Bible Notebooks

I promised a few weeks ago that I'd share more about the girls' Bible notebooks. As I said before, the original idea for this came from The Heart of Wisdom. I hope to gradually implement more ideas from this teaching concept.

We start out on the sofa, a daughter on each side of me as I read one (or sometimes two) day's reading from our chronological Bible, stopping to discuss or answer questions whenever necessary. Most days, we look up something in our Bible dictionary, atlas, or other resource. I like the time with one or both girls leaning on me. {smile}

There are still quite a few things we'll add to our notebooks, but for now the goal is for each of the girls to make at least one Bible notebook page each week. If they feel inspired to do one each day, they can do that -- but so far it's been one each week. Kathryn says Bible time is her favorite subject, and Lindsey seems to be enjoying it, too. I think the pages will get even more creative as we go along, but I'll share what we have so far...

Their first pages (Kathryn's at left, Lindsey's at right):
Lindsey's page from Job (using an illustration she printed out):
Kathryn's version (comic strip concept was totally her own idea!)
Kathryn decided to make her own version of a family tree (left) from our Victor Journey Through the Bible; Lindsey liked the idea, too, so she made one as well (right).I love this as a great way for us all to look back and see what we've studied, and it'll be a nice keepsake for their sentimental Mama, too.

I'll share more once the girls have created a few more pages!

Weekly Wrap-Up

A couple of weeks ago, I began making up a weekly schedule and printing it off for each of the girls. This accomplishes a few things: they like highlighting off the things they've completed, I can see at a glance how much they still have left to do, it's an easy way to keep a record of what we've been doing, and most importantly, it's given me freedom from our pre-written curriculum. I love the Winter Promise program, but if it's all there staring at me, I feel like I have to do it all. Homeschooling is suppose to be flexible -- or at least, for me it is!  But I'm a box-checker at heart, and I tend to become a slave to something that was intended to help me. Making my own schedule frees me from that. Seems like a ridiculously simple solution, but it took me months to figure it out.

Last week Kathryn finished up Horizons 3 math, so she began Horizons 4 this week. I love that homeschooling allows us to work at our own pace, at an appropriate level for each child, no matter what we call their grade number. I actually really dislike the concept of being in a certain grade, but I we go with it for the purposes of state record-keeping, and because it's easier to explain to friends and family. Anyway, Lindsey is still doing Life of Fred, and that's going fine for now, but I'm already considering what I want to do when she finishes that.

I bought both girls their own nature-themed copywork books from Queen Homeschool because I've discovered that Lindsey loves copywork. It's one of the few school-related things she enjoys so far, so I want to encourage that!

We've added creative writing to our weekly schedule, and I'm using lessons from The Write Stuff Adventure. This week the girls both wrote about a spider, based on the itsy bitsy spider song. Kathryn's story amused me greatly. Lindsey did a good story last week about being the only person on earth and then hearing a knock at the door.

Handiwork is something both girls enjoy. Kathryn has done some cross-stitching before, but Lindsey is new to it. We bought a few small (not overwhelming!) cross-stitch sets for the girls and they wanted to start on them right away! This kind of thing is great for practicing patience, too! (I love these kinds of homeschool days!)
In geography this week, we're starting our "visit" to the continent of Africa, which is really cool since it's the only one I've ever been to (other than North America)! We actually even have a few things around the house that we brought back from our trip last summer, and we have lots of photos! Kathryn was labeling the Namib Desert on the map this week, and I told her I'd seen and taken pictures of it from the airplane: that still amazes me!

Despite a few parts the girls have both declared gross (like when the boy has to lick sweat off cow noses to keep from dying in the desert), we're enjoying a new book called Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna. Last week's visit from Beth, with her first-hand stories of women in Uganda and Zambia, and those great necklaces made by the women there, was a perfect intro into our study of Africa.

We still use News Current for current events. Lindsey and Kathryn both read it, and Ken and I always learn something from every edition ourselves!

Nature study this week was quite literally right outside our window! See yesterday's post for photos of a pair of red-tailed hawks having a meal in our yard!

For assigned reading this week, Kathryn began Pollyanna, and Lindsey finished up Understood Betsy. I have no problem choosing books Kathryn loves, but Lindsey has disliked all my picks so far. I don't think she liked my explanation of it being like food; if you're accustomed to junk food, you don't love fresh veggies, and if you're used to twaddle, you don't love good books. Oh, well -- we'll get there! And she is reading it without too much complaint. But suggestions for twaddle-free books for teens are very welcome!!!

