Planning 9th Grade with Ambleside Online

We are officially entering the high school years at our house with K! We will be using Year 9 in Ambleside Online, adjusted to meet her needs. It's no joke that there is quite a bit of extra planning needed in preparation for these upper years! I found myself quite overwhelmed at times and am hoping I haven't overdone it with the book load, but we can always cut back and move things around if she finds it too much work. This daughter is a high achiever and loves to learn about such a variety of things that I think she will really enjoy the books and still continue to read in her spare time :). 

Reflections on Y6 and Y8 with Ambleside Online

I can't quite wrap my mind around it, but we are done with school! We just finished Year 6 and Year 8 with Ambleside Online and it was fabulous. I feel like I also learned a ton, right alongside them!

Watercolor Narrations from Y6 & Y8 over the past few weeks

Homeschool Quarantine Update

We almost died... thanks to quarantine stress. I kid but not really. 

The beginning of April was rough - the stress was coming from all sides (church ministry, homeschooling and life as a family) and suddenly, I just couldn't handle it anymore so we took a much needed break... it ended up being a two week break and it was definitely worth it. We did a lot of outside playing, spring cleaning, celebrated the twins turning three years old and had hours of reading for fun. The older girls did some drawing, composing and writing, too. Now, we are back at it and just have a few weeks left of our school year!

Lent with J.S. Bach

Today is Ash Wednesday and this year, we are trying to do a more intentional Lenten observance in our homeschool. A few years ago, I came across this 40 day musical and Scriptural Lenten devotional that uses Bach's St. Matthew's Passion but I put it on the back burner, waiting for a good season to attempt a listen. I (embarrassingly enough) have never listened to this oratorio and because it is sung in German, know it will be a good stretch for our naturally impatient ears. However, I thought it would be a good discipline for the three of us to do each afternoon when the younger kids are napping/quiet-timing.

Woodburning {Handicrafts}

This term we are working on wood burning! It's totally different than our last handicraft (embroidery) but the girls have enjoyed it so far. This could come in handy for so many different gift ideas or artwork - just look at these examples:

via

First Week Almost Done!

Well, we may be limping to the finish line... but we are almost done with our first week of the school year! We're limping because of a stomach bug that made its way through our house, but thankfully, none of the school girls caught it...

Kailyn: 8th, Louisa: 6th, Julia and Judah really wanted to show off their fingers and Aleah might consider participating next year...

Easy Art Projects

My girls had been asking to do more art since I majorly dropped the ball on doing anything hands-on for the past two terms {I am blaming it on pregnancy and shock of twins}. Anyways, the past few weeks we have succeeded in creating some fun and very easy art! I thought I would share them here in case any of you are in a rut and need some ideas. My idea of easy is: basic supplies that we already have on hand and no preparation on my part.

Civil War living books

I thought I would share some of Kailyn's favorite Civil War era living books that she has enjoyed the past few weeks. She is such a voracious reader that it is hard to keep her stocked with good, quality books but I try! These books are not part of our curriculum, but she reads them in her free time or for her "free reading time" each day.

A letter from the Queen

Yes, we did receive a response from the Queen of England!!! :) I should say, Louisa received a response from the Queen! Remember my post about the letter Louisa sent last year for the Queen's 90th birthday? Well, look what came in the mail yesterday...

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!

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!

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: