Thursday, February 11, 2010
New name for our school
We have added a young man to our homeschool so we have decided to change our school name. It will now be Lifelong Learning Academy. I will also be creating a new blog for our school, so this will be the last posting for this one.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Veterans' Day
Well, I am breaking the trend.....posting before the end of the month......lol.
Today is Veterans' Day. Yesterday the girls and I watched the memorial service at Fort Hood for the massacred soldiers. I explained each symbolic gesture to the girls. I explained to them that we are a military family. Their daddy served in the army. Their grandpa is retired after 20 years of service in the Air Force. Their Grandma Deb was a orthopedic tech in the Army. Our family believes and practices service to others.....whether to the country, to our churches, to our neighbors, to strangers, or to each other.
I explained to them that service begins inside them in the belief that they are in the world for more than their own selfish interest. I shared with them how I believe service begins at home and can only then spread outward. I have known people over the years that were constantly "in service" to others but when you got to know them better you realized that they were not caring for themselves and their own families. In my humble opinion, these people were not living in an attitude of service; they were living in an attitude of escape.....escape from responsibilities to themselves and their families.
Many will not agree with me, but I believe that we are given our families because they are our greatest opportunity for service. If we do not raise and care for our families well, who knows what opportunities will be missed. It may have been our job to raise the next healthcare worker, the next political leader, the next pastor who would do good or even great things, but by failing in our job and our responsibilities, we have failed others. I was just as guilty as others in neglecting things at home at times because I had to rush out and "serve" others.
Now I understand that our greatest service to mankind is to raise caring, healthy, giving, loving children. In that process, we may, in fact, do some amazing things ourselves. But nowadays, we are so busy rushing around "doing" that we are often forgetting to care for our own families. This is resulting in a generation who is superficial and only cares for their own desires. I want more than that for my grandchildren. So I must teach them that their greatest responsibility is to caring for their own family, to taking responsibility in their own family, and that, in turn, will train them and teach them the responsibilities of serving others.
For some reason this year I also feel a crushing necessity to teach the girls basic living.....you know, living without the luxuries of life. Can you cook without electricity or gas? Do you know that water can be boiled to make it safe? Can you repair clothes with a needle and thread, rather than throwing it away and running to buy new? Can you take pleasure in reading a book, having a conversation, or watching a sunset? Would you rather watch a TV show or wildlife at the nearby park? The luxuries are wonderful.....I love my air conditioning. But do you know how to stay cool without air conditioning? I am not sure why this is so important this year, but I have learned to follow my instincts.
I'm not sure what all of this has to do with Veterans' Day. Just random thoughts from a scattered brain.
Happy Veterans' Day! Thank you to all who have served and do serve and will serve. Thank you for my freedom!
Today is Veterans' Day. Yesterday the girls and I watched the memorial service at Fort Hood for the massacred soldiers. I explained each symbolic gesture to the girls. I explained to them that we are a military family. Their daddy served in the army. Their grandpa is retired after 20 years of service in the Air Force. Their Grandma Deb was a orthopedic tech in the Army. Our family believes and practices service to others.....whether to the country, to our churches, to our neighbors, to strangers, or to each other.
I explained to them that service begins inside them in the belief that they are in the world for more than their own selfish interest. I shared with them how I believe service begins at home and can only then spread outward. I have known people over the years that were constantly "in service" to others but when you got to know them better you realized that they were not caring for themselves and their own families. In my humble opinion, these people were not living in an attitude of service; they were living in an attitude of escape.....escape from responsibilities to themselves and their families.
Many will not agree with me, but I believe that we are given our families because they are our greatest opportunity for service. If we do not raise and care for our families well, who knows what opportunities will be missed. It may have been our job to raise the next healthcare worker, the next political leader, the next pastor who would do good or even great things, but by failing in our job and our responsibilities, we have failed others. I was just as guilty as others in neglecting things at home at times because I had to rush out and "serve" others.
Now I understand that our greatest service to mankind is to raise caring, healthy, giving, loving children. In that process, we may, in fact, do some amazing things ourselves. But nowadays, we are so busy rushing around "doing" that we are often forgetting to care for our own families. This is resulting in a generation who is superficial and only cares for their own desires. I want more than that for my grandchildren. So I must teach them that their greatest responsibility is to caring for their own family, to taking responsibility in their own family, and that, in turn, will train them and teach them the responsibilities of serving others.
For some reason this year I also feel a crushing necessity to teach the girls basic living.....you know, living without the luxuries of life. Can you cook without electricity or gas? Do you know that water can be boiled to make it safe? Can you repair clothes with a needle and thread, rather than throwing it away and running to buy new? Can you take pleasure in reading a book, having a conversation, or watching a sunset? Would you rather watch a TV show or wildlife at the nearby park? The luxuries are wonderful.....I love my air conditioning. But do you know how to stay cool without air conditioning? I am not sure why this is so important this year, but I have learned to follow my instincts.
I'm not sure what all of this has to do with Veterans' Day. Just random thoughts from a scattered brain.
Happy Veterans' Day! Thank you to all who have served and do serve and will serve. Thank you for my freedom!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
October
I seem to have a thing for posting on the last day of the month. Oh, well. I am finally learning to actually use this blog to keep things organized, specifically to keep track of my websites. I am hopeful that this will help me to make better use of the resources that I have found and perhaps help someone else along the way.
The time changes tonight, and I am tired. I think I will keep this post very brief. I plan to try to post more often, but that is what I always say.
The time changes tonight, and I am tired. I think I will keep this post very brief. I plan to try to post more often, but that is what I always say.
Monday, September 28, 2009
September is gone
Tomorrow is the last day of September. I'm not sure what happened to the month. Two of the girls had their birthdays, so we have a teen and a preteen now. The youngest will have her birthday in October.
We continue to work with interactive notebooks in both science and social studies. The girls are enjoying the process, and it is forcing me to come up with creative ways for them to learn the material and to review it. Harder for the teacher but much more interesting for the student.
We have been using traditional textbooks for reading which means that all three girls have a different textbook. This is appropriate because they need reading materials at their own reading level. But I was finding that the two younger ones did not know how to answer comprehension questions. So here is what I have come up with. For the next few weeks, we will read their stories aloud, one each day for the first three days of the week. That way, everyone gets to hear the story. We can discuss it. I can sneak in those comprehension questions and teach them how to answer questions without it having to be written. When that is accomplished, we will work on writing the answers. I think this method will work because it will expose all three girls to a greater amount of literature.
We are moving very slowly on the Latin. I want to make sure that I am teaching them the correct pronunciation, and I am soooooo rusty. But I have wonderful resources and I will gain confidence as we go.
We completed the Kaya series of American Girl Books and will have our American Girl History Club meeting tomorrow. We spent most of today compiling our Kaya lapbooks. The girls really seem to enjoy this activity and it gives me a good idea of what they understood and remember from all six books. Since I have them answer in complete sentences, I can check for grammar, spelling, comprehension, understanding of historical facts, and composition. Not bad for one activity.
We grew pumpkins in our garden this summer and have 8 of them waiting in the kitchen to be dealt with. We are going to make pumpkin puree for pumpkin bread and pumpkin pies. You can freeze the puree for a short period of time, so we should be good for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I also have a diagram for the parts of a pumpkin to teach the girls more vocabulary.
We are still working on math facts. Yes, I am making them memorize their math facts and I am giving them speed tests. If they can do this, math will be a lot easier for them in high school.
Well, I'll sign off for now. I am planning to start writing more often. Until the next time....
We continue to work with interactive notebooks in both science and social studies. The girls are enjoying the process, and it is forcing me to come up with creative ways for them to learn the material and to review it. Harder for the teacher but much more interesting for the student.
We have been using traditional textbooks for reading which means that all three girls have a different textbook. This is appropriate because they need reading materials at their own reading level. But I was finding that the two younger ones did not know how to answer comprehension questions. So here is what I have come up with. For the next few weeks, we will read their stories aloud, one each day for the first three days of the week. That way, everyone gets to hear the story. We can discuss it. I can sneak in those comprehension questions and teach them how to answer questions without it having to be written. When that is accomplished, we will work on writing the answers. I think this method will work because it will expose all three girls to a greater amount of literature.
We are moving very slowly on the Latin. I want to make sure that I am teaching them the correct pronunciation, and I am soooooo rusty. But I have wonderful resources and I will gain confidence as we go.
We completed the Kaya series of American Girl Books and will have our American Girl History Club meeting tomorrow. We spent most of today compiling our Kaya lapbooks. The girls really seem to enjoy this activity and it gives me a good idea of what they understood and remember from all six books. Since I have them answer in complete sentences, I can check for grammar, spelling, comprehension, understanding of historical facts, and composition. Not bad for one activity.
We grew pumpkins in our garden this summer and have 8 of them waiting in the kitchen to be dealt with. We are going to make pumpkin puree for pumpkin bread and pumpkin pies. You can freeze the puree for a short period of time, so we should be good for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I also have a diagram for the parts of a pumpkin to teach the girls more vocabulary.
We are still working on math facts. Yes, I am making them memorize their math facts and I am giving them speed tests. If they can do this, math will be a lot easier for them in high school.
Well, I'll sign off for now. I am planning to start writing more often. Until the next time....
Sunday, August 30, 2009
A New Resource
My sister, a public school teacher in North Carolina, is teaching two classes of Latin at a Christian school that uses Classical Christian curriculum. She was very impressed with their Latin curriculum as well as their literature and history programs. She recommended that I check out their website. I did so this morning. I have requested a catalog and have downloaded several resources from them. It looks really impressive. Check it out.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
First weeks of school
School has started....both homeschool and public school. Since we are a family of both, I try to keep a foot in each world. My husband, Don, and my best friend, Deb, are both public school teachers.
We started "school" on August 10, but only worked 1/2 day. Then on August 17, we added back Time4Learning (language arts and math) one day a week. This week we have continued with Language Arts and math but have spent a good deal of time organizing our interactive notebooks for science and social studies. Mostly, Grandma has spent every evening this week organizing her resources in both subjects.
What is an interactive notebook? We used them at Lamar Jr. High for Texas History two years ago, and I fell in love with the concept. I have found several websites that explain in detail what the concept is. Here are a few:
www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/SISDjrichard/notebook.cfm
www.lumberton.k12.tx.us/education/staff/staff.php?sectionid=106
www.interactive-notebooks.wikispaces.com
www.uweb.txstate.edu/teachamhistory/lessons/notebook.pdf
www.mrgreer.net/interactivenotebook.html
www.teacherweb.com/SC/LadysIslandMiddleSchool/Gannon/ap4.stm
The last one is the best with the first website on my list coming in as second best, but check them all out. As you can tell from the websites, there are varying ways to implement this. Choose the way that makes sense to you. Plus we are adding some notebooking techniques to ours. How did I find this information? For interactive notebooks, I simply did a search for "interactive notebooks" and "interactive notebooks and Texas history". Came up with tons of information. For notebooking, I did the same....searched "notebooking". The good thing about both of these concepts is that it allows the student to be creative in their notebooks and learn the information "their way". And if you are teaching Texas history, you need to know that the bookstore up at Washington on the Brazos State Park has awesome books for you to use.
We will also be using a set of graphic organizers that can be used in all subjects but are especially good in science and social studies. These are called Thinking Maps. While this is a trademark name, I received the training while teaching public school. But, again, if you do a search for "Thinking Maps" you will come up with several websites that have the maps posted on them. These graphic organizers are used in a specific way so that the student gets used to organizing the information. Graphic organizers are not printed out and given to the student. The student draws his own graphic organizer as it is needed to fit the subject he/she is using.
This brings up another subject. I was at a homeschool group activity, and one of the mother's ask me what curriculum I was using. I stated that I had a storeroom full of materials that I used when I taught in private and public school and that I was using that. She seemed appalled that I was using "public school curriculum." I don't get it.......whether you are homeschooling because of religious reasons or because your child has special needs or because your child is gifted or because you want a "better" education for your child, why would you totally disregard the tremendous resources that are available to you. Yes, much of the material is available to public schools but they are valid, well-researched, and attractively done. There is a tremendous amount of material available through public libraries, public school systems, state education websites, and national education websites.
Does that mean that I think you should indiscriminately use anything you find? NO!! As homeschoolers, we accepted responsibility for our children's (and grandchildren's) education. So we have to thoughtfully decide on what we are going to use.
Does that mean that I think you should only use contemporary resources? NO!!! Much of the beautiful, classical education (especially in literature) is deemed "too hard" for students today. Sorry, my girls are going to read the "hard" stuff. But it also means that I will be there to guide them and help them with difficult (or archaic) words and meanings.
I am a Christian. I helped start a Christian school in the 90s and was one of their teachers. Much of the Christian curriculum is very good, but just like any curriculum, some is not worth the paper it is printed on. Not every subject is good from one curriculum. You may like language arts from one and math from another. You may find that you want a "secular" book for some subjects.
As a teacher, I found that NO textbook, no matter how good it might have been, has everything that you need for your student. Choose a textbook or curriculum with the knowledge that you will ALWAYS have to supplement.
I am basically "building" my own textbooks. We use some of the lessons off of Time4Learning. They are animated and the girls love them. The subject matter is pretty tough. But I am creating "textbooks" out of a binder with material from other books and textbooks, from primary sources, and from internet resources to try to give my girls the best education that I can give them.
Do I have the answers? NO. I just have a lot of questions and regularly go looking for the answers. If I don't know, I tell the girls I don't know, and we research online and in the library for the answers. I am teaching them not to accept the first answer in the first book or internet resource. I am teaching them that just because it is in print or on the internet doesn't mean that it is true or the best answer or the best way. I am trying to teach them to think.
I pray every day that I am doing what is best for my girls. But I can look myself in the eye in the mirror because I know that I am doing the best that I can do for them. I read, I study, I pray, I learn, I listen to others (both homeschooling parents and public school teachers). I take the best curriculum from various sources that I can find to teach my girls. Will it be enough? I pray so.
Bottom line.....I want to give my girls the best education I can give them....not the watered down version of public schools. I want to teach my girls to be thinking, actively involved adults with morals who reach out to others, rather than judge others. I am trained as a public school and private school educator. I am proud of both. I worked hard at both. And now I am a proud homeschooler.
We each choose our own path. Homeschoolers choose a hard path because we are taking full responsibility for our childrens' education. I will never badmouth anyone who sends their children to public school nor will I ever badmouth a public school teacher. Most people do the best that they can do for their children. Most teachers do their best for their students. As a homeschooler, I have chosen a different path. It does not make others wrong. I believe that my choice is a good one, but so do they.
We started "school" on August 10, but only worked 1/2 day. Then on August 17, we added back Time4Learning (language arts and math) one day a week. This week we have continued with Language Arts and math but have spent a good deal of time organizing our interactive notebooks for science and social studies. Mostly, Grandma has spent every evening this week organizing her resources in both subjects.
What is an interactive notebook? We used them at Lamar Jr. High for Texas History two years ago, and I fell in love with the concept. I have found several websites that explain in detail what the concept is. Here are a few:
www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/SISDjrichard/notebook.cfm
www.lumberton.k12.tx.us/education/staff/staff.php?sectionid=106
www.interactive-notebooks.wikispaces.com
www.uweb.txstate.edu/teachamhistory/lessons/notebook.pdf
www.mrgreer.net/interactivenotebook.html
www.teacherweb.com/SC/LadysIslandMiddleSchool/Gannon/ap4.stm
The last one is the best with the first website on my list coming in as second best, but check them all out. As you can tell from the websites, there are varying ways to implement this. Choose the way that makes sense to you. Plus we are adding some notebooking techniques to ours. How did I find this information? For interactive notebooks, I simply did a search for "interactive notebooks" and "interactive notebooks and Texas history". Came up with tons of information. For notebooking, I did the same....searched "notebooking". The good thing about both of these concepts is that it allows the student to be creative in their notebooks and learn the information "their way". And if you are teaching Texas history, you need to know that the bookstore up at Washington on the Brazos State Park has awesome books for you to use.