Our Bible reading this week has been in Job; heavy stuff to explain to a nine-year-old, but I do love the part where God answers back because I love imagining things like storehouses of snow. The girls have started making pages for their Bible notebooks. Our goal with these notebooks is to cement their learning, and to have a lovely record of what we've been studying.  I'll share some of those pages soon.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Like I said in my previous post, I've felt crummy all week. So we didn't do any cool cultural evenings. We didn't get outdoors to do any cool nature studies. But we did do the essentials, and that's yet another reason I'm so grateful that we are able to homeschool.

This week, Kathryn and I visited Spain and Portugal. One of the things we do as part of our Winter Promise "Children Around the World" lessons each week is add stickers to our Travel With Me maps for the country (or countries) we are visiting. The countries are all labeled in red. Water forms are labeled in blue. Major land forms are labeled in green. You can see our little "travel guide" children, and other stickers of things such as the Flamenco Dancer and The Running of the Bulls for this week, or Tulip Farms and Windmills in The Netherlands, a sheep to represent wool in the United Kingdom, and a potato to represent the Potato Famine in Ireland. Kathryn really enjoys adding the stickers, and the map is displayed at her eye-level in our school room all the time. When we finish Europe, we'll have a new map for a new continent.

Each week we have a few cool websites to visit, for things like a virtual sight-seeing tour of each country, or something extra like when she explored old Spanish galleons online. Some weeks we have additional "cultural experiences" books to read, like this week's Find Out About Spain, which was full of all sorts of fun facts. Kathryn was fascinated by bull fights (and felt sorry for the bulls!), and I was astounded when she read to me about an annual food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the Valencia region of Spain; this festival celebrates the harvest, and is known as La Tomatina.

Kathryn really is learning so much about geography already -- and so am I! This makes it more fun, and we don't have memorize a bunch of boring facts or learn everything all at once. Our globe is getting used more often this year, too!

Kathryn chose our memory verse for the week: Philippians 4:6. We've continued working on Studying God's Word Book D, and she told me she likes the activities in this book better than in the previous ones. In her Prayer and Personal Involvement Journal we're learning about basic needs we all have, like a safe place to live. Part of this week's study referred to things like having shelter after a natural disaster (like a tsunami) or in a war-torn country. I hope this will help us all begin to have a greater appreciation of how greatly we are blessed. The other part of this week's lesson was about Foster Care. I think, because of all we've talked about for the nearly two years we've been going through the process of adoption (getting approved & all that), that Kathryn has a better understanding of this than the average 9-year-old. But I'm very glad this topic is covered!

Lindsey missed classes on Tuesday because she wasn't feeling well, either. She made up her work, and felt good enough to go to choir practice and youth group Wednesday night. On Thursday, she went on a field trip with a group from school to see the play Julius Caesar at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. She was most impressed by the fake blood used in the stabbing scene, and that was the first question she asked when they had a question-and-answer time with the actors after the play. {grin}

Lindsey was very impressed with herself in knowing much of her Physical Science stuff before looking it up. She said she felt smart. I hope this sort of thing, as well as last week's excellent grade on her English essay, etc., will begin to build her confidence in her ability to learn. I don't think she's had a lot of positive experiences/feedback in school in previous years. We just found out that she'll be having yet another new English teacher; I'm disappointed about this because she was really doing well with the interim teacher (who I though would be the teacher for the remainder of the year).

Last week was Lindsey's first Sunday helping lead worship in Kid's Church, and she loved it. This week will be her first choir performance at church. Kathryn had another Brownie meeting this week; I wasn't crazy about the Halloween crafts they did (we don't do Halloween), but the crafts did give me some ideas for crafts here at home. The acorns painted to look like pumpkins were cute, though!

Stop by to see Kris for more of this week's "Weekly Wrap-Up" participants.

Curriculum!

Yea! It's time to share what I've got planned curriculum-wise for our 2009/2010 School Year! I am so excited, and really looking forward to this year! I need to make more copies, buy a few more supplies, and do quite a bit more organizing. I think we'll start--gradually--as soon as I find a place to store all the book that have exploded on our school room table!

Kathryn – 3rd Grade:
History, Geography, Literature: Winter Promise' “Children Around the World.” We'll be reading wonderful literature about the history and culture of many countries around the world, from Australia to Zimbabwe. Kathryn will study maps, learn the location of these countries, and create an international “travel” notebook to document what she learns about each country. We'll also do crafts, make foods, and have fun “cultural gatherings” week based on the country we're studying that week.

