try to remember to share the books the girls have been reading!

First Day 2016-17

Our first day of school was last week and this is our picture to memorialize.

Julia absolutely did not want to be left out of the picture and I thought it rather appropriate to include her :)

Kailyn: 5th, Louisa: 3rd, Julia: along for the ride

Great Finds

I really hit up the library book sales last month. There were a few big sales and some small ones too! Thought I'd share with you my great finds!!

Goodbye Mr. Chips, James Hilton
Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Jules Verne
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Dog of Discovery, Laurence Pringle
The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright
Follow my Leader, James Garfield
Magical Melons, Carol Ryrie Brink
The Pushcart War, Jean Merrill
Sacagawea, Judith St. George
Thomas Jefferson, Father of Democracy (Landmark)
Lincoln and Douglas, The Years of Decision (Landmark)
Sam Houston, The Tallest Texan (Landmark)
Joan of Arc (Landmark)

{Those Landmark books were $1 each. Wow. }

And look what I got for FREE today:

Henry and the Clubhouse, Beverly Cleary
Beezus and Ramona, Beverly Cleary
Amelia Bedelia and the Baby, Peggy Parish
Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
The First Four Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Penrod Jashber, Booth Tarkington
Best Friends for Frances, Russell Hoban

I can't even handle it that these Little House books are basically getting tossed. Do kids not read these any more? I have a bad habit of rescuing them though I do try to restrain myself. I am saving them for my grandchildren.

And don't you love the Frances books?!  They crack me up.

Have any of you found anything awesome at book sales this summer?

Year 5 Planning

So, here are my Year 5 plans for 2016-17! So glad to be finished!!!! It's such a relief to know I have every day planned out and that I don't have to think any more about curriculum!

For Bible, as explained with my last Year 3 post, we are going to finish our Picture Smart Bible survey and then start reading through Bruce Ware's book. We'll also be reading from the OT & NT 4 days of the week. They will also have personal Bible reading/devotional time in the afternoons or evenings.

Math- Horizons Math, book 5

History- Ambleside Year 5

Geography- Ambleside Year 5

Shakespeare- We'll be reading Twelfth Night, As You Like It and Comedy of Errors.

Natural History (Science)- Like I mentioned in the previous post, I have given much consideration and thought to the science approach, and am going to veer away from AO (not completely) and follow what Nicole recommends over on her blog. I am actually using her brand new elementary science (Astronomy) for Term 1. For Term 2, we are going to study Engineering using this book (I think Kailyn will really like this one):

For Term 3, we will be studying Weather, using this great book by Eric Sloane:

 We will also be reading books on our specific special studies and trying to do consistent experiments/object lessons.

I am still keeping the Nature Lore book that AO has chosen (The Christian Nature Science Reader 5) and will have Kailyn still read through Great Inventors and their Inventions. She will also be reading Wild Animals I Have Known during her free reading time.

Bible Memory- Together we will be memorizing 1 John chapter 3, Psalm 8, The Nicene Creed and 1 Peter chapter 1.

Literature- Ambleside Year 5

Grammar- Simply Charlotte Mason's Spelling Wisdom and Using Language Well. We'll also be doing regular dictation exercises.

Poetry- Ambleside Year 5

Foreign Language- we used this book for Latin last year and still have quite a few lessons to work through.

 We'll also be learning Spanish together (both girls) during Circle Time. I found this book (Spanish in 10 minutes a day) for $1 at a book sale that I plan to start with and then supplement with other online resources.

 

I am also looking at Speekee-Spanish for kids. It's a rather inexpensive monthly subscription and looks to be decent.

Nature Journaling - we'll be continuing this but more like the suggestions of scientific observation from John Muir Laws book.

 

This is such a cool book. Highly recommend it if you want to get you or your kids started with nature journaling. I am now realizing what a proper nature journal should be and how closely tied to science it is. He offers free lesson plans on his website as well that I want to try and implement once a week or so.

Composer Study- We'll be studying George F. Handel, Amadeus Mozart and Frederic Chopin.

Artist Study- We'll be studying Leonardo da Vinci, John Constable and Edgar Degas.

Hymn Singing- I listed all our hymns for 2016-17 in the previous post. Basically one hymn a month.

Folksong- We'll be going back to our American Folk Song book and continuing to work our way through it. The girls get such a kick out of those old songs. Their personal favorite is "Greensleeves." :)

That wraps up Year 5 planning for 2016-17... we'll be starting soon!

Year 3 Planning

I'm just about done with planning for the 2016-17 school year!!! Yay!!! My girls will be following Ambleside Online's Years 3 and 5 pretty closely. I am making a few minor (and some major) changes and am looking forward to sharing how it has all worked out. If you're not a homeschooling mom... feel free to tune out at this point... no offense will be taken :)

These are my plans for Year 3:

Bible- We are finishing up the Picture Smart Bible survey that we started last year. Then, after we finish, we will read through Big Truths for Young Hearts that we will all read together during our Circle Time every Friday.

Math- Horizons Math . We used it last year and liked it just fine. Lots of repetition.

History- Ambleside Year 3

Geography- Ambleside Year 3 (We chose the Komroff book for our main read and will use the Freedman book as a supplement/resource)

 

 Shakespeare- We will be reading The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night and As You Like It.

Natural History (Science)- I have been listening to A Delectable Education podcast over the summer and am going to be following their suggestions for the sciences. It has caused much weeping and headaches on my part but I think I am finally content and at peace with what I have decided. Anyways, instead of doing one Nature Lore and then a science book, I am having L read two Nature Lore books all year long. If you are really curious which books I picked out, email me... otherwise just go here to pick from Nicole's fabulous list.  :) We are also adding in Special Studies books (changing from term to term and to be read in free time).

