Our Schoolhouse: Kindergarten and First Grade Classical Education Curricula
We've actually never stopped school for the summer. A day here a day there but I wanted to keep the boys moving along and mostly I didn't want them to forget what they had learned. My other reason for doing year round school is that then we aren't in as much of a rush. The system is: 3 weeks a month, 4 days a week- what can beat that!?! So here is what we're using this year for school, and by the way we are LOVING it.
The Classical Education general concept:
Great book on everything a la Classical Education- this is one amazing book! It is a wealth of information, if you want one book to help you get through your homeschooling journey- this is that book, love it.
I can't put the Charlotte Mason Companion down, there is so much good information on "The Gentle Art of Learning" also from the classical education approach. I like that it doesn't just talk about home education, but it speaks to character, and habits. I really connected with it.
Books that work for a variety of ages together (I am using them for both boys ages 4 and 6):
Amazing history for first graders, complete lessons with coloring sheets that are not tedious busy work. Each lesson is well written and the boys enjoy me reading it to them. They most of all love coloring while I read. My 4 year old will gladly do it with us though and he loves it. They can both answer the questions at the end of the lesson very well, so I know they are both understanding it. Great book!!
We've started our Apologia science curriculum this year as well. The boys love science! We will alternate between this science curricula and our history every other day. Both of these books work well to do them together. I like the layout of this, the artwork could be improved upon a little (as they use clip art) but I am not complaining so far at all because it is a great first science book for both 4 year olds and 6 year olds.
Filled with books to read aloud to kids- and have them love. There are so many good books out there, but which ones are good enough to spend the time on?? Check out this book.
What we are using for First Grade (or what my first grader does that my 4 year old isn't ready for yet):
Book containing first and second grade grammar. Memorization of poetry, copywork and learning the parts of speech-this is a very good book!
Last but not least- MATH! I decided to go with Saxon (instead of Math-U-See which I was also interested in) and it is jackson's favourite subject he says. We chose Math 1 and it seems a little too basic sometimes but I think we are quickly gaining a little speed. I do skip if I know he can do it easy and has mastered the concept. I think it is a good way to teach math, I like that it is no nonsense and straight math- we get it done quick that way!
Kindergarten/preschool books I recommend:
For teaching the boys to read I've used this both times, it works well. My 4 year old is half way through now and doing great!
And then head to this when the kid pretty much gets the concept- they just love saying "I've read a WHOLE book!" when dad comes home
For preschool and kindergarten history I enjoyed History for Little Pilgrims, it is history from creation to present in a chronological order and even the littlest ones get it. We enjoyed this book last with both boys, easy to finish in one school year. With a general approach to history that is good in that first year when they are just learning to sit well and listen.
The next homeschooling post cover what our school day looks like!
In the meantime go ahead and share some of your favourite schoolbooks with me and the reasons why you love them so.
Teaching My Kids to Read
The little pleasures are the ones that can easily be overlooked until they are long gone, then we look back and wonder why we didn't spend more time enjoying them. One of my simple pleasures (now and for the last couple years) has been teaching my boys to read. Oh, yes sometimes it is aggravating, especially when they don't even try to pay attention and are pretending to read while looking out the window, but more days than not it is a delight to watch while they learn.
That may not sound very exciting, and I will acknowledge that sometimes I myself read posts like this by moms who talk about silly little things that they "say" they enjoy doing with their kids and because I don't get it, I just don't get it...this may be that type of post to you. If so know that it is really one of those things that you can't see the miracle in until you watch it happen, until you watch a child learn to read right before your eyes you don't realise the simple pleasure that comes from teaching. I feel so privileged to not be missing this, staying home, training and educating my kids is what I most want to be doing with my time right now.
I never thought I'd be homeschooling since I myself didn't enjoy being homeschooled. In highschool (even through parts of college) I wanted nothing more to be in the Army and then later a police officer, but the strangest part of it all to me is that I could have missed this blessing if I had been allowed to choose for myself. Still today there are days when I wish I could get all camoed up and run through the forest (and away from my kids), but over all I have found joy in the most simple of things right where I am, because all I know is that today this is exactly where God wants me to be. No worries about tomorrow, just right now, just today.
Think of some simple pleasures in your life which could easily be overlooked. Do you have one to share??
Our Painted Lady Butterfly Release Party
A little while back I told you how it was like to do the raising of these Painted Ladies, but now I will show you their release party. It was an occasion that we really did have to hype because the littlest of our family was not super thrilled about letting his little four winged friends fly off. We let them fly away in full splendor and then I followed around trying not to step on them to get some shots for the boys to remember the event by.
