Adventures with Homeschool Curriculum

Discovering Charlotte in an All-In-One Format

This year is our family’s fifth year of homeschooling. Like every good homeschooler, I have used the same exact company and materials for each year. NOT! Ha. Discovering your homeschool’s philosophy, style and methodology is something that takes time and patience…with a lot of experimenting thrown in for good measure. I think this is part of what makes homeschooling such a ripe arena for learning about our children and our selves. My husband and I both have a 100% public school background, so the biggest hurdle we crossed in figuring out our approach was “de-schooling” ourselves. During this time of discovery, we heavily relied on advice from seasoned homeschoolers…asking, asking and asking…until finally a dear friend led us to Charlotte Mason and all things fell into place and peace (well, at least for the most part—we do have a two year old little blessing).

Here is a brief outline of our journey through curriculum thus far:

Preschool: Little Hands to Heaven by Heart of Dakota Publishing (CM based & didn’t know it!)
Kindergarten: Sonlight and A Beka Book
First Grade: A Beka Book and my own unit studies/lapbooks~(discovered Charlotte Mason & started making changes)
Second Grade & Kindergarten: Ancient Greece by Simply Charlotte Mason & my own hodge-podge of CM style subjects gathered from online sources, Horizon Math
Third & First Grade: Adventures in My Father’s World, Teaching Textbooks Math

We are now in a happy place using My Father’s World (MFW) curriculum. They have done a fabulous job of combining three different homeschooling methods—Charlotte Mason, Unit Studies and Classical—in a multi-age format that is easy for mom and fun for the whole family. The following is a quote from the MFW catalog about the Charlotte Mason Influence on their products:

“The following key principles and ideas are integrated into our curriculum:
• Structured mornings that feature short, effective lessons with unstructured afternoons left for other activities
• Study other countries and cultures early to avoid an "arrogant" habit of mind (Year One of the family cycle—Exploring Countries and Cultures)
• Study history in chronological order and compare across countries in any given time period
• Read great literature aloud at grade level and above with featured living books and more
• "Century Books"—create timelines and history notebooks
• Weekly nature walks, including notebooking
• Children are given direct contact with the Bible at an early age”

The weekly lesson plans are set up with a four-day schedule, leaving an extra weekday for the co-ops and enrichment in which many families participate. Otherwise, that day is open for a lovely nature walk or field trip—perfect!

I have also chosen to use MFW’s suggestions for Language Arts and Spelling for their CM focus. We do a different math than suggested, but it does not interfere with the schedule. On a daily basis we complete several subjects in about 2-3 hours, sometimes less: Bible, Spelling, piano practice, History, English, Book Basket, Math, Copywork, Read Aloud, Science (2x wk), and Music (2x week). The guide also includes Art and Foreign Language if you so choose. We attend an enrichment program on Tuesdays and we are planning on joining Principle Based Learning’s Spring 2012 Session.

All in all, My Father’s World has been an answer to prayer. I do not have to do much to prepare for our week—a couple items to pick up at the grocery store and a weekly trip to the library—and the children are learning and loving it! So for now, my search and scramble in the world of homeschool curriculum is, well, no longer a search and scramble. With MFW’s plans in place, I have room in my brain to play around with ideas found online or gleaned from other families and to me, that is peace.

If you think My Father’s World might work for your family, please explore their website and request a catalog at www.mfwbooks.com.

Back to Home-School!

Yay! Yesterday was our first day of school for the year. This is the first time we've started before Labor Day so it feels a little strange to me, myself, and I but we're thinking it will work out fine and dandy. Obviously the children are...well, what are they?? Goofy? Silly Rabbits? Funny Bunnies? Something.


The new schedule has them freaked out--especially the room check before lunch and the starting time of 8 a.m. I suppose they're the only ones who realize it's just a schedule on paper...and real life doesn't always follow the plan.

Ooooohh! I LOVE new school books and supplies! Elena is in 3rd Grade and Kai is in 1st. Here's our line up for this year:


Bible/History/Science/Literature/Reading: Adventures In My Father's World (American History for 2nd & 3rd graders and their younger siblings)

Spelling: Spelling Power for Elena (This program starts in 3rd grade and can work all the way through 8th. I have high hopes.) Kai will start spelling next year.