We will also be using a set of graphic organizers that can be used in all subjects but are especially good in science and social studies. These are called Thinking Maps. While this is a trademark name, I received the training while teaching public school. But, again, if you do a search for "Thinking Maps" you will come up with several websites that have the maps posted on them. These graphic organizers are used in a specific way so that the student gets used to organizing the information. Graphic organizers are not printed out and given to the student. The student draws his own graphic organizer as it is needed to fit the subject he/she is using.
This brings up another subject. I was at a homeschool group activity, and one of the mother's ask me what curriculum I was using. I stated that I had a storeroom full of materials that I used when I taught in private and public school and that I was using that. She seemed appalled that I was using "public school curriculum." I don't get it.......whether you are homeschooling because of religious reasons or because your child has special needs or because your child is gifted or because you want a "better" education for your child, why would you totally disregard the tremendous resources that are available to you. Yes, much of the material is available to public schools but they are valid, well-researched, and attractively done. There is a tremendous amount of material available through public libraries, public school systems, state education websites, and national education websites.
Does that mean that I think you should indiscriminately use anything you find? NO!! As homeschoolers, we accepted responsibility for our children's (and grandchildren's) education. So we have to thoughtfully decide on what we are going to use.
Does that mean that I think you should only use contemporary resources? NO!!! Much of the beautiful, classical education (especially in literature) is deemed "too hard" for students today. Sorry, my girls are going to read the "hard" stuff. But it also means that I will be there to guide them and help them with difficult (or archaic) words and meanings.
I am a Christian. I helped start a Christian school in the 90s and was one of their teachers. Much of the Christian curriculum is very good, but just like any curriculum, some is not worth the paper it is printed on. Not every subject is good from one curriculum. You may like language arts from one and math from another. You may find that you want a "secular" book for some subjects.
As a teacher, I found that NO textbook, no matter how good it might have been, has everything that you need for your student. Choose a textbook or curriculum with the knowledge that you will ALWAYS have to supplement.
I am basically "building" my own textbooks. We use some of the lessons off of Time4Learning. They are animated and the girls love them. The subject matter is pretty tough. But I am creating "textbooks" out of a binder with material from other books and textbooks, from primary sources, and from internet resources to try to give my girls the best education that I can give them.
Do I have the answers? NO. I just have a lot of questions and regularly go looking for the answers. If I don't know, I tell the girls I don't know, and we research online and in the library for the answers. I am teaching them not to accept the first answer in the first book or internet resource. I am teaching them that just because it is in print or on the internet doesn't mean that it is true or the best answer or the best way. I am trying to teach them to think.
I pray every day that I am doing what is best for my girls. But I can look myself in the eye in the mirror because I know that I am doing the best that I can do for them. I read, I study, I pray, I learn, I listen to others (both homeschooling parents and public school teachers). I take the best curriculum from various sources that I can find to teach my girls. Will it be enough? I pray so.
Bottom line.....I want to give my girls the best education I can give them....not the watered down version of public schools. I want to teach my girls to be thinking, actively involved adults with morals who reach out to others, rather than judge others. I am trained as a public school and private school educator. I am proud of both. I worked hard at both. And now I am a proud homeschooler.
We each choose our own path. Homeschoolers choose a hard path because we are taking full responsibility for our childrens' education. I will never badmouth anyone who sends their children to public school nor will I ever badmouth a public school teacher. Most people do the best that they can do for their children. Most teachers do their best for their students. As a homeschooler, I have chosen a different path. It does not make others wrong. I believe that my choice is a good one, but so do they.
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