But, they really didn't need any of our hype, as you can see, they could leave a person speechless as they posed opening and closing their wings. They were hand painted by the Creator, now grown, transformed and ready for lift-off when the breeze hit them just so. I can't say it didn't make me sad to let them go. I am glad to say though that at least I didn't see a chicken get one, but there were some very close calls.
Our One Room Schoolhouse: Raising Painted Lady Butterflies
Here are the stages of a Painted Lady Butterfly. Thanks to Jackson's Auntie Angel we got 5 little caterpillars in the mail and watched them eat and eat inside their little clear cup, each day doubling in size. About 8 days later they climb to the top of the container and attach themselves there upside down. Within hours they have morphed into Chrysalides, with a hardened outer protective layer that they build around themselves. During this period they have a definite iridescent shimmer to them-very pretty for sure.
After all five of the caterpillars have morphed to chrysalides and affixed themselves to the paper layer on the top of the cup, you are to remove the layer and pin it to the inside of a mesh cadge that comes with the butterfly kit. Just about 7 days later they begin to emerge from the skin-like shells. After that we release them to the wild, just in time too because our kitties were serious about hunting them and tried over and over to bite them through their mesh habitat indoors.
So those are the stages of the metamorphosis of a Painted Lady Butterfly- but do not fear, we did not release these without proper study of them which the boys loved every second of.
Just because now we know them, let me share some butterfly facts with you:
Did you know that they suck the nectar out of oranges?? That was fun to watch! Did you know that they taste with their feet? That they have 4 wings? 10,000 eyes?? That she breathes through her abdomen? That they only live for 2-4 weeks and that in that time a single butterfly could travel 1,000 miles??
For those of you not fluent in kidwrit the message above says "Ukweryoom" (Aquarium) with a line to "Kadupilrs" (caterpillars) and another to their trapped and on exhibit for a very limited time "Flise" (Flies). I noticed that there are fingerprints on my lens, but I just couldn't resist showing this pic- it was way too cute.
Then came time for release of these little new-found winged friends.
Look at those kids faces!! I can only say that if I were the butterflies, I would fly and fly away very fast for fear of my life!
They are beautiful, the Painted Ladies are so pretty. I have more pictures of post release, on flowers and flitering around the yard, but since this post is already very picture heavy I'll post those shots separately. I hope you enjoyed our butterfly metamorphosis journey- we sure did!!
Want to read our other recent homeschooling posts? Check out Our One Room Schoolhouse Homeschooling Journey !
Homeschooling: Animal Reality TV, AKA. Animal Stalking
We have discovered a love for real reality TV. Yes, not staged, not programed for commercials, set up or scripted. Real time, real life, real animals are way more fun to watch anyway!! Someone just shared this link with me and the boys and I just can't get over it, so I figured I just had to share. The kids are no begging for pet owls and hawks.
A website, Sportman's Paradise has many live web cams for your viewing pleasure. Some are in a nest box, others are in the natural habitat of deer, wild boars and underwater viewings of fish in Florida as well as many other fun creatures to watch.
Barn Owl Nest Box Cam (this is one of our favourites!! the babies are bigger now and very strange looking, the boys just can't get enough of them) We have read up on Barn Owls on Wikipedia now as well, and even went to an uncle's barn where we could maybe get a real life glimpse of one- no luck, but we did end up with beautiful owl feathers! We are now slightly owl obsessed.
The other live web cams we enjoy are:
Red Tailed Hawk Nest Cam in Philadelphia
Bald Eagle Nest In New Jersey
Deer Trail in Minnesota Live Webcam
Northern European Wild Boar Webcam (this one takes a little longer to upload, but when they are there it is sooo cool!)
Go ahead! Try to look at the live cams and not become addicted to watching the animals! It is so fun.
What are some different kinds of non-traditional education methods do you like to implement into your homeschooling? When you were a kid is there a specific learning experience that you enjoyed and remember learning a lot from that you could share with me? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Dreaming of a One Room Schoolhouse
I sit in our homeschooling room (what we call our Schoolroom) and think of how it would have been like in the days of little house, that time period in America's history where there were kids of all ages learning together, playing together and not separated out each year at a time. I think of the lessons that would have been learned by the older kids of taking care and watching out for the little ones, and the amazing things the little ones would have learned too-such as community, self-worth, inclusion...so much. I know I learn by helping others learn, many times even by writing it out here I learn things about myself I had never known. What are our children missing out on now that they are segregated not by what they can or cannot bring to the group as a whole, but by a very easy categorization, age. We all know kids develop at very different speeds so placing a bond on children on just that seems very much a cop-out.
This does not make sense to me for so many more reasons. One of them that it seems so obvious that not every 5 year old will be at the same level, but why give the name of 'smart' or worse yet 'not smart' when it is only an age, only a year and not who the child is. For this reason and others the boys both do the work that they can do, and if they struggle I help and then move back a little in that subject. They are not being taught the same stuff, or even held to the same standard (as they are 6 and 4) however they are both exposed to much of the same material. I am constantly amazed by the boys that they will rise to my expectations.
One day I dream of buying one of these old one room schoolhouses and living in it (with an added loft for bedrooms and an add on bathroom of course) it would have been amazing back in the day. I know there is so much to be thankful for in living now, but somethings would have been better if left alone.
A girl can dream right?! Tell me about one of your dreams, or about what you think about this schooling topic. Any thoughts?
Homeschooling: Learning of the First Americans (Native Americans)
We are going through the book of History for Little Pilgrims by Christian Liberty Press. It started with Adam and Eve and follows through history. Currently we are at the segment about the First Americans- or what we know as Native Americans. The people that were here before the European explorers came. I did like the information in the book, but I really wanted to expand on this section since I knew we could have some fun with it and when I plan out activities that really helps them understand it all.
First Americans or Native Americans used story telling as a form of passing on their history and their culture from generation to generation. Today in our history part of homeschooling we focused on the art of story telling. We read a story, called Falling Star about the Cheyenne People to get the idea of storytelling down, and then we wrote our own story about the boys letting them choose nature names. Jackson wanted his native name to be 'Moose Tamer' and Oliver chose 'Buffalo Slayer' (after I told him he couldn't be called Astronaut). Then they worked together on this tale, a tale of two boys who are very different but work together for the greater good of their people.
The Story of Buffalo Slayer and Moose Tamer
Moose tamer found a moose and tried to get it. But he missed. He threw his spear at it and it missed and the moose got away. Then he ran back home saying that he didn't find any meat. Then he grabbed his little brother Buffalo Slayer and went for a hunt, because their people were very hungry. They were gone for many days and were getting weaker from hunger. Then Buffalo Slayer slayed a buffalo to eat it with his people. And when they gained strength from the smoked buffalo meat and warm fire they set off again. This time Moose Tamer wanted to make a catch. But he was a lover and not a killer. He wanted to bring a moose to be his pet.
So they were gone for like 40 minutes and they found a moose, it was small and it was content. Buffalo slayer was about to shoot it with an arrow, but Moose Tamer stopped his brother and said. "No, we already have meat at the camp, we should capture and tame this Moose as a pet". Buffalo Slayer agreed. Then they had to think of a way to catch it. They fashioned a cadge out of wood and sticks that they carved with their knives. In it they placed food that the moose liked. They snuck away into the trees and they slept. In the morning they ate their dried buffalo and drank milk for breakfast. When they looked up, still being as quiet as a star in the moonlight. They spotted the moose which was in the cage nibbling on an apple they had left for it. Quickly they raced over and closed the cage and Moose Tamer and Buffalo Slayer carried it home on their shoulders for many miles. For many moons they would work together to tame the moose-while Buffalo Slayer made sure everyone of their people was well fed with fresh buffalo meat that he killed.
-by Jackson and Oliver Canfield (2010)
Tonight we are going to act it out, they will dress up and play their parts as I read the words. The boys love learning about different cultures and history- I love doing all these fun things together!
Summary of our lesson of History and Art about the First Americans:
*Read History for Little Pilgrims pages 66 and 67 for a background information.
*Point out the locations mentioned on a globe (North and South America especially important).
*Explain that these peoples passed on their culture, memories and history with Storytelling.
*Read an age appropriate Native American Folk Story or legend. I just did a google search.
*Help children write their own story, help them come up with their own Native names and work with them on making the story somewhat logical- but don't hinder their creativity too much!
*If your children like to draw, have them make a picture of their favourite part of their story that you wrote together. Encourage them to spend time on it. If they would rather make a sign for their play that would be great too.
*Have them dress up and act it out for their friends or family while you (or an older sibling) play the roll of Storyteller.
Outtakes
(these are the faces I got the first time I tried to take their picture, I was not a popular person!)
Can you think of other fun things to do in this lesson?? Let me know below what you think!
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