English: Elena-Primary Language Lessons (2nd half) Kai-Language Lessons for Little Ones, book 3

Copywork/Drawing: Draw Write Now books 2 & 6

Math: Elena-Teaching Textbooks 3 Kai-Horizons 1

Electives: Discovery Homeschool Academy (YAY for Tuesdays!!) They cover music, art, PE, keyboarding, Spanish, science, social studies & tons of fun.

Wow, that all seems so nice and tidy. If I had time to go on and on I could tell you the process of making all those decisions. It's a lot of work!

Our office is still providing a lovely area for school...we rearranged the walls a bit and still have some tweaking to do.


Oh, some more B2S poses:


Aren't they sweet?


Here's our timeline wrapping around the walls:


A close-up:

And my favorite framed print...(my new camera has a fish-eye option...kind of strange, but okay!):


Happy Back to School or Home-School week to you all! Enjoy the Adventures!!!

Our Resident Poet

Poetry is one of the most delightful subjects in our homeschool. I have always been a fan of verses especially for children and the kiddos are learning to enjoy little ditties here and there. This year we've focused on Robert Frost, which seems to be some of Kai's inspiration here...we just read "The Pasture" last week and today we studied a photograph of a lonely pony out on a mountainside. I suppose it's hard to tell with a Kindergartner! Kai would like to be a veterinarian when he grows up, but his start in poetry isn't half bad:


The Horse Wind
by Kai Eastwood, age 5

While the wind goes by
Everybody cheers
for the great wind of the horses

The horses and the darkness of of the night
And while it goes by the wind blows on them.
Their tails wish in the wind
And the gates go by.

As it goes--
The defending of the horses
is the night of the wind.

And poem #2 (actually written last week):

The Fielders
by Kai Eastwood, age 5

Out in the trees the wind blows.
The wind blows when the tree goes.
And out in the light the darkness comes.

And in the darkness the bats come.
And out in the field
You see the cornstalk grow.

There are millions of cornstalks to grow.
The horses that ride in the deep end
Out in the fields where everything grows.

Entering the Land of Pet Food

Live pet food, that is. Crickets.

We went shopping for a class pet yesterday! After ruling out all rodents (Dad's rule...as who wouldn't love a cute fuzzy guinea pig?), turtles (too much maintenance), hermit crabs (too sandy...I am anti-sand-in-the-house), and collard lizards (4' tank required), we fully anticipated trying our hand, once again, at loving a betta fish. Well, the kids weren't that wowed at good ol' Petsmart's faded, sad looking and kinda pale fishies-in-a-cup, so we asked for suggestions.

What we ended up with is so cool! It's a Fire-bellied Toad (really a frog), species name Bombina Bombina, with a green/grey/brown spotted back and a red and black underbelly. His new home is a fire-belly landing with little steps up to where we laid some nice real moss on top of a bit of gravel. He has water to swim in and a container of live crickets waiting for him to devour. Oh, yes, and three very excited young owners! Which is, of course, the whole point of owning him!

A name will sure follow soon...and I'm already excited to find a bigger tank at a garage sale as I have a feeling the little plastic habitat isn't going to be safe enough with a 1 1/2 year old around!

Simply Charlotte Mason Conference in KC

Since school days are right around the corner I've been having fun shopping and setting up shop for our first official year of having two kiddos in our homeschool. We've adopted the Charlotte Mason methodology/approach and it is working very well for our family.

Charlotte Mason Method: A method of education popular with homeschoolers in which children are taught as whole persons through a wide range of interesting living books, firsthand experiences and good habits. (from Simply Charlotte Mason)

I've found most of my info on "doing school" the CM way in books or online....so you can imagine my excitement when I ran across a CM Conference scheduled in Kansas City next month! It's a 2-day seminar, Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21. In my opinion, a lot of the CM method can or could be adapted to any homeschool, regardless of your curriculum choice. So, if you'd like to join me, click here to go to the registration page--the deadline is August 16. I'd love your company!

And a bench too!

