Land Animals!

We love our Science lessons using Apologia Zoology books!

In preparation for our next book, Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day

I created~

Pictures of all land animals mentioned in the book (isn’t Wikipedia the best?)

Alphabetic list of land animals (use for name search or a game of animal Bingo?)Classification Table with each order on a new page

Some Tips & Ideas ~

1. Cut and paste each animal on a world map where it naturally is found
2. Arrange animals in country groups
3. Cut out and group/ classify all the animals
4. Paste/ arrange on the classification table
5. Place animals on a classification tree
6. Make an animal mobile and hang the animals in groups
7. Find out the animal’s status – extinct, threatened, commonly found etc.
8. Play animal bingo with these cards and the animal word list

Some good references ~

• sheppardsoftware.com online animal classification game
• bbc.co.uk online game
• animals.pppst.com power point presentations and games
• wartgames.com
• teachersdomain.org wonderful online game suitable for younger children

Here are your free downloads ~

1. Pictures ~ Land Animal Pictures
   
2. Classification table ~ Table Classification of land animals
   

Blessings,

Some Christian homeschoolers object to all fantasy.  Some oppose fiction altogether.  They believe that Christians should only be interested in truth, and they only read biographies, histories and non-fiction.

Other Christians homeschoolers embrace all fantasy; stories containing ancient myths, paganism and the popular Harry Potter books.

I was conflicted about this some years ago.  I mixed with homeschooling parents who strongly stood for both of these views and I found it to be a contentious issue.

I could not abandon imagination, fiction and fantasy.

I needed to find a place of discernment.  In the process we watched some Christian DVD’s on this, and we “cleaned house“; we burnt books, toys, jewelery, music, DVD’s, videos, clothing ….  It was a tremendously liberating, yet difficult process.

But in the 3 or so years that followed, we re-examined some choices.  My kids regretted the destruction of some items and I was still caught in a “grey area” on the issue of our schooling choices of our fiction and fantasy books.

Personally, in those 3 years, my quiet times and journalling became dutiful, colourless.  I sought the Lord and asked for His truth and freedom.

During a fellowship gathering in October last year, I experienced the Lord in a profoundly new way.

I had a vision.

Not only did the vision unfold as I sat quietly, but it continued with ministry, until it was a full story.

I was wonderfully set free.

In the days following this vision, I needed God’s confirmation.

Was it all just in my imagination?

In His word, I read in Jeremiah 1: 9-12 where the Lord asks Jeremiah,

” What do you see?” (asks him about a vision)

Jeremiah tells the Lord what he sees (a vision of an almond branch) and the Lord says,

“You have seen well (God agrees with Jeremiah’s vision), for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.”

I was fully liberated.

God Himself speaks through visions and dreams.

My quiet times are now fresh and creative.

I have a new spiritual journal – a spiral notebook with blank pages and my entries are filled with pictures, poems, prayers, colours, patterns.

Sanctified imagination is not evil.

It is God’s gift to us.

I recently started reading a book The Soul of the Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe by Gene Veith, written in two parts.  The first part is an exposition of the story, its symbolism and themes, and the second part he delves into larger issues regarding Christian (and also non-Christian and even anti-Christian) fantasy.

He mentions that The Chronicles of Narnia persuade young readers towards Christianity, just as Harry Potter books were written to persuade readers towards atheism.

C.S. Lewis wrote the marvellous truths of Christianity in Narnia, his fairy tale and Lewis said,

“Supposing that by casting all these things (Christianity) into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stain-glass and Sunday school associations, one could make them for their time appear in their potency?  Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons?”

Gene Veith says that imagination needs training just as the intellect does.  He says,

“When we read, we exercise our imagination, picturing what is happening as we process the author’s words.  With television and movies, someone else has imagined the story for us.”

He describes the spiritual realm as great abstract concepts, and that the Bible contains historical narratives and poetic literature and spiritual descriptions and images of God’s invisible kingdom and the return of Christ.

It is important for a child to know that when a human author creates a world, it exists only in the writer’s imagination and in his readers’ minds, but when God creates a world, it actually exists.

Veith says,

“The challenge is to discern the difference between good fantasy and bad fantasy, recognizing not only the content, but also its effects on the reader.”

and,

“Children who have a strong sense of functionality and who know that there is a difference between the story and the actual world are inoculated against most of the bad effects of fantasy.”

As our homeschooling unfolds, I am inspired.

Imagination is a wonderful God-breathed tool to be used for Good.

How has the Lord led you in these areas?

Blessings,

This post was submitted and inspired by the upcoming CM Carnival’s theme ~ “Imagination”.  Join us!

This month’s theme features ~

Where our family learns

Before we start a new school year, I spend a few days and de-clutter, pack away and re-stock the school shelves and rearrange the books for 2012.

