Recently in Homeschooling Category

I know many homeschoolers are currently finishing their school year and looking towards planning next year. Therefore, I thought now might be a good time to explain how we homeschool.

First, I choose our course of study and books. I use Charlotte Mason and AmblesideOnline (AO) as a guide. Though we are eclectic homeschoolers, I would say we are Charlotte Mason followers at our core. If you have not heard of Charlotte Mason or her educational ideas, please read AmblesideOnline's Introduction page. In a nutshell, I would say a Charlotte Mason education is filled with good books and beautiful things.

Second, I don't follow AmblesideOnline's booklists explicitly. You'll notice that their Year 8 is not exactly like my Year 8. One reason for that is that I make substitutions according to what is available to me. Another reason is that AO travels through World History in only two rotations. I chose four rotations - each lasting three years. Potatoes, Potahtoes. Both choices are valid.

Third, I make checklists for each term. These checklists itemize every chapter to be read and lesson to be completed.  In a few cases, as in the Free Reading section, the checklist merely lists a book title. The date when the assignment is finished is to be written in the blank next to the assignment.

Here are our current checklists:

Year 5 - Term 2 Checklist.doc

Year 8 - Term 2 Checklist.doc

And here is a snippet for Year 8:

Utopia by Sir Thomas More.

_____ Of the Cities

_____ Of the Magistrates

_____ Of the Sciences, Crafts, Occupations

_____ Of their living

_____ Of their journeying

_____ Of Bondmen, Sick Persons, Wedlock

_____ Of Warfare

_____ Of the Religions

I let the children complete assignments at times of their own choosing. The Montessori part of me believes that it stifles a child to always demand that Geography lessons take place every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:00. However, we are currently working on "Together" subjects (such as Plutarch and Shakespeare) at 2:00 each day, but we chose this time as opitmum for all, much as a college student would sign up for Intro to Criminal Justice - choosing the best fit for her schedule from the days and times offered.

A new addition to our school this term is a wooden recipe box filled with index cards. This idea was born out of my need to give my children a visual reference as to how much work should be completed each week. We all have ADD or ADHD here and it is very easy to become distracted. It would be very unpleasant to arrive at the last week of school and still have most of a seven-page checklist of assignments to complete. Not that I'm saying this has happened. Oh, no, we have never hopped down all the delightful bunny trails of knowledge to suddenly find responsibility staring us solemnly in the face. Ahem.  

Anyway, I divided each book or subject's assignments among 12 weeks and wrote one index card for each time an assignment should be completed during a week of school. For instance, Plutarch's Solon has twelve sections and one should be completed each week. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has 24 sections and two should be completed each week.

When a child completes a lesson of Solon and writes the date on his checklist, he should also move a Solon index card to the Done area of the recipe box. At the end of the week, all of a child's cards should be in the Done area. On Monday, all of the child's cards are moved back into his or her own section of the recipe box and the process begins again.

We have found the card box to be a very helpful in keeping us on track with our educational goals and it looks like we will continue using it.

I hope this post has helped explain how we homeschool and helps others on their own homeschooling adventure. Please let me know if you have any questions. You can comment here or, if unable, send a missive via email: mrshappyhousewife at yahoo dot com.

I am still working on the 100 Species Challenge (looks like Melissa Wiley is also). Now that everything is growing and blooming again, I'm hoping to work much more on the challenge. For those who have forgotten, the goal is to identify 100 species of plant life in your area.

Number three on my list are Rain Lilies: 

I've already counted this species, but I can't help showing these new photos. Last Friday, the children and I dug up scores of bulbs around our yard to plant in pots. When wild plants show up in the yard, I try to rescue them from the lawnmower.

Digging up the bulbs was very educational because we got a chance to see how large bulbs would form bulbous growths that, with time, would separate from the mother bulbs to form bulblets.

I am hoping to plant these bulbs in a flower bed next spring. As for now, they have been saved from the mower and the weedkiller spray as my husband and I do not agree on what constitutes a "weed".

I do not think anything this lovely could ever be called a weed. I am trying to help my husband understand that there is a difference betwixt a plant blessing and a plant nuisance.

I think he must be coming around to my way of thinking because he kindly spared mowing a Rain Lily in the front yard which I had overlooked. Or perhaps he did that just because he is so indulgent of my gardening fancies. 

Remember that offer from Caron for free samples of their new line of yarn? Although we understood the offer to have ended after only two days, my daughter and I sent our requests anyway.

Much thanks to all of you CafePress Shoppers!

After several years, my itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny sales commissions accrued and I used the money this week to purchase three books for the children - two American histories and one music history. The music history book is the second volume of a two-book set. We picked up Volume I at a thrift store a few years ago and now we can finally read about composers M through Z!

I appreciate your help in our homeschooling adventure and I hope you find other interesting CafePress items for purchase in the future.

Thanks again and blessings to you all.  

When I was looking for a nice St. Patrick coloring page last week, I happened upon Catholic Icing and knew I had discovered a gem. Kid craft sites are a dime a dozen but few focus on the Liturgical Year and the many facets of our faith. While the site is Catholic, most posts are pertinent for all Christians.

To learn more about Catholic Icing, check out the About page or read about Lacy, the woman behind the blog.

I think you'll like:

the Last Supper craft,

the Lent Lapbook ideas,

the Pro-Life posts

My children receive proper medical care when sick.

Think this incident is rare? At every school in my school district, my inhaler was considered contraband. Naturally, I always chose a possible detention or expulsion rather than forego carrying my inhaler secretly in my purse. Breathing is one of my priorities in life.

If you, like dear @JacobiteRose on Twitter, are looking for a St. Patrick coloring page, here are a few links which might help:

One

Two

Three (PDF) - This is the one I like best.

Four (PDF)

For your St. Patrick's Day dinner, here are my favorite recipes for this day:

Colcannon

2 tsp. vegetable oil
3 tsp. butter, divided
1 leek, halved and cut in 1/2 inch strips
1 onion, halved and cut in 1/2 inch strips
8 red potatoes, baked
15oz. beef broth
salt and pepper
1 green cabbage, quartered, cored, and cut in 3/4 inch strips

1.  Heat oil & 1 tsp. butter on medium.
2.  Saute leek 7 onion until they start to brown.
3.  Add half the cabbage, stirring and turning until coated with oil and wilted.
4.  Continue adding cabbage and stirring one hand full at a time until wilted.
5.  Pour in half of broth and bring to a boil. Simmer until cabbage absorbs broth. Add remaining broth. Cook until cabbage is soft.
6.  Slice baked potatoes and add to cabbage.
7.  Add shredded or sliced corned beef.
8.  Salt and pepper. Add remaining butter.

Irish Soda Bread (from Martha Stewart)

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup whole-wheat graham flour
2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 2/3 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl. With a pastry blender or your fingertips, blend in butter until it resembles small peas. Add buttermilk all at once; stir with a fork until mixture holds together.
2. In the bowl, pat the dough into a domeshaped loaf about 7 inches in diameter. Lift out dough; transfer to lined sheet.
3. Lightly dust top of loaf with flour. Cut a 3/4-inch-deep cross in top, reaching almost all the way to edges. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until deep golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Much like Emma Woodhouse in Jane Austen's "Emma", I love to make plans. I don't always follow them, but I sure do enjoy making them. Schedules and routines are some of my favorite plans to make and what better way is there of finding new schedule ideas than peeking into the schedules of four moms with a total of thirty-five kids.

The moms linked below have kindly offered a view into their lives and detailed their daily schedules:

The Common Room

Life in a Shoe

Raising Olives

Smockity Frocks

I suddenly feel a planning yen coming on.

We are having exams this week and I wanted to share part of D's exam from yesterday. I thought other homeschooling mothers might enjoy it. We read "Idylls of the King" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson for poetry this term. It's Authurian stories told in verse. Very fun stuff, but I kept my dictionary close as I read. The two poems about Geraint were my favorite. Anyway, D's exam question was to write a spontaneous poem based on a tale from the book. Here is the result:

And Arthur lay upon the field

Sore wounded, no more his sword could wield.

Modred too lay on the field, slain,

A fruitless bid the throne to gain.

The Knights that filled the table round

Are passed now unto the ground

Save one, Sir Bedivere, who carries his lord anon

To the borders of Avalon.

The dying King gives one last command

To throw Excalibur in the lake, to the white hand

And Bedivere stood long and hid the sword

Saying, such a blade should not be given to the lake as ward.

He returns to his King and tells

The sword now at the bottom dwells.

Arthur knew of the betrayal and told the Knight

To go back once more and do it right.

A second time Bedivere's greed

Betakes him and his king's wise word he did not heed.

He hides the sword once more

And lies to the king dying on the floor

And Arthur reproached him rightly

For behavior less than Knightly.

Bedivere throws the sword unto the lake

And a white hand the sword did take.

And Arthur was borne to Avalon

As the New Year dawned.