Bible: Kathryn and Lindsey will keep a Prayer and Personal Involvement Journal (also part of the Winter Promise curriculum) as we learn about the needs of children around the world. We will also study a Biblical character trait each week.

Math: Kathryn will finish up Horizons 3 and move into Horizons 4, doing four lessons each week. We'll also incorporate about one lesson each week from Family Math, based on what math concepts we are learning or if we need to work on a particular concept.

Science: We'll do a lesson each week from Christian Kids Explore Biology. We'll supplement that with fun experiments from Janice VanCleave's The Human Body for Every Kid and Science Around the Year. We'll also continue doing nature studies (some of Barb's Outdoor Hour Challenges and some of our own)  and nature journaling. Lindsey has never done any nature study or nature journaling, but she says she thinks it'll be fun. I do, too!

Art: One day each week, Kathryn and Lindsey will do a drawing lesson, using Mona Brookes' Drawing with Children. I plan to participate, too. My drawing skills could use some work, and I like to try to stretch my brain by doing things outside of what I "normally" do. 

 

Additional:

Kathryn will do about one page each day in the Italic D workbook, and we'll enjoy poetry from Favorite Poems Old and New, among others.

Lindsey – 8th Grade:

Lindsey will attend classes two days each week in the "Independent Studies" homeschool program at our church. We believe it'll be a great transition for her from public school last year, but it will definitely be more of a challenge. She'll be taking the following classes:

English 8 (using Rod & Staff's Preparing for Usefulness)
Algebra 1 (using a textbook from Glencoe)
American History (using A Beka's America Land I Love plus historical literature books)
Spanish (using Paso a Paso)
Physical Science (using Apologia's Exploring Creating with Physical Science)

She'll also participate in Bible study, art, nature study, and poetry with us at home (see above).

I can't wait to get started! So far, as I go through these books and curriculums, and as I do more week-by-week planning, I am just tickled with everything. I love the variety, the freedom, the flexibility, and the joy we have in homeschooling! 

Tentative Homeschool Plans

For a blog that started out as a mostly homeschooling blog, I sure do cover a bunch of other topics! Lately this hundred-mile-an-hour adoption ride we're on has been our biggest focus here on my blog and in real life. Of course we still have all the "usual" things going on, too: Ken's day job; miscellaneous household chores and projects; photography work; plus occasional extras like this weekend's birthday party for Brandon, who turned 18 last Sunday!

I've decided to use Winter Promise for Kathryn's third grade year. It is a little more pricey than some other curriculum, but when compared with private school, or even with the fees and such for activities, yearbooks, and so on that we paid for Brandon in public school, it's not so bad. I haven't ordered it yet, but I look forward to doing so now that I've done a bit of organizing to make room for it on our shelves! This year we'll do a themed program called "Children Around the World." I love the focus on geography, which is an area where we've been lacking, and I love all the fun things we can add in, like making dolls from a 1939 book called Homemade Dolls in Foreign Dress that I found at an antique store.

I'm working on a list of the other things I'll be using for our remaining subjects, and once I have it all in hand, I'll write about everything we'll be doing and using.

We are officially taking summer off, partly because Kathryn spends a few weeks with her dad in the summer, and partly because of all the stuff we have going on right now. We'll keep doing some informal things, though, like plenty of reading, as well as some nature study when it's not 97 degrees outside. (Hot, humid Georgia summers!)

Our hope is that we'll get the approval from the state to be able to enroll Anne in the hybrid homeschool program at our church. She's open to the idea, and the director of the school has given the okay, so we just need the state to give an official "yes." Generally, homeschooling is not allowed while the child is still considered a foster child, but because it is an accredited program, everyone we've talked to so far (caseworker, supervisor, director of the DFCS office) feels that we should be able to do it. After the adoption is official, we can choose whatever schooling option we want, but it's that in-between time (usually six months or so) that we're concerned about. If we're able to do that, she'll attend classes two days each week, and do school at home the other days of the week. I am hoping for an affirmative answer soon so we can make more definite plans.

Summary of Our School Year

For those interested, I'm posting a summary of our completed 1st grade year. We followed Year One of Ambleside Online's free curriculum and added in some other things we loved. Our focus is a literature-rich education with lots of hands-on nature study, and of course, pointing everything back to the One who created it all. I started to write about which books & activities were our favorites, but we loved them all! If you have questions about any of this, please feel free to email me!

So here is Kathryn’s First Grade Year ~ (by subject)
Language Arts:
Literature
· Tales from Shakespeare ~ by Charles Lamb
· The Blue Fairy Book ~ by Andrew Lang
· Just So Stories ~ by Rudyard Kipling
· Parables from Nature ~ by Margaret Gatty
· Aesop’s Fables
· Doors to Discovery (Reading to Learn series)
~ Additional free reading (see below)

Poetry
· A Child’s Garden of Verses ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
· When We Were Very Young ~ A.A. Milne
· Now We Are Six ~ A.A. Milne
· The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse ~ various poets

Phonics
· Explode the Code - Book 4

Penmanship
· Draw Write Now - Book 1
· Other copywork (from poems) daily

Science
· God’s Amazing Creatures devotional book
· James Herriot’s Treasury for Children
· Burgess Bird Book ~ by Thornton Burgess
· Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 1
· Weekly nature study
· Field Trips:
~ Slim Goodbody “Bodycology Tour”
~ Cagle’s Dairy tour
~ Yellow River Game Ranch

Math
· Saxon Math Grade 2
· Thinking Skills workbook Grade 1

Social Studies
Geography
· Paddle to the Sea ~ by Holling C Holling
· Map Skills workbook Grade One
· Create a notebook about the 50 states
· Study and create our own US map

World History
· Our Island Story ~ by H.E. Marshall
· Fifty Famous Stories Retold ~ by James Baldwin
· Viking Tales ~ by Jennie Hall
· Story of the World Vol. 1 ~ by Susan Wise Bauer

Biographies/American History
· Ben Franklin ~ by Ingri D'Aulaire
· George Washington ~ by Ingri D'Aulaire
· Pocahontas ~ by Ingri D'Aulaire
· Buffalo Bill ~ by Ingri D'Aulaire
· Columbus ~ by Ingri D'Aulaire
· Field Trips:
~ A.H. Stephens House
~ Civil War Museum

Current Events
· Weekly God’s World “Taking Off” Newsletter

Bible
· The Child’s Story Bible ~ by Catherine Vos
· Studying God’s Word Book B
· Weekly memory verse

Art:
· Joseph the Canada Goose ~ a drawing program by Barry Stebbing
· Study famous artists and their works in books:
~ Katie Meets the Impressionists
~ Camille and the Sunflowers - Van Gogh
~ The Boy Who Loved to Draw - Benjamin West
~ Drawing with Scissors - Henri Matisse

Music:
· Practice playing piano
· Listen to classical music from various composers
· Hymns for a Kid’s Heart: learn about composers
· Field Trips:
~ “Once Upon A Time at the Opera” – Atlanta Opera
~ “Cobb Symphony Orchestra” concerts

Handicrafts: Weekly sewing, embroidery, or similar project

Free (Independent) Reading~ Some of these books are historical fiction, a few are biographies, and some are just plain fun:
Yonder Mountain by Millie Howard
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Black Beauty (unabridged version) by Anna Sewell
Grandma’s Attic Series by Arleta Richardson
The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett
The Doll’s House by Rumer Godden
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
The Quilt by T.Davis Bunn
Out of Darkness (biography of Louis Braille)~ by Russell Freedman
“American Girls” books: Felicity series; Josephina series; Addy series
Exodus by Brian Wildsmith
Sarah’s New World (a Mayflower Adventure) by Colleen Reece
Frontier Family by Maria Wilkes
Brookfield Days by Maria Wilkes
Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley
Down to the Bonny Glen by Melissa Wiley
Beyond the Heather Hills by Melissa Wiley
Betsy’s River Adventure (1808) by Vera Jones
Kate and the Spies (American Revolution) by JoAnn Grote
Lydia the Patriot (Am.Revolution) by Susan Martins Miller
Nellie the Brave (Trail of Tears) by Veda Boyd Jones
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Meg Follows a Dream by Norma Jean Lute
Emily Makes a Difference by JoAnn Grote
These Are My People (biography of missionary Gladys Aylward)

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Unofficially, we're continuing school year-round, but with a lot more free time during these hot summer months. We're still doing weekly nature studies, as well as more free reading, and a little reviewing of math skills and such. We've recently begun rehearsals for a community theater production of "Anne of Green Gables", so that's one book we'll read together (aloud). When I complete plans for our upcoming year (almost done!), I'll post that as well.