Here’s a peep into our school room with some more of my organizational tips 1 and 2.  (I had fun on Picasa and created some collages of our old photos.)

The kids’ side ~

1. Book shelves – for anyone who enters our school room, it is obvious this is where our learning happens, but we are flexible and do school work elsewhere when we need to, but we store everything  back here.
2. Round table – 3 of us can sit around it and view the same book or white board and share the same box of markers or pencil crayons in the middle,  and I can squeeze in between who ever needs my help.
   
3. Plastic table-cloth – a neat, pretty and practical solution – we wipe paint or glue off in a jiffy.
4. Chair bags – all textbooks, files, minioffice, readers, etc. on hand so that each child stays in their seat.
5. Individual pencil bags - each child has their own scissors, pens, pencils, ruler, glue and white board marker
6. Stationary station – once a year I buy the largest sets of colouring pencils and big set of thin felt-tipped pens (markers), some glitter pens, stamps etc and put them each in their own boxes which tuck neatly into a larger box stored on the shelf.  We just pull out the box we need for the lesson and share the loot.
7. Paper and card drawers – coloured paper and card, scrapbook papers etc. in plastic shelves for any project or activity.
8. Clipboards – tucked in on the bookshelf – we grab these to go outside to do nature study or art activities elsewhere.
9. Large white board – for my “teacher” moments for quick lessons, but it is used more often for a place to hang maps, timelines or pictures.
10. Small white tiles – these are cheap (loose tiles I picked up after a renovation job), each with a dog-clip and sponge, the kids use these for individual spelling and maths drills and I write vocabulary in a word-bank for young narrators. (Note: not one tile has ever broken, but tiles chip or shatter if they fall.)
    
11. Computer desk – I have saved for a new computer since my post here, and at last, we have a neat, new system!  Headphones and educational games in CD disk holder are really handy.
12. Colour-coded books – thanks to Sonlight, we have their coloured stickers which help us keep readers and read alouds in their relevant groups.
13. Nature study bags – we each have our own nature study bag with our own waterpaints, water bottle, nature study books and magnifier glass ready, hanging at the door.                                                                         
14. Notebook files – each child has their own small file with dividers for each subject for current work.  They file completed notebook pages in a large file and bind their notes at the end of the year.
15. World map and timeline chart - I love to use laminated maps and write and paste pictures, current events, places in our history books, journeys, etc

My side ~

1. My desk - I’m territorial [smile] and I love my own place to work and plan, blog and pray.  I’ve just made a lovely new quilted mat for under my laptop.  I always feel good when the clutter is under control, so I try clear my desk every day week.
2. Chair on wheels – I’m a mom on the move!  I whizz to the kids’ table and back to my desk and sit where ever I am needed.
3. Laptop – I love my laptop!  Need I say anything more?
4. Printer – is vital to our schooling.  The ink refill guy sees me at least once a month [smile].
5. Notice board – a place to pin and keep my notes of things to do, calls to make, etc.
6. Calendar – I print out a nice, large-boxed month calendar each year and keep records of school terms, visits, appointments, trips, farm information such as rainfall, cow’s lactation cycles (yes, really!) vegetable plantings, blog stats and carnival themes and dates etc. – it’s my quick reference.
   
7. In/ Out trays – I bought these last year and it has kept the clutter off my desk, which I love.  I file all downloads and printouts on the bottom shelf weekly.
8. Reference books – Right next to my desk, I can grab my favourite books easily.
9. Planning files – I have large year files for each main curriculum on the shelf and a monthly file with everyone’s current work that generally lies on my desk.
10. Laminator – It is one fairly expensive item I bought some years ago that I love and use!  I laminate important charts, pictures and cards that we use often.  Stuff lasts and lasts, and looks good years later!
11. Binder – my newest office item!  I so wanted a ProClick binder, but Amazon does not post to my part of the world, so I bought a little binder and use this to create neat notebooks for some subjects and to bind the kids’ 2011 notebook pages.
12. Paper guillotine – we all use this often!  (I bought mine when I was still a public school teacher)

It is lovely to have a dedicated school room, but when we travelled for 18 months some years ago, all that we really needed fitted into a small suitcase ~

• an atlas
• laminated world map that folds up
• light plastic white board and markers
• a pocket-sized dictionary and thesaurus
• Bible, concordance
• punched exam pads and notebook files
• selected reference books
• books for our main core studies
• writing journals
• maths unifix cubes in Ziploc bag

What works for you and your family and where do you and your family learn?

Blessings,

How can you do all this with one simple page ?

• learn hymn words

• practice neat handwriting

• meditate on new word’s meanings

• express personal faith

• practice short sweet writing lessons daily

• memorize a weekly recitation

• encourage personal response to hymns

Hymn copywork is an easy way to accomplish all this.