Sheesh! I almost forgot...Eric made a bench too! This is also in the office and has three deep cubbies that each hold an under-the-bed storage box full of what else? SHOES! Each kiddo has their own and we're going to make "pretty" name tags for the clear plastic ends as a craft project here soon.


You really don't see the boxes when you look at it since you have a view from the top so that's nice. I found the brand new Pier1 cushions on craigslist and then bought and made a few throw pillows to make one cozy reading spot in our office. Since I found the cushions first, Eric made the bench to fit them exactly. Perfect for family reading during school...or whenever!

Little House-Pa's Project

At our little house, Eric may not be one for assisting with dishes, vacuuming or laundry (at least not too often), but he IS the go-to guy for anything "handy"! My wishes for a couple shelves for the office to store all our school books and supplies came true after a well-timed arrival of the Dec/Jan issue of The Family Handyman magazine.

Since recouping from knee surgery was going to keep Eric out of his usual winter basketball league, the man needed something to do. And, in true form, if he was going to build one shelf, why not build three? Yay for me!

After a lot of planning and purchasing of a ton of lumber, our garage was suddenly a full-scale wood shop, assistant included.


Before I knew it, there were recognizable pieces of cabinetry!

Piles and piles of them:

He LOVES it when I take his picture while working!


There we go! Hidden hinges and functioning drawers, whee!


The stain was tricky. I finally found an awesome paint guy at Lowe's in Lee's Summit who custom matched the shade of our office armoire. We tried using brushable lacquer as the finish for this project, and though it was stinky, the results were fab! Before trying it, I got an outlandish quote from a place in Overland Park to spray the finish on...can't remember exactly, but it was a 4-digit number...we decided to do it ourselves, to say the least, and it wasn't that difficult.


The first one in, still w/o hardware.

Woodworker of the year around here:

My shelves, partially loaded and oh, so wonderful! Those are my awesomely fun turquoise-satin-peacock feather window panels. They make me smile.


And the one in the living room all set to go:

It even holds all our family games, guitar music and etc.


I really am thrilled and very proud of Eric for undertaking such a huge project. Having a nice place to store all my beloved books and family "stuff" makes organizing all such stuff so much more pleasant! Thank you my love, you're my Dr. Awesome (and I'm so glad to have my parking space back)!

A Week in the Life ~ FFF

FFF ~ That's FABULOUS FUN FRIDAY for those of you not living at our house! I tell ya, I set myself up for things...if it's Friday around here and something isn't fabulous, I hear about it! Well, two kids still in bed at 8 a.m. was fabulous enough for me, so I took it and figured the rest of the day would fall into place one way or the other.

It was a dark and rainy morning so a bowl of oatmeal for everyone at breakfast was ideal. Oh, yes, and to start off the fabulousness we watched the rest of Idol Gives Back...just to see who went home, and of course they went over on time so the DVR cut off before they announced the loser. Sigh. (I started the next episode so we could at least satisfy our curiosity!)

Then somehow Elena was in trouble before we even got started with school so I started my own project while she spent some time cleaning her room (my new favorite consequence for bad behavior!).

Our brick hearth is a major danger to toddlers. When Lena-bug was that age I shopped around for protective edging and found it all to be ugly and expensive, not to mention that it required using heavy-duty adhesive on our bricks. So, instead, I went and bought some hi-density foam, batting and some clearance fabric...wah-lah! Zane's been making us nervous around the fireplace lately so it was time to bring it back out of the attic for re-installation:



First the long foam pieces, one on top and one against the front. Kai liked that I used the electric knife to cut a place for the fire screen (we didn't used to have this one). Actually, I need to make sure I put that knife away....yup, still sitting in the living room at 9:40 p.m....bad Momma. At least it was unplugged. (Thank you Jesus for protecting my babies in my absence of mind).



Batting over the foam, tucked in as much as possible.



Finally, the fabric...Kai helped smooth and tuck. I also used some black duct tape!



Not the prettiest looking thing, but the room is really dark (the walls are the same olive green) so it blends in nicely.

Okay, so back to school...Bible, Journal, Spanish (nope, we skip that one since the curric I picked out, complete with video lessons on DishNetwork flopped since they don't number their episodes...making for way too much DVRing and fast-forwarding to find the correct show), Spelling (word search day...her fav). I use the word search maker on A to Z Teacher Stuff (click for link).

Meanwhile, Zane baby is fussy this morning. I think he's cutting more teeth. One way or the other he wants held if he's not sleeping...enter my Moby wrap. We've been practicing with him on my back. It works and is as comfortable as carrying about any 25 pound weight strapped to your back.



Do you like my do? It's called the Ann. My sister's good friend Rashelle taught us how to do it on our girls' weekend. Works great and even better with damp hair, extra bonus!

Next Elena did her Nature Study. We usually like to go on a walk to find something to draw, but since it had been raining today and she had said yesterday that she had something picked out in the yard, she just went out on her own. (That was a long sentence.) This is a pic of her Nature Notebook. It's just an artist's sketchbook and she decorated the cover at the beginning of the year. I love it...especially the "Bar".



And here she is showing her sketch of the robin's nest. She labels each sketch and sometimes colors them in. Each week she gets better. All the lines on this one are the slats of the lattice screen that the nest is tucked in between.



It had stopped raining and we were waiting for our milk lady to stop by before lunch, so we went out to look at flowers and such.



My beautiful clematis that Eric and Elena gave me my first or second Mother's Day.



Zane-monkey, still riding along and watching the kids ride their bikes. His eyes are so sweet...they are a pretty hazel-brown.



Buds of the white peony. I think I like the buds as much as the blooms...so round and full. Not sure if you can see the raindrops on them. Just lush and beautimus!

So then the milk lady came and went (we usually go down to her farm but when she's coming up this way it saves me a trip...yay!). About a month ago we starting buying fresh goat's milk from her...and for the first time in years I feel so good about the milk my kiddos are drinking! Go ahead, do some research about cow's milk, pasteurization, homogenizing, etc.

It was past lunch time and I had promised to take the kiddos out...we ended up at Ruby Tuesdays. They had never been there and I wanted to be waited on (imagine that). The food was really good. I don't think I've ever seen Kai gobble down a kid's meal faster. He got grilled chicken and steamed broccoli. Elena liked her cheeseburgers and Zane ate most of my mashed potatoes, plus some chicken and broccoli. We opted then to just get a dab of groceries at Target rather than a long trip over to HyVee. I think I'll go alone in the morning.

Elena finished up her school at home, some geography by doing a US states puzzle (new from garage saling yesterday), math, copywork and reading/history.



Zane and I went down for rainy afternoon snoozes while the big kids watched Santa Clause 3 off the DVR. It was 6 when I woke up!! I popped in the pizzas and they all wrestled and picked up the living room.



Gotta show you one of my favorite kitchen tools....it's my cake lifter turned pizza scooper!



Seems like all the frozen pizzas need to be baked right on the oven rack these days, leaving the getting them out to be a bit tricky. Weh-eh-ell...this gadget is perfect for just such a task! Thumbs up!

Ahhh, baths, then bedtime...I've actually still got one awake, surely trying to wait for Daddy. He just called about 15 minutes ago while waiting for his bags at the airport. Yay. See, there was more than one reason for my late nap...I needed to be semi-coherent for Eric's arrival!

Oh, gosh, I almost forgot the little episode of drama right before baths! I was changing some laundry and then scooped up Zane to go throw him in the tub with Kai, who was SUPPOSED to be getting undressed. When I walked into the bathroom, he was caught red-handed trying to quickly flush down the chunk of hair he had just whacked from his pretty red head! That boy has a thing with scissors. If they are in sight he simply cannot resist cutting something! Aaarrrggghhh! And this after weeks of protesting getting a hair cut because he likes it long! He's going to the barber tomorrow. Dang, cuz I like his wavy locks. And no scissors for ANYTHING for a while....and he loves craft time. Too bad.

Well, that's it for this week...I might write a couple things about our weekend if it amounts to anything more than groceries, soccer, haircuts and church. Hope you've enjoyed seeing a peek into our lives...now I think I want to know what other people live like LOL! Blessings...Resa

A Week in the Life ~ Is it Friday yet?

So I think writing out a diary of our week is making me think I'm crazy! Not for keeping the diary...it's just seeing all our going ons in black and white gives me a better idea of why I'm so tired LOL! Are you ready to hear about our Thursday? Here it goes:

7:52 a.m. - Pulling out of the driveway to go garage saling! Yes, before 8 a.m. I can't believe it! Guess it shows my soft spot...I love to get some deals!
8:05 a.m. - Been to the bank and now over to QT for breakfast (you see, there was a REASON I made it out of the house so early...no breakfast).
8:15 a.m. - At our first garage sale. (I'll tell ya about our goodies in a minute)
Fast Forward....
10:00 a.m. - Back home, clean out the van and get ready for some school!

Kai needs something productive to occupy him during school, otherwise he's out the door to play (not that that is a bad thing, but I like him to get the feel of working a bit). Today I decided he could make some crazy crayons for his project. No way Elena was going to let him have all the fun, so she joined in for most of it.



All the bits and pieces are peeled and placed in a foil lined pie plate.



I'm melting! I'm melting!



Now that's one honker of a crayon. I guess I should have taken pictures of them breaking it up...they hammered on it with a bottle of glue and a ruler. Anyway...that was cool fun for the day!

After our Bible lesson we had snacktime! We used to make "homemade" microwave popcorn by putting it in a paper bag with a bit of oil and salt and stapling it shut. When our over-the-range microwave bit the dust (see it in the background? It's now a large kitchen timer & clock), so did that...the little stand-in microwave we use now just doesn't like my do-it-yourself popcorn bags. All that to say, we haven't had popcorn in a long time! Dunt-dun-a-duhhh....wah-lah, $1 will get you a fine air popper at just about any garage sale. Yum!


Kai basically hauled in today....not only did he find this lovely pogo stick:


But also a brand-new-to-him bike!

Yay!!! He ALSO got a two-wheeled scooter! ($2, $10 & $2...not too shabby).

You can imagine that he spent most of the day outside playing on all those new toys. Elena did a good job with her other subjects...today she had music study (we do a different composer or genre each month) and she listened to some jazz fusion on Pandora. I'd never thought of turning Pandora on for music before...duh! Perfect, and now I'll no longer be purchasing lovely compulation CD's! Her copywork was a paragraph about the rise of Jazz in the 30's & 40's that I printed off a jazz history website.

By then it was time for lunch and our standing play date with some other homeschool friends! We are so blessed to have other families in our area that share our relaxed lifestyle. This particular family has three kiddos all about the same age as ours. Plus, they get along fab and Sara (the momma) and I are becoming great friends. (Hi Sara!) They brought their bikes, and we got to see their garage saling finds, but the main attraction was the awesome fort Elena and Chaya made out of her bed. I'm so grateful for the time she gets to spend building friendships!

After they left, we finished up our school day with some math & reading. Then we had just enough time to pretty up for our portrait session at Target. We like to have portraits taken for each kiddos birthday. Well, Elena's was almost a month ago...and the boys' before that, so today it was a 3-for-1 shot for all their individuals plus a few together. I made sure all the crud was off their faces and out from under their fingernails, put on the outfits and off we went. Yay! They turned out great!


I try to make sure we always have our favorite photographer, Kelly...she knows my kids and does a great job. I think she's taken almost all their portraits since Kai turned two. I grabbed some hot dogs and a bag of salad while we were at the store then headed home for a late supper. Ugh! What was I thinking? I'm not feeling so hot after that meal and poor Zane would have nothing to do with his hotdog. I think that made me feel even worse for feeding him one...though they were Hebrew Nat'l hotdogs which I guess are better than most.

The kids brought in all the outside toys in case it rains and then we watched a bit of American Idol...the Idol gives back episode. A good fit as after listening to a song today on KLOVE that ended "for the poor and needy, God", we had a conversation about 1. God isn't who is poor and needy and 2. What it means to be poor and needy.

Kai remembered donating to fund a surgery for a dog at the pet store, must have been at least a year and a half ago...he asked if that dog was poor. Then they thought of my friend Kori who is waiting for a new heart...certainly needy, if maybe in a different way. We talked about how blessed we were and that even when we "need groceries" we always have food to eat. I think that teaching about gratefulness is more difficult when we live such privileged lives. Anyway, the Idol episode highlighted some people both here and in Africa who are certainly poor and needy...it made it more real to my little ones.

