Thank you to HSBA

Somehow I was randomly selected to receive a special gift from the Homeschool Post known as HSBA. Here is a pic of what they sent me:



I've never used this before but I think it will be fun to use with my 6 year old son. Thank you again.

Homeschool Memoirs - Happy New Year Post

The challenge this time is to share what you did on New Year's Eve and list any traditions your family might have. So far we don't have too many traditions other than staying up late and watching movies. When we lived in New England we also would order Chinese food. But now that we live in the Midwest, Chinese food is well, how shall we say it - not as good as East coast and West Chinese.

This year though, we invited homeschooling friends over to spend the night. We made lots and lots of food. The kids played a really fun called Quelf. The adults hung out and had adult conversation for a change. So that's what we did!

Week off!

Apparently, the lady who runs the HSBA meme each week is really busy right now and forgot to think of a new idea for this week. So we have the week off from writing about our daily lives or whatever the silly assigment is for the week. To which I say, Woo-Hoo because I'm suppose be working on my oldest daughter's algebra lessons. So when school gets back in session I can help her more. Too bad we can't have another week off from school.

Homeschool Memoirs 19 - Making a List

Well, I think it is always best to keep the list short and simple. Often times people try to make long lists of things they want to do or change in the upcoming new year, only to find that they can't keep up with their list.

Here is my short but sweet list . . .

Lose some weight - I really need to do this.
Exercise this will help too with the losing weight.
Read my Bible more.
One other goal I have is to help my oldest daughter with learning algebra 1.

Hopefully, this short list will help me to stay focused on those goals and not get discouraged.

Homeschool Memoirs #10

Our assignment, if we choose to accept it . . .

is as follows-

This is our 10th Homeschool Memoirs so this week it’s going to be about 10 timely facts about you! Write 10 interesting, crazy, weird, fun facts about you! Include facts about you as a woman, a wife, a mommy, a homeschooler, a homekeeper, a taxi-driver, a cook, etc .

10 Facts about Me

mmmh.....

1. I love to collect dishes.
2. I love to decorate - especially at Christmas time.
3. I love to scrapbook.
4. I do like to exercise but lately it hasn't been much of a priority. Actually for a long time now it
hasn't been much of a priority-I guess I need to fix that, huh.
5. I am 4' 10" -pretty short.
6. I am a born and raised New Englander.
7. I hate all cooked veggies other than corn.
8. I love the ecclectic approach to homeschooling.
9. My 3rd daughter was born on the couch in an emergency (not one of those at home planned
births). Although I would've done it that way but hubby was a little nervous. So instead he
got the crash course with this baby. And she is still a hand full.
10. I love to name my children those unusual, less common names (for the most part)
11. My favorite season is fall.

Well that's eleven but whose really counting anyway.

A Homeschool Family #109

Here is the assignment: This week’s theme is about your family. Don’t worry. I’m not going to make you write a long essay about all the great things your family does. Just something little diddy that I know everyone will have fun with!

I couldn't figure out how to post the video so for those of you who don't know the poems are to the tune of the old TV show the Adam's Family. If you search on youtube.com you will find the video.

So here are my few verses. At first it was kind of frustrating to find things that rhymed but also had to do with our family and school. Then it kind of took off on it's own and became a fun way of letting out some stress. So here it goes . . .

We live in a small town
It causes us to frown
Somedays we need a clown
The Emmons Family

They think our school's a joke
They tease, make fun and poke
I need another coke
The Emmons Family

We shoot hoops for phys ed class
And learn to make a pass
We run barefoot in the grass
The Emmons Family

We learn of kings and queens
The function of your spleen
And everything in between
The Emmons Family

Our children love to read
To search and find milkweed
They really will succeed
The Emmons Family

We learned about creation
His-tory is our passion
Of God and every nation
The Emmons Family

They think we march offbeat
but our lives are more complete
Somedays are really sweet
The Emmons Family

"adore"
"explore"
"amore"

So that gives you some fun insight to our family. Once you start this project the list could go on and on. The possibilities are endless just like homeschooling.

Snacks, Snacks and More Snacks

The assignment this week was to share some of your families favorite snacks. So here it goes. We usually have apples and bananas in the house most weeks. Our girls love the mini baby carrots and shredded carrots for those who wear braces. They love salad type things lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers. But at the same time they love all kinds of chips. One of our favorite family snacks is chips and salsa or making nachos. In the fall we love to make pumpkin bread-that is a favorite for breakfast or as a snack. I love the smell of the cinnamon and nutmeg in the house. It's all warm and cozy. At Christmas time one of the family favorites is homemade hummis. So that gives you a sneak peak into the snacks our family enjoys.

Homeschool Memoirs: #6 Summer Photo Essay

Well, we really didn't get much in as far as summer vacations or great summer photos. We had a family emergency type trip back in April so our vacation went that way. But I did catch a few photos here and there.







You can find more by checking out old posts under "children."

Something New

The assignment for the week from Homeschool Memoirs is to share something new that we added to our school this year. We added several new things this year. The kids have been enjoying art through Artistic Pursuits http://www.artisticpursuits.com/. We've only done a few lessons but we are getting our feet wet, the more challenging stuff comes later. We also have been trying to stick to a schedule of learning about great artists. We did Van Gogh so far for about two weeks. I will be posting more on that in different post with some pics.

New this year also is A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers by Craig and Hogan. I found it at http://www.brightideaspress.com This is a year long unit study about composers that includes listening selections, map and timeline work, a biography to read aloud and a question/answer page to go with the bio, plus a coloring page for youngsters. So far we have enjoyed this, although we aren't far along. I've decided to take two years to complete this verses just the one year schedule. It opens with some history of music during different time periods in history plus a section on music within the liturgical church which I just loved. So I think we will spend some extra time here because we are Lutheran and love our liturgy. I plan to also add a little bit about the orchestra and the instruments that make up the orchestra so they have a little more background knowledge before delving into Vilvaldi's Four Seasons.

Routines

Yes, yes we have a routine too. I spend several weeks working on an excel spread sheet listing who will do what and when. It helps to give me a general idea of how our day will go. I like knowing that Monday afternoons are for music appreciation and Wednesday afternoons are for art class. At least it gives us a goal for each week as we set out to accomplish everything on the "schedule".

Mind you though, life happens, just like the other day when my son spent 6 hrs in the ER room, having tests, and waiting to see the surgeon to determine if he needed his appendix removed. Of course all this happened on a school day, well actually it was Labor Day, so that'll teach me to not take holiday when they are on the calendar. So that afternoon the older kids worked as much as the could helping each other and working independently. But it wasn't how I envisioned our day going. Miraculously his white blood cell count came down overnight, the abdominal pain went away, and he was back to normal, for now. They did tell us to watch him because it could return and then he would need the surgery.

Now that we escaped that crisis we are back to our regular routine until the next time "life happens."

As far as the listing prayer requests for our family - the biggest one is needing to move to a bigger town with lots of homeschool opportunties. We are so rural right now and it is really starting to bother my older girls who would like some kind of "social" life, even just a few friends to invite over. That is my biggest request right now. I'd like to see my kids happy again.

Agendas, Plans, and What Becomes of Them

This weeks asignment was to write about your curriculum plans and your curriculum choices. We use a kind of eclectic approach to some things during the school year. I tend to mix "traditional" textbooks with unit studies along the way - either made by myself or from other fellow homeschoolers.

You can read my post here titled "The Best Laid Plans" http://houseofmanyblessings.blogspot.com/2008/08/best-laid-plans.html and that will give you some indication as to what I think about planning, the follow through on those plans, and what happens when "life" gets in the way.

Now for some of the what and why?

We have been using for 3 years now Tapestry of Grace for our basic foundation in history. This curriculumn covers all ages K-Mom. I have to add mom because that is how they advertise their program which is good because many of us moms, myself included, need some real guidance in teaching sometimes. I chose this program because of two things first it was oriented to the classical model of learning and then because I could teach all five of my children the same thing but at their own learning level. I do tweek it a bit because they provide you with so much to choose from that you really can't use it all unless you only have 1-2 children. We use this program to cover our history, literature readings and writing assignments. I really do love this program but at the high school level, where I just ventured into with my first 9th grader, is quite heavy in reading and in scope. Thankfully I have a husband who is an avid reader, who loves classic literature, and can keep up with some of it for me.