Keeping short lessons in mind, try Charlotte Mason’s approach to teaching neat handwriting ~

• Once your child knows how to form all his letters ( use a laminated handwriting chart for simple, easy lessons), let him transcribe/copy a line/ short section of the hymn each day
• Copy a verse each week until he has copied the hymn in full.
• Young children may manage just one line each day and complete a verse in the week
• Encourage your child to memorize the verse he copied ~ read it aloud daily and recite it at the end of the week.
• Discuss and look up new words, write meanings in their personal dictionary or hymn page (we use Jimmie’s Collage hymn pages).
• Encourage a personal response to the hymn.
• Play the hymn while the child writes out the verse.
• Write a personal response to the writing prompt for each hymn at the bottom of the page.

Our Hymn Schedule for 2012 covers 1 hymn for each month.

Here’s your free download ~

For young writers – dotted lined pages ~ Hymns 2012 Copywork dotted lines

Simple lined pages ~ Hymns 2012 Copywork

Blessings,

All Things Bright and Beautiful

Patti, a mother of 11, grandma to three, keeps a country household and teaches her precious children

says,

“Friends have sometimes said to me, I’d love to do picture study and classical music and poetry with my children, but I just never find the time.  If you find yourself in this position and would like to share these things with your children but just don’t know where to begin or don’t have the time to prepare, or maybe you’d just like a little culture in your life but don’t have time to pursue it on your own this blog is a gift for you.

I enjoy sharing classical music, art and poetry with my children and wanted to invite others to share the wonder and beauty of what we are discovering together. 

I hope to post regularly – hopefully weekly so you can use these in your home school if you would like.  We will look at one artist’s work for a few weeks in a row and one composer’s work and a poet in that way, also.”

Her selections are truly beautiful and inspiring.

Here’s an example from this week’s post ~

Picture Study

Joseph Farquaharson’s “A Winter’s Morning”

All her pictures are on public domain and you may make copies for your children.

For Music

Beautiful and peaceful guitar music of Ferdinando Carulli – today’s piece is Etude  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0btBVhYx3E

Poetry

Patti featured  Amy Carmichael this month and posted “Let Us Look Up“

So, for new CM moms, Patti has made your fine arts studies easy.  Just pop over and visit her blog and enjoy all her bright and beautiful things.

Blessings,

Many people start afresh ~

New Year resolutions

New plans

New goals

Did you know the Charlotte Mason’s birthday was January 1st?

A new CM year …

Every year I am determined to delve deeper

refine our CM approach

raise my expectations as the children mature

add new disciplines or subjects

encourage my children to take it up a notch

In honor of Ms. Mason’s name ~

• M ~ mentor character & good habits, mind-food through Living Books, masterly inactivity

• A ~ art & music & poetry appreciation, attentive listening

• S ~ short lessons, sing hymns, Shakespeare, Scripture memorization

• O ~ observe details in nature study, art & music, only once read chapter aloud

• N ~ narration, notebooks, nature study

But, truly, homeschooling is so much more than CM or curriculum, philosophy or approach, standards or subjects.

Recently I spent time researching my 17-year-old’s tertiary education options and I realized that my time left homeschooling her is so precious.   Already she has spread and flapped her wings and wants to take flight.  It is all quickly nearly over, this special time of learning and growing together.

Already, it is different.  I no longer lead. She and I sit side by side and talk, question, and discuss all the options.  I encourage, she takes the lead and carves out her destiny.

I marvel how my sweet, intelligent, talkative little 5-year-old has become a strong, focussed young lady with definite plans and hopes and dreams.  She wants to use her passions and talents in creative, unique ways.

I thank Miss Charlotte Mason for her rich Fine Arts, never-to-be-forgotten-living-books, narrated-notebooking-instead-of-workbooks education.

Wonderful memories of a (may I use this) gentle education.

She has given our homeschooling wings!

Celebrate a new year of CM-inspired homeschool with me!

Pop over to my Charlotte Mason page for more.

This post was submitted to the CM Carnival.  Join us there for a feast of CM inspiration and memories.

Blessings,

Plans can go wrong!

Ever had an “Oops!” in homeschooling?

I recently saw an accordion-fold timeline at Get in the Fold (a really clever, neat idea here), but she discovered her “Beautiful Oops” when the timeline space was not big enough for the project.  She turned the miscalculation into a wonderful student-led challenge to make their own foldables so that their presentation would fit in the folder.

Rebecca and Donna’s post led me to Margaret Berry Wilson‘s Fruitful Mistakes at Responsive Classroom.

I loved her suggestions for “bouncing back from mistakes” and helping children develop confidence and problem-solving skills in their “Oops” moments:

• Respond carefully when students make mistakes.
• Share children’s books celebrating mistakes -Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg and for older students,  Accidents May Happen by Charlotte Jones.
• Do more open-ended projects and ask more open-ended questions. 
• Share your mistakes and the lessons learned from them.
• Encourage children to share and reflect on mistakes. 