8:00 p.m. Bedtime! I did it Eric-style tonight...p.j., brush teeth, prayers, bed. Much needed for my sanity.

I'm slightly overwhelmed at the state of my domicile:

Various toys scattered, two-day old Sonic cup on the table, etc. etc. My own fault, I know, so it's all self-pity. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I may do a crisis clean day and whip this place into shape. But we "need" groceries too...that's at least a two hour trek to the store with kids in tow. Hmmm.....I guess I can tell you about it tomorrow night.

A Week in the Life of our Homeschool Family

A Wonderfully "Westful" Wednesday. Ahhh. Much better.

Our morning was busy as Eric left for California and we recovered from last night...I finally got all those dishes done! Not that there haven't been more mind you...but ya know.

School didn't get started until around 10ish. Both kiddos play quietly while I read their Bible lesson and scripture for the day. Then we look to our daily list for what's next. (The order changes everyday to keep things fresh!)

Instead of journaling today, Elena wrote her cousin Naomi a letter and drew her a picture. This is the cousin she was mourning not living next door to yesterday. She's much better now. She also wrote a thank-you to her Grandpa and Grandma for a late birthday gift.

For History, we are studying pioneers. Right now that looks a lot like reading On the Banks of Plum Creek. She narrates (tells back in her own words) the story after I read. Narration is the backbone of a Charlotte Mason-ish approach to learning and we have been slowly implementing more of it this year. We also started another pioneer book today...Across the Wide & Lonesome Prairie about a young girl on the Oregon trail. It was pretty interesting right off the bat.

Elena started another spelling list and did the intro worksheets...we use A Beka for spelling and she loves it. But it's about all the A Beka we can handle. The worksheets are horribly boring otherwise...let's just say we have lots of un-used first grade workbooks! Hands-on is much more our style.

We took a break for lunch and some outside playing. Elena was dying to ride her bike and cute baby Zane was loving walking around by himself on the sidewalk. He's now walking more than crawling so it's like shoe-ing a bucking bull he's so excited to go out!

He's wearing the cutest little monkey crocks and I really love the bear hood on the well-loved jacket! I think all baby clothes with hoods should have ears. So darned cute!


Once we got settled back in we started Math. She's really good at it, but thinks because it takes a long time (20-30 minutes) that it's "not fun". Today the excuse for not wanting to do it was that "it's not fair she has to do school while the boys get to play". I'm guessing most every firstborn homeschooler has uttered that phrase. And Momma doesn't put up with that! I gave her the "do your best for a bit and then you'll be done" pep talk along with the "they'll have plenty of school in a few years" bit. The tears stopped, but not sure if the heart attitude really softened. Oh well, some days I just have to let it go. Oh, it's Horizons Math and really, it's great!

Before piano lessons at 3, we ran up to the Elementary school to pick up Elena's soccer ball that she left a the t-ball fields last night. I'm telling ya, sharpies rule! Every time we've lost a ball, someone calls since we have our name and number on it. That doesn't count for discs though...you lose one of those and it's the next lucky golfer that finds it who takes it home, number or not.

Piano was fine, Kai played in the yard and I tried to start my new book club book...The Third Sister, which is about Margaret from Sense and Sensibility. Looks like this gal (the author) is a Jane wanna-be as the language was written a bit old-fashioned for a modern sequel. It might be good though.

A quick stop at the post office and we were home for more snacking (I tell ya, it always seems like it's snack time...at least according to the munchkins). Elena spent some time reading to herself...two easy-readers and a chapter in My Father's Dragon. After supper we went out to play, and once again I got the mower going. The yard in the back is just too long...the kids might get lost in the field by Friday just trying to get to the swingset!

I mowed half of it. I figure that's better than none of it. Eric's going to love my round about mowing paths too...hope it doesn't mess up his "lines" too bad. It was bath and bed time when we came in! And that's it! Now I'm wrapping up the day with some puter time...lots of garage sales in Raymore starting tomorrow. Hmmm... I'm sure I can count that as something for school....math, economics, shopping skills.