“Organize yourself; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.” Doctrine & Covenants 88:119
We studied Raphael today and Moira decided to tell a story in a drawing done in an arch frame, like he did. Here’s her work:
Mo’s continuing to impress me with her detailed, colorful, expressive pieces of art. I couldn’t draw a giraffe that well! She’s just drawing these from her memory & imagination, too, not from a sample picture or model. (Because you know, we like to keep giraffes in the yard. You know what I meant. ) I love to see her work.
And here is C’s work:
I love how he has layers of story, the sky & land and the below ground critters. He said one of those small burrows is where the weasels keep their food storage. That made me smile, I’m glad he believes in food storage.
And those diving birds/critters are chasing that character which just cracked me up. C was worried he wouldn’t be able to tell a story with his picture but I think he did a great job with this one.
I had tested him awhile back and he was at 2.5 grade level for decoding (NOT comprehension, just for what words he could correctly figure out and pronounce.) I tested him again using two decoding tests and one reading level test that says where he can read independently vs. where he can read with assistance/instruction.
For decoding one test put him at 3.5 for grade level and the other one he said, “Mom, I’m done,” when he was in the 4th grade reading level so I let him off the hook.
For independent reading he tested at first grade level, second grade level for instructional/assisted reading.
But I know his decoding skills and his comprehension skills are dramatically different because he’ll read a word, pronounce it correctly and say, “Mommy, what’s that mean?”
He also can’t take a lot of these reading tests I’m finding online because they require a child to spell & type the words – he can’t spell. He can read but he cannot spell and he can write only a couple of words. It’s such an interesting mix of skills and developmental levels!
Copied from a homeschool list (with permission, of course! ) and sorry these aren’t live links, there are way too many – and I’ve not explored them yet so let me know if something is inappropriate/dead link and I’ll delete it. (Inappropriate to mean that if it doesn’t fit with our family belief system then I may delete it. If it’s a paying site I’ll probably delete it, too. I’m bolding ones we like already.)
Early Learning: 1. Starfall – Teaches alphabet and early reading skills.
http://www.starfall.com
2. Brightly Beaming Resources – Letter of the week, sound of the week, science of the
week, etc. This is a good all-around site for early learning.
Whole Curriculum: 1. Ambleside Online – Charlotte Mason. Wonderful resource that includes lots of info and
is really a full curriculum option. Great booklist!
http://amblesideonline.org/index.shtml – though some of their texts we didn’t want/use because of historical inaccuracies or narrow focus.
2. An Old-Fashioned Education – Another really complete option. LOTS of stuff to look
at and use here!
http://oldfashionededucation.com/
3. Deleted this one because it was contradictory to our religious beliefs.
4. Core Knowledge lesson plans – Tons of lesson plans on lots of subjects from PK-8. I
have not used this, but it looks really good.
Math:
1. Ray’s Arithmetic – 1885 math book on google books. Thorough and “back to basics”.
(click on the icon on the page and scroll down to read/print)
2. Young Novelist Workbooks. There is a workbook for elementary, middle and high
school. Designed to go with national novel writing month, but can be used any time.
http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/workbooks
3. English Banana Elementary Workbook. For individual pages go to:
6. www.kidsofcourage.com click on downloads, give the info, click on downloads again.
A countries and cultures curriculum at your fingertips with all the activities and fun right
there…and enough to last a couple years! It’s good for youngers too but it’s quite a bit of
info to take in, so there’s plenty of “meat” in there for olders as well. You could grab
some library books to go along with it for whichever country you are on.
www.kidsofcourage.com
8. Growing Up Around the World: Books as Passports to Global Understanding for
Children in the United States is a project of the International Relations Committee of the
Association for Library Service to Children
18. FossWeb by Delta Education. Click on the subject, then teacher resources. You will
then have to click on Teacher Prep videos for the lessons. Everything else on the page
supports the lessons. There are games, worksheets, and many additional resources listed
http://www.fossweb.com/modules3-6/index.html
19. Higher Up and Further In blog
http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/
20. Pioneer Woman blog
http://thepioneerwoman.com/
21. Well-Trained Mind
welltrainedmind.com/forums/
22. Teacher Tube
http://www.teachertube.com/
Science:
1. Engineering for kids ages 8 and up. Single subject lesson plans. Nicely done and easy
to understand
18. BODIES, the exhibition ~ includes educator guides for various grade levels from
Carnegie Science Center. Even if you aren’t interested in the exhibit or pictures of the
preserved bodies, there is good info in the guides that can be used for lessons:
http://wheresciencehappens.org/bodiesguide.htm
Computer Science:
1. Blender 3D animation creation
http://www.blender.org/
2. Computer Programming Course
http://www.alice.org/index.php
3. Computer Training Courses
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/
4. Computer Animating and Design
http://scratch.mit.edu/
Typing:
1. Online typing Course
http://www.goodtyping.com/
2. Dance Mat Typing
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
3. Touch Typing (Online)
http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/
4. Kiran’s Typing Tutor
http://www.kiranreddys.com/products/typing.html
5. Learn2Type
http://www.learn2type.com/
Foreign Language:
1. BBC Languages
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/
2. Elementary/Middle School beginning Spanish. The first book listed is a free download.
I listed some here but some more from an article I read – ideas for what to keep in a child’s portfolio… I use a three ring binder with page protectors and everything must be either hole punched and fit in here or slid into a page protector. If it doesn’t fit then we take a picture of it and put that in… if it’s something like piano performance or soccer picture or narration recording then we can burn that onto DVD and slide it in as well.
I do NOT do anything elaborate at this point but as they get older I want to be better about collecting this stuff for them and then eventually having them learn to gather it themselves. When they are 14 or so I will do this formally and begin to keep a “transcript” of the subjects taught and materials used, the reading list and the yearly evaluations (grades) from us and any other teachers they have and their standardized test scores (ACT/SAT) since at high school level we’ll need that more official transcript for college applications. But in Texas we create our own transcripts as a “private school” so we’ll just make something semi-official looking. I’m sure Kit can help with that.
Here are some ideas:
- attendance records (if required)
- record of subjects taught
- list of materials & texts used
- reading lists (child’s and family reading list)
- yearly evaluations: goals met, parent assessment, any co-op teacher remarks, could include checklists of tasks accomplished (print out TEA guidelines by year and check those met?)
- photos & descriptions of activities & co-ops
- samples or photos of the child’s creative work
- work samples (written work, assignments, book reports, worksheets, etc)
- video or audio footage of child’s narrations or activities
- tests, standardized or family administered
Okay, for example. Mine would be based off the “Schedules & Goals” links to the above left. For Christopher I would include for this next year:
Subjects: language, math, science, art, music appreciation & piano performance, history & geography, health & physical education, handicrafts, literature, soccer.
Materials used: First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind level 3, Spell to Write & Read, Teaching the Classics, Saxon 3, whatever this science book is, Discovering Great Artists & Annotated Mona Lisa, piano book name, Dallas Symphony Orchestra “Recipe for Music” lesson plans, Story of the World book 3, Blackline Maps set 3, Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History, our book club reading list.
Reading List: book club list & C’s personal reading list.
List of goals for our school year, both his own and the ones we set up together (again, I list these in our “schedules and goals” page each year.)
Then a lot of writing and test samples, video, pictures, art projects, maps he’s labeled, science project summaries, sample video narrations, recorded piano performance, soccer picture, spelling & composition samples, handicraft projects/pictures.
Well it starts out like any other magic tree house book. Jack and Annie have to help the caliph (king of Baghdad) spread wisdom to the world with the help of 8 magic rhymes. I think other kids my age would like them too. There’s a lot I’m not telling you, I can’t tell you the whole story.
(Heidi adds – I wrote the title and then told C to write his book report. He asked me for some proofreading but he wrote and typed this entire thing by himself!! Except this part, and I did add the picture for him. )
Here is Christopher with his rendition of the book Ten Magic Rhymes for Jack & Annie:
I subscribe to several local homeschool groups and get a daily digest of the emails sent. Today this site came through and reminded me of why I join these groups – I learn about local resources I wouldn’t have discovered on my own! Astronaut Training Center in DFW.
Kit and I were discussing when the kids will “start” school and when they’ll graduate (which really just means which year will they participate in prom and graduation ceremonies.) I’m fine with them starting college classes at one of the local schools as soon as they are interested and mature enough (we have two universities in town and a community college 10 minutes away.) Though we would have them start slowly, at least for now I think a full college course load isn’t a good idea for them as teenagers. Work, volunteering, seminary, internships, and just having fun will need to be fitted in there so until 18/graduation we’ll probably advise them to just take or or two classes a term. And I’ll let them try some online university classes through BYU when they hit 14 or 15 to see how they handle the course load, if they want to start building their college transcripts. But after graduation the assumption is they’ll be doing college or internships or working full time.
Anyway, here’s the dates for kindergarden:
C 2006 (he wasn’t five yet when we started)
M 2008
B 2010 (January start)
E 2011
J 2013
And graduation presuming they finish the year they turn 18 and want to stay with their peers through school:
C 2019 (start HS 2015)
M 2021 (start HS 2017)
B 2022 (he’s the only one off because of the January start, start HS 2018)
E 2024 (start HS 2020)
J 2026 (start HS 2022)
* Start HS means start to keep their transcripts for college applications, combined with whatever university classes they may take. Their last four years, time to pass off much of their planning to them and step back and catch a nap. Hahaha…
Christopher will be 17.5 at graduation, Mo will be turning 18 the month she graduates, B will be 17.5, E and J will both turn 18 the summer after they graduate. Bennett won’t be with his peer group because of the early start but this kid needs something to keep him occupied. And Bennett is the oldest of his peers in his primary class since they run by the calendar year and he’s a January birthday… I suspect being off like that won’t make a big difference.
So if they were to start college full time the summer or fall after they graduate they would all be 18 except C turning 18 that fall and B turning 18 the following January.
Those dates seem so very, very far away… but this helps me decide when to get the kids started. Honestly, what grade level they are isn’t really relevant for us except for when people ask them what grade they are in and they want to give an approximation to what their peers are doing. (C is going into 2nd grade now, M into 1st, B will start kindergarden in January.)
Update: Yep, I already nullified this since I let C move up a grade and Mo will be moving up in January and Ben’s going to start kindergarden in January as well… so really, they’re all going to graduate before they turn 18 but we’ll let them do a graduation seminary with the homeschool community sometime around when they turn 16 – I just don’t want them to “graduate” before 16.
I’m really excited to find this lesson plan for teachers that introduces kids to melody, beat, rhythm and harmony. There are other lessons plans as well if you explore here.
We like the Charlotte Mason idea of doing a composer study with the kids per term but they’re too young I think to go very in depth. For now we’re going to do a composer a month or so and this first month will be Mozart. I’m having fun exploring this site from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. It has samples of the works and very kid friendly bios. I’m going to let the kids explore the games section later and we’ll add the composers to our timeline.
So notes from the kids about Mozart: When he was five he could play the piano and the violin. When he turned five he started learning how to write his own music and that’s when he became a composer. (From C.)
Mo says: When he was older his music sounded very good. He wrote 106 pieces. (Actually, over 600 pieces.)
We’re using the first edition of The Annotated Mona Lisa as part of our art curriculum. We went through most of the first section today to try and catch up to our place in history, then we can read along with that and our Story of the World and our Discovering Great Artists (for mini-bios and artist inspired projects.)
Anyway, when I was in fifth grade I went to Paris for the first time and someone, either the museum guide or the tour guide for our trip said that the difference between nude and naked is that a nude knows they are undressed and being painted/photographed/whatever. A naked person wasn’t planning on being seen undressed. That made me laugh, I have no clue if it’s true but I’ve remember the distinction that nude is deliberate, naked is on accident.
We were looking at some of the nude art works in our books and the kids were asking why they were naked and we talked a bit about why artists for so long (back to some of the first pieces in the book and artists from around the world) have created pieces of art in the nude human form. Interesting to discuss!
It also made me pause briefly because I know some families are very careful to NOT expose their children (teens, selves) to any nude art. I am comfortable with it depending on the piece (I think some “art” is really not art, it’s porn) and so we’re screening what the kids see – of course. But I think my exposure to art over the years and in various locations and our time living overseas (where there is a VERY different attitude towards nudity) has certainly influenced my comfort or discomfort with nudity and art. I’m sure that’s also influenced my comfort with streaking naked children at our place (though technically I guess they’re nude since they sure know they are unclothed and being witnessed?) and what I’m okay with/not okay with as far as the children seeing me nurse or stalking me into the shower and begging I get out to get them cookies. At some point we introduce the concept of modesty and privacy but I know my comfort level is not universal, we each have our own lines with art and with our own bodies.
Though I will try to be sensitive to families that do not want their children exposed to any nude art and I know every family has different comfort levels with nudity. We respect that. I hope to teach our kids that our bodies are incredibly gorgeous and divinely designed and that they are sacred and should be treated with respect.
I say that while realizing I find pieces of art, like David, to be beautiful and we wouldn’t have that piece of someone wasn’t comfortable sharing their body as a model. I modeled for art classes in college (not nude but not wearing much) and I loved seeing the drawings done. I think it was amazing how the artists could capture my likeness – mostly I was amazed at how they caught my face accurately, and that doesn’t require any state of undress. But I was comfortable posing for art and so I’m not sure where that line is of respecting our bodies and teaching privacy… I do want my children to learn that. But I would be a hypocrite to say that I think bodies should be kept absolutely hidden because obviously I shared my body. I am comfortable supporting the arts and I appreciate seeing beautiful art, I just think it needs to be done respectfully and carefully?
) I love to see her work.
But I was comfortable posing for art and so I’m not sure where that line is of respecting our bodies and teaching privacy… I do want my children to learn that. But I would be a hypocrite to say that I think bodies should be kept absolutely hidden because obviously I shared my body. I am comfortable supporting the arts and I appreciate seeing beautiful art, I just think it needs to be done respectfully and carefully?