For some of the simplier things we use Rod and Staff for English, Spelling Power, Teaching Textbooks for math grade 5, Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1. The younger two are still in Saxons. Then we throw in a few workbooks to cover phonics and handwriting.

My older two are using Apologia Biology this year. I struggled for several years on what to use for my younger three for science when I finally found the Christian Kids Explore series. This year we are focusing on Earth and Space. I like this program to because it is so user friendly. You can use it as a way to cover topics or you can have your student memorize lots of facts. I use it as a guide, a tool to plan what to cover and how to lay it out in their notebooks.

Every year I always want to incorporate the study of great art and great music but I would fall short and my plans, well you know. So this year I bought the Young Scholars Guide to Composers. You can cover this in one year but I think I will take two so we can really enjoy the works of Vilvaldi, Bach, Handel to name a few. In regards to exposure to great artists I am doing my own thing and have scheduled artists throughout the year for two weeks at a time. I will be incorporting books on the artist, notebooking pages from http://www.notebookingpages.com/ and some drawing and/or painting. We will talk about the dates with each artist, maybe do a small timeline, talk about their style or technique, try to jot down a few details about each artists life, and then study their paintings. We will talk about what we like and what we don't like, the colors, the mood the painting reflects; then we will try to re-create our own version of that artist's work.

Here are a few additions to the general framework of our school year - artistic pursuits art curriculum and from Harmony Fine Arts my oldest will be following her plan for music appreciation and art appreciation. We will follow her plan loosely but similar to the above paragraph with the exception that she will be reading more and doing some research so she can write an essay on each artist and composer plus a short opinion piece.

My youngest is Micah and is almost 6 years old. I found last year that he is much more of a hands on learning but I myself didn't learn that til about the end of the year. I stumbled upon this website http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ which uses lapbooks as a learning tool. So for my son we are also doing some of those. The funny thing about this is he was having so much fun that two of his sisters wanted to also work on lapbooks. Those two are working through the templates using the American Girl series which really wasn't part of the original "plan."

As far as plans and agendas, well yesterday I forgot all about the English lesson and spelling words for my 3rd grader, Annaliese, because she was having so much fun working on her lapbook. So that might give you a clue as to what really happens with my plans.

I think I've learned over the years to relax more, have fun, not worry about grades so much but about real learning. My kids tell me all kinds of things that they learned that I personally did not cover with them. So much of learning comes from exposure to many different things. I hope from being homeschooled that they will develop a love of learning for a lifetime not just to fulfill graduation requirements.

You requested a Bible verse - Jer. 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

I chose that verse because we can only accomplish so much in our children's educational goals with the time we are given whether that is through textbooks or unit studies or some where in between. We have to rest in the assurance that if we truly feel led by God to homeschool that he will take care of the rest. For some, homeschooling isn't just about academics but more about training our children in their faith and in instilling them with Christian values.

Homeschool Memoirs

I just joined this group called Homeschool Memoirs - it is was created to connect mom's with each other through blogging. This is the first week and the first assignment is to write about yourself. So here it goes . . .

*I am a city girl but for now have to live in the country
*I am a scrapper and lover of all things that have pretty patterns- so that would
include fabric and dishes
*I'm a born and raised NEW ENGLANDER, so I love the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics but I am not a sports fanatic - just have to cheer for the home team
*I love of the smell of the salty sea
*I have 5 beautiful children
*I've been married for 20 years (this Friday 8/22)
*I'm a pastor's wife

I think I fell into homeschooling. I had never heard of homeschooling before. When I was pregnant with my first daughter, I remember sitting at a dinner table with some friends, and my husband mentioned we were going to homeschool. My response was "What is that?" I then starting running into people at church and around town who also homeschooled. They encouraged us to start this journey.

The journey - has been long, some where around 10-11 years if you include preschool and kindergarten. It has been often bumpy, trying to learn your way in new territory. I've made mistakes along the way. It has been filled with laughter and discovery.

The best part of the journey - spending as much time with my children as I possibly can without going crazy (every mom still needs a little time away) but yes, spending all my time with my daughters and my son is priceless.