So, when plans go a “pear-shaped” (yes, fruity-pun!)

breathe,

let go of perfection,

resist self-condemnation,

and trust the Lord to lead you and your children

to discover unexpected fruitful  solutions.

Blessings,

Each year I create fresh dividers for each subject.

Here are the latest cover pages for 2012 ~

I used a variety of fonts and clipart for each subject.

You are welcome to download these

and use them as is  ~ Cover Pages Variety pdf

or Word doc to make your own changes ~ Cover Pages Variety docx

Blessings,

Busy planning for the new year …

This time I’m working on starting a journey with

Shakespeare

This past quarter I read Julius Caesar aloud to my Grade 10 daughter. 

We spent several afternoons reading aloud together and we enjoyed the play. 

I was amazed. 

She enjoyed it! 

Really engrossed. 

No problems with language, weird words,

very little confusion about antagonists and protagonists, plot and themes.

So,

I thought,

now I’m ready to start Shakespeare with my younger kids.

I have ~

• several Shakespeare plays (some with detailed student notes)
• the book Shakespeare For Children: Tales From Shakespeare (1879) by Charles Lamb
• the pdf download  Tales Of Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
• audio recordings  Shakespeare For The Ears I purchased 2 years ago (remember I confessed that I don’t do it all) from HomeschoolRadioShows.com
• looked at Jimmie’s Shakespeare for Children Squidoo lens

I thought … this is how we’ll do Shakespeare ~

1. Listen to the audio recording of a chosen play.  Maybe twice or so.  Get a good over-view.
2. I’ll read the same play from Tales Of Shakespeare by Lamb.  Chat about the story, characters etc.
3. Finally, I’ll read the play over several afternoons or evenings aloud to the family.  The real thing.  In full.

I listened to some of the MP3 recordings.  They are great.  Well narrated. 

But … I had some reservations …

I felt they were like a meal-replacement milkshake.

They taste ok, give nutrients, but not genuine food.

Books are real food.

Reading your own book or listening to a read aloud

you can taste the words,

chew the meanings,

digest the story

and learn

and grow.

And to confirm my thoughts on this, I came across an excellent and thought-provoking post on Audiobooks by Jeanne at Oh Peaceful Day.  She made such good points – both educational and personal :

Why she prefers to read aloud instead of audiobooks ~

… When I read these stories aloud, I do some judicious editing to remove the profanities and blasphemies, thereby making the classic stories acceptable for their 9 yo audience…

And what do you make of this?

… I can’t see how a child’s reading comprehension improves by listening to a book . Most importantly, I do not see that audiobooks nurture a love of reading. In fact, I am inclined to think they do the opposite, cultivating a lazy child who is not willing to master the mechanics of reading for himself. Miss Mason speaks of this in Home Education:

We must remember the natural inertness of a child’s mind; give him the habit of being read to, and he will steadily shirk the labour of reading for himself; indeed, we all like to be spoon-fed with our intellectual meat, or we should read and think more for ourselves and be less eager to run after lectures.

Home Education p228

Later she says ~

… The real reason that I don’t use audiobooks is because one day when I’m dead and gone, I want J to remember my voice …

… I’m going to stick with read alouds. I’m going to make the most of every minute I have left. I’m going to snuggle together on the sofa with my daughter and read, read, read …

So, I’ll give my plans and the audio recordings a shot.  If it is like candy floss, quickly diluted into a sticky mess, I’ll just pick up the orignal play and read aloud.  I’ll let you know!

It has worked for everything else. 

It should work for Shakespeare.

How have you done Shakespeare with your middle schoolers?  And what are your thoughts on audiobooks?

Blessings,

This post is part of the 314th Carnival of Homeschooling.

I  loved  these wonderful spiritual songs.

My young children sang along too,

but I hope for much more …

I trust the Lord

that as they learn hymns

their spirits be ignited by Faith-filled words,

their faith strengthened by words of Truth,

their minds renewed with Scripture-based words,

and that their own words will echo these words of Hope.

To this end I scheduled a Hymn for each month

and typed a small Hymn booklet for each year.

As with my Fine Arts plans, I used Ambleside Online’s Hymn schedule as a basic guideline, and matched their hymns to my CD hymn collection for our schedule.

Free downloads ~

• Hymn Schedule 2012 ~ with 12 hymns including the words (adapted for our CD recordings), lyric and music biography pictures, a Scripture that inspired the hymn.
• Hymn Booklet Vol 1 Vol 2 ~ small, narrow booklet with 2011 and 2012′s scheduled hymns.  Print out the pages and then concertina-fold them and glue them together to form 2 little booklets.  (I wish we learnt these hymns’ words off by heart so that we don’t even need to read the words …)

How do you teach your children hymns?

Blessings,