Bible Memory- Memorizing Scripture was so good last year! For this next year, I have picked 1 John chapter 3, Psalm 8 and the Nicene Creed, and lastly, 1 Peter chapter 1.  I know the Nicene Creed isn't Bible but Psalm 8 is short and I wanted to fit a creed in. :)

Literature- Ambleside Year 3

Grammar- We'll be using Spelling Wisdom & Using Language Wisely from Simply Charlotte Mason.

 

Poetry- Ambleside Year 3

Foreign Language-  Spanish! Using as many free resources as I can find.

Nature Journal- We are implementing more dry brush drawing and a more scientific approach to Nature Journaling this year. To inspire us, we are going to buy these for each of us:

Winsor Newton Sketchers Pocket Box Set

Composer Study- I've picked different composers for my girls to study than the AO rotation. For what it's worth, we chose Handel, Mozart and Chopin. I mainly picked these because I want to cover the majors before moving to the lesser known composers. I also tried to pick a famous composer from each of their time periods but that also had good, living books for us to read.

Picture Study- I've also chosen different artists for us to study this year, based on our time periods but also I tried to pick artists from the portfolio choices that Simply Charlotte Mason has provided. I chose Leonardo da Vinci, John Constable and Edgar Degas (he was not one of the portfolio options but oh well).

Hymn Singing- I have a list of hymns (different than AO) that I want the girls to learn and put them on a schedule, so the next 8 hymns we'll learn are: A Mighty Fortress is our God, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, O God our Help in Ages Past, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, Great is Thy Faithfulness, Praise Him, Praise Him, O Sacred Head Now Wounded, and O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.

Folksong- We have an American Folksong book that we are working our way through and we will just continue with that instead of the AO rotation.

Hope I'm not forgetting anything but I think that's it! Year 5 plans will be posted soon!

Summer break & George Washington

We have been enjoying our summer break but Louisa asked me this morning if we can start school again at the beginning of August! I was pretty surprised but she said she misses it and likes it. But, we aren't ready (I'm not ready!) to start yet. We have about four weeks left till we officially begin.

I thought I would post some pictures from a day trip we took to visit George Washington's headquarters (when we were in NJ). He wintered in Morristown, NJ over the winter of 1779. They have preserved the "mansion" he lived in (along with all his commanders and staff) and it really is beautiful.

Louisa was given the privilege of unlocking the front door so we could all enter. She had a massive key.

This was George & Martha's room

We took a peek in all the rooms and tried to imagine 40 or so people living in this little mansion. 

It was fun for Kailyn and I to tour the mansion and learn more because we had read about it during our Year 4 history readings but things like this always help history come alive.

Some things to know if you decide to visit:

• There is a great documentary video that you can watch while you are waiting for your tour to start.


• It's a National Park, so if you have a fourth grader, you can get in free!


• Parking is free.


• Tempe Wick's farmhouse is within a close driving distance and provides more living history!

Almost done!

I can't believe it's here but next week is our last week of school! It's gone by so fast! We just have four days left but they both want to continue over the summer with some sort of school. I told them we could do some light work but I think we need to enjoy the summer together! We can always do nature journaling, too. Perhaps math could be continued over the summer and possibly Latin, but we shall see.

As I've thought about our first year of homeschooling, I have realized a few things:

1. Our family is stronger. The girls have a greater appreciation for each other, because when you take away the extras (even though they are good things, like friends, and extra-curricular activities), they are more grateful for one another. Not that they don't participate in extra-curricular things (they do!) and don't have friends but I think sometimes it can be easy to focus on those things when going to school every day.


2. I daresay, my kids are smarter and have learned more! I am pretty impressed with Ambleside Online's curriculum... their website isn't anything to write home about and it probably turns some people off but if you look past that and read up on what the AO advisory team has done, then you will see the benefit of such a rigorous curriculum. The books they have chosen have been a challenge for my kids and I am so grateful since they weren't being challenged to their full capacity at their old school. Their world has been opened through reading good, quality literature and living books.


3. I am a sinful creature. My sin has never been more obvious to me than it has every day this past year of homeschooling. My weaknesses and faults are magnified when I am trying to teach and train my children. It has been very humbling and eye-opening and has taught me to cry out to the Lord on a continual basis for forgiveness and wisdom. This is one benefit I did not see coming but it has been good for me even though it is extremely hard. I didn't realize how much I would benefit from homeschooling. I was simply looking at it as a great thing for my kids but I can see how God has refined and will continue to refine me through it. Not fun, but good.

Birthday Greetings for a Queen

Louisa is studying the Kings of England right now in Year 2. We are currently on Henry VII... don't know how I feel about introducing her to Henry VIII. Anyways, since we are studying the monarchy, we thought we would send the Queen of England a birthday card for her 90th birthday! I found a cute card for her to color, thanks to this website.

Actually there are a lot of cool activities and resources for the English monarchy on the site-  I would definitely recommend checking it out if you are studying the kings and queens.

Louisa was instructed to write in her neatest writing... I gave her some ideas of what she could say but she wrote it herself and enjoyed it. Anyways, we formally addressed the card to the queen and I took a picture because we both got a kick out of addressing it to "Her Majesty the Queen."  :) I did have to add one more stamp... FYI... in case you want to send your own birthday greetings to Her Majesty. They aren't formally celebrating until May 12-15 even though her birthday was April 21. By the way, she is the longest reigning monarch!

Probably won't get a reply but wouldn't it be sweet if we did?? :)

Butterfly Field Trip

We recently went on a field trip to the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum in Chicago!

The highlight of the visit was definitely the butterfly exhibit.

Even Julia loved watching the little birds they have in the butterfly exhibit. She LOVES birds!

We came home and we looked up the names of the butterflies and then they drew them.

Here are their drawings: