I've just returned from the most amazing, 4-day weekend in Austin, Tx, after attending the PaleoFx symposium. What a wild ride. Plenty of talks, lots of great people, tons to learn. I can't even begin to describe the time that I had, even though my intention with this post was to do just that. I could probably spend the next week writing about all the fabulous people I spent time with, and the great things that we did, it was just so phenomenal. I'll spare you the ramblings, though, and try to make it short and sweet.
First, I was inspired to change my blog name to not only reflect the initial purpose of starting the blog, from homeschooling, but to also include my passion for real food and all things nutrition and health related. I want it to encompass all sorts of things in my life, not try to just cut off a piece of it.
I'm definitely going to focus more on my health. I've been in this "real food" movement now for about 6 years; this started around the time I got pregnant with my third child. I found WAPF, and from there, the paleo/primal lifestyle. I haven't always been strict, and it's one of those things where I don't like to label myself because I'm not as strict as others, but because of the things I learned this weekend, I'm no longer going to be shy about speaking about it. My life is my life, it's my journey, it's not "supposed" to look like anything. It is what it is, and that's all there is. It's ok to say that I'm "paleo" or "primal", even if I don't "look" the part.
With that said, I'm going to try to summarize the main learning points from this weekend. I found a lot of great people to start following, I am already looking forward to next year, and I feel rejuvenated and jazzed to continue with my own personal healing journey, something that I had been just feeling hopeless about for the last, oh I don't know, at least year. Maybe a little bit longer.
Absolutely, without a doubt, if you are struggling with anything; ANYTHING: weight gain, fatigue, brain fog, depression, anxiety, GI upset, skin issues, sleep issues, mood issues, inflammatory response, autoimmunity, . CHANGE YOUR FOOD!! It starts with food. Let food be thy medicine. I'm not saying it will make everything perfect, or reverse everything, but it absolutely will not hurt, and it's a step in the right direction. Start small if you have to. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. It doesn't have to be go big or go home. It can be, change one thing this week. Change another next week. Don't give up! No matter how hard it seems, or hopeless, or overwhelming. One thing at a time is better than continuing on the path you're going down now, whether you realize it or not, with processed, junky foods!!
The main points are: Food. Meditation (stress). SLEEP. Exercise (movement). That's it. It's so simple!! Note, I did not say easy. I said simple. While simple is, well, simple, it doesn't mean it's going to be easy. It's a journey, not a destination! Not everyone's journey is the same. Not everyone's destination is the same! And that's ok. Be you. and be happy to be you.
A few things that stuck out to me:
Hacking Stress - "It's not stress that kills, it's our reaction to it. It's a choice. Change your perception. What can you control? What can't you control?"
"DNA is 5%; diet and lifestyle 95%." Dr. Wahls.
"Only love heals." "The goal of physical health is to have emotional and spiritual growth." Dr. Khalish
Perfectionism - "What you're for strengthens you; what you're against weakens you." "Know yourself. Know your limitations."
"How does this make you feel? Is this food going to nourish you? Is it nutrient dense?" Sara Fragoso
"Does it make me happy and healthy?" Jonathan Bailor
Yeah. I had a great weekend.
2014-2015
Monday, April 14, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Renaissance Faire Trip!
Today, we took a trip to the Four Winds Renaissance Faire (I actually don't know if it's still called that. Signs up said Canterbury Faire, but the website still says Four Winds, so that's what we'll go with). I was informed of it nearly a month ago, in an attempt to purchase tickets at a discounted price. I wasn't comfortable committing to a big trip like that so far in advance, so we didn't purchase any advance tickets. We showed up early to meet with our "group"; just a couple of local homeschoolers that like to get together every now and again, remind ourselves we aren't alone on this crazy homeschooling journey ;)
RenFaire day starts at 9 am, and we showed up a wee bit early. Stood outside the gate, waiting for time to pass. Got to chat with a few of the characters that work at the Faire. Quite the entertaining bunch. They obviously love what they do. At opening, there's a loud cannon boom; "Fire in the hole!" My first thought is; imagine being a neighbor. You'd know every day when the Faire was open!
We walk in, and directed almost immediately over to the left; a puppet stage set up with picnic tables for the kids to sit at and watch a classic Punch and Judy puppet show. I'm not really sure what was going on with Little Miss' mood, but she seemed a bit down. Little Man certainly enjoyed it, although it took him a little while to warm up; by the end, he was laughing along with the crowd. (After we left, I learned the puppet show was one of Little Miss' favorite shows, and she had wanted to see it again before we left for the day)
After that bit of entertainment, we sort of wandered around. We found a tent with some souvenir stuff; we browsed a bit, but I didn't want to have a bunch of stuff to haul around, so I promised to remember it for right before we left. Things got a bit chaotic, with Little Miss and Mr. Scarecrow disappearing from my sight, the "group" sort of dissipating, and Little Man suddenly realizing he needed the potty. I sent Miss Artsy to find the two missing ones while I trekked up the hill to tend to Little Man's needs. Finishing up, Miss Artsy was there to inform us that she found the two missing ones at the next show, the magic show! So, we all made the hike back down the hill to the crowd around the magician. Little Miss was most definitely excited about this one, as I knew she would be. Magic is her favorite; she wishes magic was real for real. I walk up to see her clapping wildly at whatever trick had just been finished, and as I joined her she instantly started telling me of all the tricks that I missed, with the magic rings, and something else.
And it was also at this point she made "best friends". (Don't look at me, she didn't get it from my side)
Moving on from the magic show, we had the sword fights. This is where Miss Artsy became enthralled. She loved the history lesson that was interspersed into the sword fighting (which is right up Little Man's alley) and she just could not be pulled away! She kept mentioning things about the Ukraine that she just didn't know before now! Fun fact: women in the Ukraine were treated as equals. (Gasp!) They were allowed to own property, to own land, and were considered "People", not property themselves (in regards to, she didn't "belong" to any man; her father, brother, uncle, husband, whatever man of the house was in charge of her family), she got to choose who she was married to, and she was free to divorce!! Also, if they divorced, she got all the property, except weapons and a horse, which the man got to keep!
After the fighting (with real swords, and no body armor), we were directed to a table that was full of artifacts, and we learned more about the weapons of war in the Ukraine.
After that, Little Man wanted to see what Little Miss was doing, who had wandered off with her new best friends. I walked over there with him, and we watched the girls play for a little while, while Miss Artsy got to finish the demonstration. Little Miss hung out with the girls for a while, and Little Man and I walked a mile for a bottle of water. While this was going on, Mr. Scarecrow had discovered the blacksmith demonstration. (which, by the way, was a chosen topic of research of his a few years ago, apparently the interest is still there). Right next to the forge was a neat little game set up with tiny cannons that shoot off golf balls with the help of Black Cats. I took Little Man over because he was absolutely interested. It took us a little while to get our nerve up to ask, but finally he did ask if he could shoot the cannons.
She taught him to look down the sight of the cannon to aim it at the target he wanted, and then after it was where he wanted it to be, she had him step back, count down, 3, 2, 1, and yell "Fire in the hole!" (of course, he didn't do any of those things, but it was attempted). Then, she would light the Black Cat, and the cannon would shoot the ball out towards the hanging bells and shiny baubles. The point of the game is to hit one and win a prize. I think Little Man just enjoyed the cannons.
Mr. Scarecrow decided that he was going to be the blacksmith's apprentice for the day, and he didn't see anything else while at the Faire.
At this point, it was around lunchtime and everyone was getting a bit cranky; not to mention the humidity was probably 100%, and we actually thought we were going to get rained on for a few minutes, with big fat drops falling. There was so much more that we didn't see; I feel like I walked 10 miles today, but during my walking around, I noticed a fortune tellers tent (which I don't think was open), there was a mehendi art table, there was a "gypsy" tent, where they all gathered around and danced a cool dance. There was a "brig" where you could be locked up, and a stockade. There were multiple building we didn't even go into; I wasn't sure if they were retail shops. There was a performance put on; I saw the tail end of it, had to do with juggling. We left about the time there was jousting going on. Walking around, all the way down and back, there were even a few rides for the kids; honestly, I didn't bring that much money to just spend at the Faire, so we left it without attempting any of those things. I allowed a stop at the souvenir shop before we left, and we headed out the gate about 2 hours before the end of the day.
The day was absolutely amazing. It was almost perfect; overcast, maybe a bit muggy but not sunny and hot, and it didn't really rain on us. There was, without a doubt, something for everyone. I can pinpoint the exact things that each of my children were completely over the moon about. I certainly didn't feel it was a wasted day. That being said, there were a few disappointments for me:
- I think my biggest one is, since it was a "school day", for local area schools to come out, there were a few things not opened, and some other things "watered down." In particular, the archery shooting range wasn't open (which I know Little Man would have loved), and during the fighting, the speaker would allude to the fact that, had it been the weekend, he could expand a bit on some of the things he was saying to get his point across, but couldn't today because it was "school day". Just had the general feeling of missing out, and most definitely needed to come during the weekend to get the real feel of it.
- I felt a little lost. I don't know if that's just because I've never been before, and didn't know what to expect, but I would have loved to have seen a schedule of events, so I didn't feel like, we're going to miss something, what's next, I don't know where to go. They had the shows planned out and spaced out appropriately; I just would have liked to know where we were going next. As we walked out the gate, the lady at the front asked us how we enjoyed ourselves, and told us we were missing the jousting. We were just hot, tired, and hungry at that point and ready to go.
- I was unaware, once again probably because I had never been, about the rides, and the little teeny things that cost money that adds up when you have 4 kids. I would have liked to have been forewarned about that.
- Next time I go, I will definitely bring a bag or backpack full of water bottles.
- They were out of turkey legs, :( We probably could have muscled through to the end of the day if we could have had something like that for lunch.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Changes for next year ... already.
Well, we're still in the early stages of planning out for next year, so I guess changes already are to be expected. One insomniatic night, I was looking up ideas for digital art classes for Ms. Artsy, and came across this Digital Arts curriculum for high school. It is a full on, 8 course, 4 year curriculum. Amazing. Absolutely. And, not only that, but the rest of the website looks promising, as well. It is an accredited middle school and high school online. Basically, all 3 years of middle school and all 4 years of high school. Online. At your own pace. From home.
We showed it to Ms. Artsy, and she said that, while it looked interesting, she would like to stick to our plan for homeschooling. Of course, I didn't think she'd jump on it. It's more up Mr. Scarecrow's ally. And of course, he's gung ho for it. So, we may be just putting him in this for school next year; although the dilemma of what grade comes up again. We're looking into it now; if I have him off my plate for this next year, and just focus on Ms. Artsy and Miss Priss, things next year could be a tad bit easier. (Although I suspect Miss Priss has the same learning style as Mr. Scarecrow. Oye Vey.)
Now, for the little thing up our sleeves that we couldn't talk about before!! Ms. Artsy's birthday was this past weekend, and we've revealed the surprise to her, so now it can be something I can include in my plans for next year! It can go along with her digital arts curriculum, or even be an additional side project for her. It's a Drawing Tablet with Manga software, she can use to draw on and create her own manga characters!
Last week, she found this program on her computer that allowed her to create an anime movie, of sorts. The program came with it's own characters, and she was in control of their movements, actions, backgrounds, etc. I think, and I'm not savvy in any of this stuff, but I think this tablet will allow her to draw her own characters, to then transpose into that program and create an entire original manga anime! Ok, I may not know what I'm talking about, but I know that this takes something that's she's always been interested in, art, and mixes it with something new that she's interested in, japanime stuff, and it gives a sort of foot-in-the-door to future career paths. I'm really excited for where this will lead for her.
We showed it to Ms. Artsy, and she said that, while it looked interesting, she would like to stick to our plan for homeschooling. Of course, I didn't think she'd jump on it. It's more up Mr. Scarecrow's ally. And of course, he's gung ho for it. So, we may be just putting him in this for school next year; although the dilemma of what grade comes up again. We're looking into it now; if I have him off my plate for this next year, and just focus on Ms. Artsy and Miss Priss, things next year could be a tad bit easier. (Although I suspect Miss Priss has the same learning style as Mr. Scarecrow. Oye Vey.)
Now, for the little thing up our sleeves that we couldn't talk about before!! Ms. Artsy's birthday was this past weekend, and we've revealed the surprise to her, so now it can be something I can include in my plans for next year! It can go along with her digital arts curriculum, or even be an additional side project for her. It's a Drawing Tablet with Manga software, she can use to draw on and create her own manga characters!
Last week, she found this program on her computer that allowed her to create an anime movie, of sorts. The program came with it's own characters, and she was in control of their movements, actions, backgrounds, etc. I think, and I'm not savvy in any of this stuff, but I think this tablet will allow her to draw her own characters, to then transpose into that program and create an entire original manga anime! Ok, I may not know what I'm talking about, but I know that this takes something that's she's always been interested in, art, and mixes it with something new that she's interested in, japanime stuff, and it gives a sort of foot-in-the-door to future career paths. I'm really excited for where this will lead for her.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
The mess that is my Pinterest board...PreK and K
I have an entire Pre-K board that I still need to go through, as well... I'll be adding to that as I get to it. I've got other things I'd like to get through first.
Pre-K -
Fine Motor blog ideas
Journaling for Littles
Kids TV 123
Color the Alphabet
Tot School Plans
Free Audiobooks Children's Books
Dental Health
Wee Folk Art
Rainbow Science
Tot school printables
Kindergarten -
CM Kindy
Math -
Money Matching Cards
Parts of a Dollar
Kindy math curriculum
Hands on math
Classical Kindergarten math
English -
The Very Important book of words
Memorization technique using Music
Secret Stories to understand phonics sounds
Blending activities
History -
The World on an Orange - All I have is the picture; apparently, the blog was turned private by invite only, so we can't see the lesson plan.
Africa Unit Study
Teaching Geography
Geography - Learn about hemispheres
Printable Maps
Teach the 50 States
Continents in a box
Continent Boxes
50 states song
Picture book about maps
Felt map
Prehistory blog
Prehistory
Dottie's Homeschool Prehistory
Dinosaurs
Dinosaur lesson plans
Dinosaur lesson plans reading and art
Prehistory coloring pages
Satori Smiles Prehistory
Prehistory timeline
Dinosaur Worksheets
World Geography resources
Evolution Unit study
Prehistory ideas Mapping activity
Geography game
Mapping Unit
Science -
Rainbow roses
Color Changing Carnations
Dancing oobleck - see sounds
Experiment to show ants stomachs are clear (colors)
25 At Home Experiments
Zooborns - baby animals
The Garden Classroom
Science Experiments
Kitchen Pantry Science Lab
Cloud in a jar
Weather in a cup
Why is the sky blue?
Watch a seed grow
Cloud in a water bottle
Disappearing Color
Learning the Scientific Method
Teacher Tips -
Free Curriculum Planner
Notebooking as the Lesson
Comprehensive record solution
Workbox system
Seven Strategies for Homeschooling Moms
Free Downloadable Gradebook
Organization
Classroom ideas, calendar and library system
Folder idea
High School Credit Planner
Laminate with an Iron
School box a year
End of year Folders
High School Transcript
How to start a routine
Homeschool High School Chat
Delight Directed Learning in High School
Pre-K -
Fine Motor blog ideas
Journaling for Littles
Kids TV 123
Color the Alphabet
Tot School Plans
Free Audiobooks Children's Books
Dental Health
Wee Folk Art
Rainbow Science
Tot school printables
Kindergarten -
CM Kindy
Math -
Money Matching Cards
Parts of a Dollar
Kindy math curriculum
Hands on math
Classical Kindergarten math
English -
The Very Important book of words
Memorization technique using Music
Secret Stories to understand phonics sounds
Blending activities
History -
The World on an Orange - All I have is the picture; apparently, the blog was turned private by invite only, so we can't see the lesson plan.
Africa Unit Study
Teaching Geography
Geography - Learn about hemispheres
Printable Maps
Teach the 50 States
Continents in a box
Continent Boxes
50 states song
Picture book about maps
Felt map
Prehistory blog
Prehistory
Dottie's Homeschool Prehistory
Dinosaurs
Dinosaur lesson plans
Dinosaur lesson plans reading and art
Prehistory coloring pages
Satori Smiles Prehistory
Prehistory timeline
Dinosaur Worksheets
World Geography resources
Evolution Unit study
Prehistory ideas Mapping activity
Geography game
Mapping Unit
Science -
Rainbow roses
Color Changing Carnations
Dancing oobleck - see sounds
Experiment to show ants stomachs are clear (colors)
25 At Home Experiments
Zooborns - baby animals
The Garden Classroom
Science Experiments
Kitchen Pantry Science Lab
Cloud in a jar
Weather in a cup
Why is the sky blue?
Watch a seed grow
Cloud in a water bottle
Disappearing Color
Learning the Scientific Method
Teacher Tips -
Free Curriculum Planner
Notebooking as the Lesson
Comprehensive record solution
Workbox system
Seven Strategies for Homeschooling Moms
Free Downloadable Gradebook
Organization
Classroom ideas, calendar and library system
Folder idea
High School Credit Planner
Laminate with an Iron
School box a year
End of year Folders
High School Transcript
How to start a routine
Homeschool High School Chat
Delight Directed Learning in High School
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
The mess that is my Pinterest board...Elementary
Without much introduction, since this is a carry-over from the last post, my Elementary pinterest board of links ...
Elementary (1st - 4th) -
Life Skills
Cookbooks for Kids
Project-based homeschooling
Satori Smiles Blog
Audiobooks
Epic List of YouTube Educational Videos
Tying Shoes
Easy/Lazy lapbooking
Science -
Magic School Bus Videos
Science Apps
BFSU
BFSU 2
Handbook of Nature Study
Biology -
Life-size felt cutout with removable organs - for life science in first grade.
Human Body unit posts - protect the brain, the brain, heart field trip, heart and circulatory system activities (blood model), the human hand, the skeleton
Human Body Printables
Human Body resources
Human Body Lapbook
Human body experiments
How the Human Body works
How the Human Body works 2
How the Human Body works 3
How the Human Body works 4
How the Human Body works 5
Wearable Human Body project
The Muscular System video
Life size human anatomy model
Human body lesson plans
Bone Model
Eye Model
Esophagus model
Edible DNA
Cells Alive
Edible Cell
Bone Model
Life Size body map
Circulation and Respiration
Candy Blood Model
Blood Model
Build 4-chamber heart model
Backbone Model
Kidney Experiment
Life cycle of a butterfly video
animals in winter/blubber experiment
Frog Unit Study
Veins of the Leaf
Plant experiments
Plant Cell
Grow potato without a seed
Astronomy/Earth Science -
Constellations
Oreo Plate Tectonics
Sun, Earth, Moon model
Star Jar, life of the star
Crayon Rocks
Growing Stalactites
Make it Rain
Solar System art
Tour the solar system
Identifying rocks
To the moon and back space study
Chemistry -
Periodic table of elements card games
Montessori Chemistry cards
Periodic table made with legos
Neat idea for crossword
Root Beer Float experiment
Cookie chemistry
Physics -
LOF Physics
Boyles law
Physics with angry birds
English -
Figurative Language - She changed her blog, looks like she's selling on TPT
Dr. Seuss books by reading level
Literature CHOLL
Literature by Grade Level
Literature Unity Study
Poems Every Child should know
Dr. Seuss Unit study
The Baldwin Project
Classic Literature online
The Hobbit Audiobook
Chapter book list
Read aloud by month and author
Math -
10 Unusual Ways to Explore Math
Math Centers and Games
Math Notebooks
Moving Answer Worksheets
How to learn times tables
History -
Learning the 50 states and their capitals
Learn the States
American History
How to Use Story of the World
Map Idea
Medieval Life app
Story of the World Ancients
Story of the World/Netflix list
Medieval activities
Thirteen Colonies Map
Story of the World Video Links
HITW - Middle Ages
Horrible History Videos
Liberty Kids
Timeline
Story of the World Ultimate guide Ancients
Knight Unit Study
Notebooking through the states
Chicken Mummy
Story of the World Ancients Satori Smiles
Learn the States Song
Story of the World Blog Roll
Ancient World History
Story of the World
Art/Electives -
Artist Study
Books Exploring Great Artists
Color Works of Art
Picture books about art
Music Theory lapbook
Primal Health
Teach your child to sew
12 easy sewing projects
Chess Kids
Elementary (1st - 4th) -
Life Skills
Cookbooks for Kids
Project-based homeschooling
Satori Smiles Blog
Audiobooks
Epic List of YouTube Educational Videos
Tying Shoes
Easy/Lazy lapbooking
Science -
Magic School Bus Videos
Science Apps
BFSU
BFSU 2
Handbook of Nature Study
Biology -
Life-size felt cutout with removable organs - for life science in first grade.
Human Body unit posts - protect the brain, the brain, heart field trip, heart and circulatory system activities (blood model), the human hand, the skeleton
Human Body Printables
Human Body resources
Human Body Lapbook
Human body experiments
How the Human Body works
How the Human Body works 2
How the Human Body works 3
How the Human Body works 4
How the Human Body works 5
Wearable Human Body project
The Muscular System video
Life size human anatomy model
Human body lesson plans
Bone Model
Eye Model
Esophagus model
Edible DNA
Cells Alive
Edible Cell
Bone Model
Life Size body map
Circulation and Respiration
Candy Blood Model
Blood Model
Build 4-chamber heart model
Backbone Model
Kidney Experiment
Life cycle of a butterfly video
animals in winter/blubber experiment
Frog Unit Study
Veins of the Leaf
Plant experiments
Plant Cell
Grow potato without a seed
Astronomy/Earth Science -
Constellations
Oreo Plate Tectonics
Sun, Earth, Moon model
Star Jar, life of the star
Crayon Rocks
Growing Stalactites
Make it Rain
Solar System art
Tour the solar system
Identifying rocks
To the moon and back space study
Chemistry -
Periodic table of elements card games
Montessori Chemistry cards
Periodic table made with legos
Neat idea for crossword
Root Beer Float experiment
Cookie chemistry
Physics -
LOF Physics
Boyles law
Physics with angry birds
English -
Figurative Language - She changed her blog, looks like she's selling on TPT
Dr. Seuss books by reading level
Literature CHOLL
Literature by Grade Level
Literature Unity Study
Poems Every Child should know
Dr. Seuss Unit study
The Baldwin Project
Classic Literature online
The Hobbit Audiobook
Chapter book list
Read aloud by month and author
Math -
10 Unusual Ways to Explore Math
Math Centers and Games
Math Notebooks
Moving Answer Worksheets
How to learn times tables
History -
Learning the 50 states and their capitals
Learn the States
American History
How to Use Story of the World
Map Idea
Medieval Life app
Story of the World Ancients
Story of the World/Netflix list
Medieval activities
Thirteen Colonies Map
Story of the World Video Links
HITW - Middle Ages
Horrible History Videos
Liberty Kids
Timeline
Story of the World Ultimate guide Ancients
Knight Unit Study
Notebooking through the states
Chicken Mummy
Story of the World Ancients Satori Smiles
Learn the States Song
Story of the World Blog Roll
Ancient World History
Story of the World
Art/Electives -
Artist Study
Books Exploring Great Artists
Color Works of Art
Picture books about art
Music Theory lapbook
Primal Health
Teach your child to sew
12 easy sewing projects
Chess Kids
Monday, March 10, 2014
The Mess that is my Pinterest board....The Middle School Years...
When Pinterest first came about, I thought it was a GREAT way to
clean up my bookmarks!! I would find stuff, follow little rabbit trails
on all my boards, thing it was cool, bookmark it, and forever forget
about it. When I would randomly decide to go through my bookmarks, I
couldn't for the life of me figure out why half of my links were even
there?! I thought Pinterest was the answer to a need. I started using
it as a way to organize my bookmarks even better than I had them in the
folders I had, and I was able to put a little blurb under each one as to
WHY I was saving the bookmark, giving myself searchable terms if I
needed to. I even found other people pinning great stuff!! Then the
reality hits. Pinterest will randomly delete your pins. Some of the
stuff you pin from other people don't go anywhere. Some of them are
spam. Also, it's kind of addicting, so... I probably have close to the
limit of pins Pinterest allows.
I'm going to clean up my homeschooling board, and start adding stuff here. I have fallen out of love with Pinterest, quite a while ago actually when they kept deleting some of my pins for various reasons, and then I was hard pressed to find it again to mark somewhere else for my own benefit. Since, you know, that was the point of the boards. My. Personal. Benefit.
Whatever.
Let's see if I can find a not-nonsensical way to post all this stuff! There are nearly 1000 pins on this board (not counting those on my Preschool board, which has close to 200), so bear with me. I'll start with Middle School, since I already have one for high school, then I'll have a separate post for Pre-K and K, and elementary school years.
Middle (5th - 8th)-
Help a Middle Schooler Succeed - Not for homeschoolers, but can glean some information
English -
Punctuation Poster
Hogwarts unity study
Literature CHOLL
Writing Rules
Onomatopoeia
Changing Paragraphs poster
Story Map
How to use a semicolon
Persuasive Writing with Oreos
Personification
Idioms
Similes
Metaphors
Roots
Grammar Helpers
Dr. Seuss for Intermediate
Worksheets for the Hobbit
LOTR audio
Math -
Japanese Multiplication
Butterfly Fractions
Easy Long Division
LOF Intermediate
Fractions to Decimals to Percents
Science -
BFSU 3
Supercharged Science - Usually there's a deal for this at the HSBC
Biology -
Brain hemisphere hat
Google Books Anatomy Coloring Book
Virtual Dissection
Photosynthesis lab
Ecosystem in a bottle
DNA experiment
Genetics lab
Frog virtual dissection
Osmosis/diffusion lab
Genes
Teaching the Digestive System
DNA Experiment
Iron for Breakfast
Minecraft through the elements
Fascinating Biology
The Joy of Chemistry
Anatomy Arcade
Homeschooling Middle School Science
Easter Eggs Genetics
History -
Geography Notebook
Interactive Civil War Map
Animated Atlas of American History
Eye Witness to History
World History Time Map
Viking Voyage
Famous men of the middle ages audio
Discover Texas History
Ultimate Texas History guide
Freedom: A History of US
Texas A unit study
Tour the World Song
Tour the States Song
Famous Texans
GuestHollow - The History Shelf
List of Historical Movies on YouTube
Teaching history without a textbook
Electives -
Primal Health
Photography class
Learning a second language
Digital photography for kids
Manual mode for beginners
Computer Science
Computer Programming
Beginning Web Design
I'm going to clean up my homeschooling board, and start adding stuff here. I have fallen out of love with Pinterest, quite a while ago actually when they kept deleting some of my pins for various reasons, and then I was hard pressed to find it again to mark somewhere else for my own benefit. Since, you know, that was the point of the boards. My. Personal. Benefit.
Whatever.
Let's see if I can find a not-nonsensical way to post all this stuff! There are nearly 1000 pins on this board (not counting those on my Preschool board, which has close to 200), so bear with me. I'll start with Middle School, since I already have one for high school, then I'll have a separate post for Pre-K and K, and elementary school years.
Middle (5th - 8th)-
Help a Middle Schooler Succeed - Not for homeschoolers, but can glean some information
English -
Punctuation Poster
Hogwarts unity study
Literature CHOLL
Writing Rules
Onomatopoeia
Changing Paragraphs poster
Story Map
How to use a semicolon
Persuasive Writing with Oreos
Personification
Idioms
Similes
Metaphors
Roots
Grammar Helpers
Dr. Seuss for Intermediate
Worksheets for the Hobbit
LOTR audio
Math -
Japanese Multiplication
Butterfly Fractions
Easy Long Division
LOF Intermediate
Fractions to Decimals to Percents
Science -
BFSU 3
Supercharged Science - Usually there's a deal for this at the HSBC
Biology -
Brain hemisphere hat
Google Books Anatomy Coloring Book
Virtual Dissection
Photosynthesis lab
Ecosystem in a bottle
DNA experiment
Genetics lab
Frog virtual dissection
Osmosis/diffusion lab
Genes
Teaching the Digestive System
DNA Experiment
Iron for Breakfast
Minecraft through the elements
Fascinating Biology
The Joy of Chemistry
Anatomy Arcade
Homeschooling Middle School Science
Easter Eggs Genetics
History -
Geography Notebook
Interactive Civil War Map
Animated Atlas of American History
Eye Witness to History
World History Time Map
Viking Voyage
Famous men of the middle ages audio
Discover Texas History
Ultimate Texas History guide
Freedom: A History of US
Texas A unit study
Tour the World Song
Tour the States Song
Famous Texans
GuestHollow - The History Shelf
List of Historical Movies on YouTube
Teaching history without a textbook
Electives -
Primal Health
Photography class
Learning a second language
Digital photography for kids
Manual mode for beginners
Computer Science
Computer Programming
Beginning Web Design
Monday, March 3, 2014
Health and Nutrition, with a little cooking on the side
This week, I was looking into a health and nutrition curriculum for the olders. I've had several in mind, I already have the Real Food Nutrition by Food Renegade. Actually, I have both, the one for the kids as well. I've also been eyeballing the one from the Human Bodies Detectives site. I don't remember how I got introduced to this curriculum; I was so tempted to buy it a few months ago when it was on sale at the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. But, I talked myself out of it, just because Little Miss isn't quite there yet, even though the purpose of getting it was because she was asking all sorts of questions about blood and the heart and how the food worked in the digestive tract. I appeased my urge to buy the full curriculum with purchasing the iPad apps, which she LOVED. They were like books on tape in a way; it was the book, being read to you, interactively. (I also have that theme song stuck in my head, every time I say or think "Human Body Detectives" I can't not add an "ooh-ooh-ooh-ohoh, Human Body Detectives!" to it. "Yeah!") So; the curriculum is regularly $79. On the HSBC, it's on sale for $29.95 (plus whatever the co-op fee is). I found it on Teachers Pay Teachers last week on sale, I believe it was 10% off. THEN I was given a code for an addition 10% off. So, I got both the Middle School/High school nutrition AND the Teen Health ebooks for around the same price as the single nutrition curriculum from the HSBC. Pretty cool.
So, after looking over all the pages, I really like the looks of it; at the same time, I'm not sure it counts as a full credit hour. I'm thinking about combining the two, Real Food Nutrition and the HBD Nutrition, just to have a little extra slant to the WAPF way of eating (from the Real Food Nutrition book). I'm thinking this, all together, equals half a credit. Which is fine. But, why not add a cooking 101 curriculum to go along with all this health and nutrition information? Ms. Artsy already does a LOT of cooking around here. Most of it is under our direction, of course, but she's pretty good at picking up a recipe book and making it work with few interventions from us. However, I do think that everyone can benefit from learning a little bit more about cooking, and I'm now in the process of looking for some curriculum ideas for cooking 101. (Anti-insanity Tip: It's always better to see if it's already been done before, rather than re-invent the wheel, so to speak. You can find multiple options, and pick and choose what works best for you and your goals, without making yourself crazy with the huge enormous task of creating one from scratch all by yourself.) So, here are a few links that I'm saving to determine what I want to put together to make a half-credit cooking course. (A credit hour, debatably, is 120-160 hours). So I'm looking at 60-80 hours in the kitchen, and 60-80 hours of health and nutrition study.
Cooking 101: 20 Lessons
Basic Cooking Lessons
Alton Brown Curriculum - Already have the books. Can totally watch a bunch of "Good Eats" for inspiration!
MIT Kitchen Chemistry
MIT Advanced Kitchen Chemistry
Forum Post on Cooking and Science
A Pinterest Board with LOTS of ideas
High School Curriculum
Great Courses - This one is more nutrition based, and it has potential, although there are some things that I don't agree with (like "it's all about the calories!" and "Drink your cereal milk" and "watch out for the shine; unnecessary fats"). But it has potential.
Coursera - The Science of Gastronomy
American Test Kitchen - This may be worth paying for for a few months! Principles
MIT Speak Italian with your mouth full
I believe this one is done by a former home ec teacher
Epicurious
Top Chef University
I'm really loving the look of that American Test Kitchen.
Some of my goals in the class include, but not limited to:
Knife skills
meal planning (this can actually be a part of the nutrition course, have her "create" balanced meal plans, and then we can use the cooking course to learn to create and prepare the meals)
reading a recipe (she pretty much has this down pat)
freezer cooking
canning
dehydrating
fermenting (of course!)
herb identification
safety in the kitchen
Wow, I've found a lot of stuff already. I found some information here with ideas on beefing up the health aspect, as well, so the cooking could actually be a full credit elective!
So, after looking over all the pages, I really like the looks of it; at the same time, I'm not sure it counts as a full credit hour. I'm thinking about combining the two, Real Food Nutrition and the HBD Nutrition, just to have a little extra slant to the WAPF way of eating (from the Real Food Nutrition book). I'm thinking this, all together, equals half a credit. Which is fine. But, why not add a cooking 101 curriculum to go along with all this health and nutrition information? Ms. Artsy already does a LOT of cooking around here. Most of it is under our direction, of course, but she's pretty good at picking up a recipe book and making it work with few interventions from us. However, I do think that everyone can benefit from learning a little bit more about cooking, and I'm now in the process of looking for some curriculum ideas for cooking 101. (Anti-insanity Tip: It's always better to see if it's already been done before, rather than re-invent the wheel, so to speak. You can find multiple options, and pick and choose what works best for you and your goals, without making yourself crazy with the huge enormous task of creating one from scratch all by yourself.) So, here are a few links that I'm saving to determine what I want to put together to make a half-credit cooking course. (A credit hour, debatably, is 120-160 hours). So I'm looking at 60-80 hours in the kitchen, and 60-80 hours of health and nutrition study.
Cooking 101: 20 Lessons
Basic Cooking Lessons
Alton Brown Curriculum - Already have the books. Can totally watch a bunch of "Good Eats" for inspiration!
MIT Kitchen Chemistry
MIT Advanced Kitchen Chemistry
Forum Post on Cooking and Science
A Pinterest Board with LOTS of ideas
High School Curriculum
Great Courses - This one is more nutrition based, and it has potential, although there are some things that I don't agree with (like "it's all about the calories!" and "Drink your cereal milk" and "watch out for the shine; unnecessary fats"). But it has potential.
Coursera - The Science of Gastronomy
American Test Kitchen - This may be worth paying for for a few months! Principles
MIT Speak Italian with your mouth full
I believe this one is done by a former home ec teacher
Epicurious
Top Chef University
I'm really loving the look of that American Test Kitchen.
Some of my goals in the class include, but not limited to:
Knife skills
meal planning (this can actually be a part of the nutrition course, have her "create" balanced meal plans, and then we can use the cooking course to learn to create and prepare the meals)
reading a recipe (she pretty much has this down pat)
freezer cooking
canning
dehydrating
fermenting (of course!)
herb identification
safety in the kitchen
Wow, I've found a lot of stuff already. I found some information here with ideas on beefing up the health aspect, as well, so the cooking could actually be a full credit elective!
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Homeschooling High School Resources...
I'll be honest. Homeschooling high school freaks me the freaks out. Through all my looking around, and researching, I've come across all different points of view, from "you can totally do this!" to, "yes, it's doable, but you have to outsource everything." o..O. Oye. I'm fairly confident in my smarts, but I'm not confident in my ability to convey those smarts to my kids. Every parent's dilemma. Anyway, I have all these random "drafts" in my email folder that have one link or another saved for "Future High School" because they don't pertain to this year in high school. But I don't want to lose these links. And as OCD as it sounds, I hate having a huge number of drafts just... sitting there!! So. Here is my list, which is a work in progress, something for me to come back to regularly to check out what I need, to add to, and all that jazz.
WTM Forum thread with lots of links
Open Courses -
MIT Open Courseware
Coursera
Open Yale
Saylor
Education Portal
Khan Academy
HippoCampus
Open course
Sterling Academy Curriculum
Virtual Homeschool Group - This uses Apologia for science, but it also has Saxon Algebra classes, and last year that was even a Kanji Japanese class that they may duplicate in the future. Worth keeping an eye on (the class ends May 2014, so maybe a new one starts June 2014!!) .
History -
In high school in Texas, Government/Economics are both 1/2 credit courses taken during the senior year to equal 1 credit. In what, I don't know, because I think, I'm almost positive, I still had to take history as a senior? Maybe not. Maybe they are the history credit. I think these two are my weakest subject as far as history goes, so I'm already freaking out about those. (hint: In order to avoid freak outs, don't look to the future. Just take it one day at a time.)
Economics -
The Great Courses Economics
MIT Open Courseware Principles of Microeconomics
MIT Open Courseware Principles of Macroeconomics
HippoCampus Economics
Hillsdale Online College - Constitution and Economics
Government -
HippoCampus Government
History -
The Great Courses High School level World History
The Great Courses Big Bang
Geography
HHMI Videos (free?)
World History High School Course
Middle Ages -
The Great Courses - Middle Ages
The Great Courses Early Middle Ages
The Great Courses High Middle Ages
The Great Courses Late Middle Ages
The Great Courses Medieval World
The Great Courses Story of Medieval England: King Arthur
The Great Courses Barbarian Empire and Vikings
The Great Courses 5000 years of Chinese History
The Great Courses Chaucer
The Great Courses Dante
Renaissance -
The Great Courses
The Great Courses Shakespeare Works
The Great Courses Shakespeare
The Great Courses Shakespeare Tragedies
The Great Courses Emerson and Thoreau
Modern History -
The Great Courses
The Great Courses Early 20th Century Works
The Great Courses Classic Novels
American History -
The Great Courses
The Great Courses 20th Century Fiction Writers
The Great Courses Mark Twain
Electives -
The Great Courses Photography
The Great Courses Fine Arts
15 Life Skills Essential
50 Common latin phrases
Sophie's World Chapter notes
Rhetoric Fine Arts
Health and herbal remedies
100 Words every Graduate should Know
Greek for Beginners
Possible Electives in High School
Backyard Farm
Digital Arts Curriculum
English -
Excavating English
Math -
The Great Courses Mastering the Fundamentals of Math
The Great Courses Algebra 1
The Great Courses Algebra 2
The Great Courses Geometry
The Great Courses Precalculus and Trigonometry
LOF Finances
Science -
Great books, reading in science
Classical Science for the Rhetoric Stage
High School Science
Living Books for High School Science
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Biology -
Ellen McHenry's Botany
Ellen McHenry's Cells
Ellen McHenry's The Brain
Coursera What a Plant Knows
In Depth Nature Study
Joy of Science blog
Campbell's Concepts Biology
Exploring the Way Life Works
Marine Biology
Chemistry -
The Great Courses Chemistry
MIT Open Courseware introduction to solid state chemistry
MIT Open Courseware Organic Chemistry
MIT Open Courseware Principals of Chemical Science
MIT Open Courseware Kitchen Chemistry
MIT Open Courseware Advanced Kitchen Chemistry
Ellen McHenry's The Elements and Carbon Chemistry
Energy Foundation
Chemistry
Earth Science/Astronomy/Geology -
Physics -
WTM Forum thread with lots of links
Open Courses -
MIT Open Courseware
Coursera
Open Yale
Saylor
Education Portal
Khan Academy
HippoCampus
Open course
Sterling Academy Curriculum
Virtual Homeschool Group - This uses Apologia for science, but it also has Saxon Algebra classes, and last year that was even a Kanji Japanese class that they may duplicate in the future. Worth keeping an eye on (the class ends May 2014, so maybe a new one starts June 2014!!) .
History -
In high school in Texas, Government/Economics are both 1/2 credit courses taken during the senior year to equal 1 credit. In what, I don't know, because I think, I'm almost positive, I still had to take history as a senior? Maybe not. Maybe they are the history credit. I think these two are my weakest subject as far as history goes, so I'm already freaking out about those. (hint: In order to avoid freak outs, don't look to the future. Just take it one day at a time.)
Economics -
The Great Courses Economics
MIT Open Courseware Principles of Microeconomics
MIT Open Courseware Principles of Macroeconomics
HippoCampus Economics
Hillsdale Online College - Constitution and Economics
Government -
HippoCampus Government
History -
The Great Courses High School level World History
The Great Courses Big Bang
Geography
HHMI Videos (free?)
World History High School Course
Middle Ages -
The Great Courses - Middle Ages
The Great Courses Early Middle Ages
The Great Courses High Middle Ages
The Great Courses Late Middle Ages
The Great Courses Medieval World
The Great Courses Story of Medieval England: King Arthur
The Great Courses Barbarian Empire and Vikings
The Great Courses 5000 years of Chinese History
The Great Courses Chaucer
The Great Courses Dante
Renaissance -
The Great Courses
The Great Courses Shakespeare Works
The Great Courses Shakespeare
The Great Courses Shakespeare Tragedies
The Great Courses Emerson and Thoreau
Modern History -
The Great Courses
The Great Courses Early 20th Century Works
The Great Courses Classic Novels
American History -
The Great Courses
The Great Courses 20th Century Fiction Writers
The Great Courses Mark Twain
Electives -
The Great Courses Photography
The Great Courses Fine Arts
15 Life Skills Essential
50 Common latin phrases
Sophie's World Chapter notes
Rhetoric Fine Arts
Health and herbal remedies
100 Words every Graduate should Know
Greek for Beginners
Possible Electives in High School
Backyard Farm
Digital Arts Curriculum
English -
Excavating English
Math -
The Great Courses Mastering the Fundamentals of Math
The Great Courses Algebra 1
The Great Courses Algebra 2
The Great Courses Geometry
The Great Courses Precalculus and Trigonometry
LOF Finances
Science -
Great books, reading in science
Classical Science for the Rhetoric Stage
High School Science
Living Books for High School Science
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Biology -
Ellen McHenry's Botany
Ellen McHenry's Cells
Ellen McHenry's The Brain
Coursera What a Plant Knows
In Depth Nature Study
Joy of Science blog
Campbell's Concepts Biology
Exploring the Way Life Works
Marine Biology
Chemistry -
The Great Courses Chemistry
MIT Open Courseware introduction to solid state chemistry
MIT Open Courseware Organic Chemistry
MIT Open Courseware Principals of Chemical Science
MIT Open Courseware Kitchen Chemistry
MIT Open Courseware Advanced Kitchen Chemistry
Ellen McHenry's The Elements and Carbon Chemistry
Energy Foundation
Chemistry
Earth Science/Astronomy/Geology -
Physics -
Friday, February 28, 2014
Plans for Mr. Scarecrow...
I guess it's only fair, since I put out a huge long post yesterday about Ms. Artsy, that I post today about what we'll be doing with the boy for next year. I'm hesitant to label him with a grade, just because technically, he'll be going into the 8th grade. But I'm not really sure that after next year, he'll be ready for high school. Especially with his writing. I could be wrong; a lot of people do a lot of growing up in a short amount of time. So, we're kind of playing it by ear. He's sort of 7th sort of 8th grade, and depending on his abilities at the end of this year, we will "take a year" to sort of hone those abilities, or he'll be moving on to 9th grade. So, with that in mind, here are my tentative plans for Mr. Scarecrow, somewhere around the 8th grade.
History -
We'll continue along using Story of the World. He'll be in volume 4 next year, so he's perfectly lined up for 8th grade, to start over in 9th with Ancients. (if we end up taking an additional year, it will be a more intensive American History/Texas History course than what we did this year). We're still working on his writing, so basically, we do our best to follow TWTM suggestions with reading, outlining what we read, trying to rewrite in our own words from our own outline, etc. Like I said, we're still working on all that.
I have a few links to websites that deal with this time period that will be useful for next year, as well.
Khan Academy 1700-1900
1900-present
Math -
Math will be prealgebra. If there is one thing he's not falling behind in, it's math. I guess he'll be my STEM kid, and we'll just spend our time making sure he can write. Somewhat.
Saxon prealgebra 1/2 with the videos
Life of Fred prealgebra 1 and 2 - just an added "fun" element, not a full curriculum, but a different approach than the "boring" textbook math
Khan Academy
Jousting Armadillos - This one seems to be the kind of quirky, out of the box thing that he needs to pick up learning. He's not "learning", he's having fun reading a story! I don't know, this kid... he's my struggle. If I suggest it, he doesn't want to do it. If it's obviously supposed to teach him something, he's not going to get it. But if it's through his own devices and his own readings and meanderings, he'll figure it out and blow everyone out of the water with his wit and knowledge. He kills me.
English/Literature -
Sigh. I don't even know. I mean, I have ideas, but I don't know what will work with this child. I've tried everything, all the way to starting from the beginning and working through progressively faster. If it's too easy for him, he's bored. But if it's too hard for him, he completely shuts down. There's a fine line to finding what will grow his mind and challenge him without making him give up. My plan for next year includes reading pertaining to the time period in history, literature evaluation of that reading, and then for grammar and writing, I"m trying something new.
Analytical Grammar
Beyond the Book Report
We'll be using the Three Year scheduling, hopefully this is "slow" enough as not to bombard him with the trivial bits of learning the English language, but also will make him competent enough to pass any college English class that is so required for him to get that engineering degree.
Life of Fred - This is new. As far as I can tell, it just came out this year. It *says* it's geared for high school, but from my understanding of the reviews, it is considered "remedial" high school by those who know more than I. They say, it would be a good "refresher" that is fun and entertaining. Sounds like right up Mr. Scarecrow's alley; a "fun" read that somehow sneaks in teaching?! I'm game.
Science -
So, I could be way off base here, but I have a feeling this is going to be his "thing" this next year. He'll be doing physics; we usually use elemental science for our science, but 1) she's not going to have the logic stage physics ready in time and, 2) I've read some reviews (which I should know because we use it, but sometimes you can't see what's right in front of you) about how "dry" the curriculum is. Read an excerpt. Outline or summarize what you read. Vocabulary, and a lab/experiment that may or may not correlate to what you read about this week. Rinse, repeat. It didn't seem that bad to me, but if others who are science inclined find it boring, then maybe I'm killing any spark in Mr. Scarecrow. So, we're going to use this year to sort of go off the rails, do a little exploring while sticking with the same subject matter. I found these Unit Studies from Intellego:
Physics
Electricity and Magnetism
Light and Sound
I also found other NUMEROUS links to sites with physics information, so we should have plenty to go on.
Berkeley Webcast
CK-12 physics book
The Happy Scientist (we just renewed our yearly subscription for $10!)
Khan Physics
MIT/K12 Physics via Khan
MIT Open Courseware Physics I
MIT Open Courseware Physics II
MIT Open Courseware Physics III
HippoCampus Physics
The Great Courses: Physics in your life
Physics for Superheros
Alice in Quantumland
The Wizard of Quarks
UofV Physics
Physics for Poets: thread with a helpful list of a way to do "living books" physics that might give me some insight to a few read alongs in science.
Obviously, I don't expect to be able to do all of this for science. But, it's kind of like teaching a baby to talk; you don't speak in baby gibberish. You speak like an adult, and as they get a little bit older and more fluent, you gently make corrections. This is just exposing his "baby speak" to "adult speak", so to speak. Most of this will be for "fun", a read or a video to watch. Nothing that will be tested on; but maybe going over his head will somehow make the here and now stuff easier to get through. I don't know if I'm making this all up or if it's actually a thing lol.
So, let's see, we've got History, Math, Science, and Language Arts. We'll probably continue vocabulary with English from the Roots Up 2. Latin will be Visual Latin 2. I'm contemplating adding Greek, but I've learned with him to start slow and make sure he can do the basics before adding lots of extra fluff. We have some ideas about extracurriculars that involve a very popular game by the name of Minecraft. We're also seriously considering reentry into Kung Fu, like his sister, because there needs to be some kind of movement based time going on.
I don't know, I guess that's it. It doesn't feel like a lot when I write it out, but I know we're going to be spending a lot of time in English drilling those basics and getting him to the point of, as so eloquently stated in this thread on TWTM forums:
spend the entire 8th grade year struggling to begin to learn how to:
-Write a short well-organized expository paper
-Produce work that has a heading and date, is legible, has full sentences that actually answer the questions, and isn't half question marks
-Use an assignment book to keep track of one's assignments
-Make and use some sort of study guides
-Show one's work in math (math becomes complicated enough that one needs to show the work now)
-Type
History -
We'll continue along using Story of the World. He'll be in volume 4 next year, so he's perfectly lined up for 8th grade, to start over in 9th with Ancients. (if we end up taking an additional year, it will be a more intensive American History/Texas History course than what we did this year). We're still working on his writing, so basically, we do our best to follow TWTM suggestions with reading, outlining what we read, trying to rewrite in our own words from our own outline, etc. Like I said, we're still working on all that.
I have a few links to websites that deal with this time period that will be useful for next year, as well.
Khan Academy 1700-1900
1900-present
Math -
Math will be prealgebra. If there is one thing he's not falling behind in, it's math. I guess he'll be my STEM kid, and we'll just spend our time making sure he can write. Somewhat.
Saxon prealgebra 1/2 with the videos
Life of Fred prealgebra 1 and 2 - just an added "fun" element, not a full curriculum, but a different approach than the "boring" textbook math
Khan Academy
Jousting Armadillos - This one seems to be the kind of quirky, out of the box thing that he needs to pick up learning. He's not "learning", he's having fun reading a story! I don't know, this kid... he's my struggle. If I suggest it, he doesn't want to do it. If it's obviously supposed to teach him something, he's not going to get it. But if it's through his own devices and his own readings and meanderings, he'll figure it out and blow everyone out of the water with his wit and knowledge. He kills me.
English/Literature -
Sigh. I don't even know. I mean, I have ideas, but I don't know what will work with this child. I've tried everything, all the way to starting from the beginning and working through progressively faster. If it's too easy for him, he's bored. But if it's too hard for him, he completely shuts down. There's a fine line to finding what will grow his mind and challenge him without making him give up. My plan for next year includes reading pertaining to the time period in history, literature evaluation of that reading, and then for grammar and writing, I"m trying something new.
Analytical Grammar
Beyond the Book Report
We'll be using the Three Year scheduling, hopefully this is "slow" enough as not to bombard him with the trivial bits of learning the English language, but also will make him competent enough to pass any college English class that is so required for him to get that engineering degree.
Life of Fred - This is new. As far as I can tell, it just came out this year. It *says* it's geared for high school, but from my understanding of the reviews, it is considered "remedial" high school by those who know more than I. They say, it would be a good "refresher" that is fun and entertaining. Sounds like right up Mr. Scarecrow's alley; a "fun" read that somehow sneaks in teaching?! I'm game.
Science -
So, I could be way off base here, but I have a feeling this is going to be his "thing" this next year. He'll be doing physics; we usually use elemental science for our science, but 1) she's not going to have the logic stage physics ready in time and, 2) I've read some reviews (which I should know because we use it, but sometimes you can't see what's right in front of you) about how "dry" the curriculum is. Read an excerpt. Outline or summarize what you read. Vocabulary, and a lab/experiment that may or may not correlate to what you read about this week. Rinse, repeat. It didn't seem that bad to me, but if others who are science inclined find it boring, then maybe I'm killing any spark in Mr. Scarecrow. So, we're going to use this year to sort of go off the rails, do a little exploring while sticking with the same subject matter. I found these Unit Studies from Intellego:
Physics
Electricity and Magnetism
Light and Sound
I also found other NUMEROUS links to sites with physics information, so we should have plenty to go on.
Berkeley Webcast
CK-12 physics book
The Happy Scientist (we just renewed our yearly subscription for $10!)
Khan Physics
MIT/K12 Physics via Khan
MIT Open Courseware Physics I
MIT Open Courseware Physics II
MIT Open Courseware Physics III
HippoCampus Physics
The Great Courses: Physics in your life
Physics for Superheros
Alice in Quantumland
The Wizard of Quarks
UofV Physics
Physics for Poets: thread with a helpful list of a way to do "living books" physics that might give me some insight to a few read alongs in science.
Obviously, I don't expect to be able to do all of this for science. But, it's kind of like teaching a baby to talk; you don't speak in baby gibberish. You speak like an adult, and as they get a little bit older and more fluent, you gently make corrections. This is just exposing his "baby speak" to "adult speak", so to speak. Most of this will be for "fun", a read or a video to watch. Nothing that will be tested on; but maybe going over his head will somehow make the here and now stuff easier to get through. I don't know if I'm making this all up or if it's actually a thing lol.
So, let's see, we've got History, Math, Science, and Language Arts. We'll probably continue vocabulary with English from the Roots Up 2. Latin will be Visual Latin 2. I'm contemplating adding Greek, but I've learned with him to start slow and make sure he can do the basics before adding lots of extra fluff. We have some ideas about extracurriculars that involve a very popular game by the name of Minecraft. We're also seriously considering reentry into Kung Fu, like his sister, because there needs to be some kind of movement based time going on.
I don't know, I guess that's it. It doesn't feel like a lot when I write it out, but I know we're going to be spending a lot of time in English drilling those basics and getting him to the point of, as so eloquently stated in this thread on TWTM forums:
spend the entire 8th grade year struggling to begin to learn how to:
-Write a short well-organized expository paper
-Produce work that has a heading and date, is legible, has full sentences that actually answer the questions, and isn't half question marks
-Use an assignment book to keep track of one's assignments
-Make and use some sort of study guides
-Show one's work in math (math becomes complicated enough that one needs to show the work now)
-Type
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Plans for next year: Ms. Artsy. Ninth Grade
This is really just a rough first draft; a place to put all my notes for our plans. Usually, I keep a "draft" in my inbox with all these links, but I thought I'd take a stab at the blogging thing one more time; and what better place to keep track of it all for me? Especially since I can go back and look at it later, and see how far off course we've become. So, this is for Ms. Artsy for next year, Ninth Grade. High School, EEP!!
So, without further ado:
History -
As stated previously, Ms. Artsy has chosen to start over with her history studies, so that she gets the full 4-year cycle in her high school career. So, we'll be starting off with the Ancients. Truthfully, I think this is her favorite time period, especially those of the Greeks and Romans. She's big into the mythology. For our spine for History, we'll be using Susan Wise Bauer's History of the Ancient World and the Study Guide that goes with it. A link I have saved that may become useful is from the Khan Academy. Part of history includes reading Great Books, and this is kind of where the line between history and English blurs. She'll be reading the Great Books that correspond to her history time frame, but she'll be analyzing the literature and writing notes and compositions based on her reading. The list includes books of the bible, the epic of Gilgamesh, Iliad and Odyssey, Oedipus the King, Agamemnon, Medea, The History of the Peloponnesian War, The Republic, On Poetics, Rhetoric, Aeneid, and more. We will get through what we get through.
To further enhance her history studies, beyond just reading, we'll be looking into getting most if not all of these Great Courses lectures:
The Other Side of History: Daily life in the Ancient world
History of the Ancient World: A global perspective
History of Ancient Egypt
Great Pharaoh's of Ancient Egypt
Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor
Foundations of Eastern Civilization
Ancient Greek Civilization
History of Ancient Rome
And a class from the Open Yale Courses -
Introduction to Ancient Greek History
Obviously, plenty of resources to provide a thorough and engaging year in Ancient History.
English -
Following the recommendations in The Well Trained Mind (TWTM), high school English is a lot of literature study, and the literature we're studying corresponds to the time in history we are studying. Ms. Artsy has chosen to start over with her history, instead of continuing on, so we will be back at the beginning with the Ancients. So, Here are my links that I have saved for English; maybe going through them for this post will remind me why I have them all saved.
First, Susan Wise Bauer has a great list of books in The Well Trained Mind, as well as The Well Educated Mind. And really, I'm viewing The Well Educated Mind as a sort of outline for high school, or the high school you wish you had if you had had a classical education. So the majority of our choices will be based off of these two books.
There's also The Great Books, Ancient Course. Now, this is from a "christian worldview" which we do not partake in, so it will require some tweaking. But, it gives me a sort of an outline to follow as far as hitting the books that we should be reading over the course of the year, and maybe give me an opportunity to find tests and essay questions pertaining to the books we chose to read.
The Great Courses:
Masterpieces of Ancient Greek Literature
Greek Tragedy
The Iliad of Homer & Odyssey of Homer
Aeneid of Virgil
Herodotus
Classical Mythology
Great Authors - This one can be used to span all 4 years, picking and choosing which authors we watch the lectures on.
History of World Literature - Same as above, can pick and choose lectures that apply
Human Myths - Fine line between history and language arts
These are a collection of lecture series by professors who are wild about their courses. They have a wealth of information to share, and even if just watching and getting a shallow bit of it, I believe she'll be better off than without them. These are a few of the books we'll be reading, so what better way than to have her go through the literature analysis with college professors?
Science -
Science in TWTM is, once again, based on period reading. Lots and lots of reading. I'm not trying to completely bombard her with all the reading all the time, so we will have a "typical" science class, with an actual high school text book, and piecemeal lab that we can purchase and do ourselves at home. In this instance, I wish so much that we could find a local co-op or group of equally aged children going through the same thing, but for the most part around here everyone is of a christian worldview and use Apologia texts, and I'm just not going to do it. So I am going to do the best that I can with online virtual labs, any and all field trips we can manage, and of course, labs at home.
TWTM recommends "source reading" based on subject matter and, of course, history time period. For Ancients/Biology, the recommendations include Hippocrates, Euclid, and Aristotle. These may be interspersed throughout the year, we'll take time off of science principle learning to do a bit of reading and a paper on the reading, and then go back to the principles.
For the book; I still haven't made my decision as to which Biology book I'm going to use. I have it narrowed down, and I just have to make the sticking decision (or buy both. I'm sure my husband would love that). This is the immensity of the links that I have saved for Biology for next year.
First, there is this thread on TWTM forums that has a huge plethora of information that I gleaned a lot of my links from. As far as the rest of it, I'm going to try to remember why I saved the link, and try to put them in some kind of order that makes sense. I'm 99.9% sure that nobody reads this anyway, so we'll just pretend like it's all for my benefit.
Books that are being considered:
Campbell's Concepts and Connections
Miller and Levine "Dragonfly book"
More Miller and Levine
Science for High School - I'm not even sure this one is in the running, but it's a complete kit, with lab and everything, so I'll have to look at it more.
Resources:
This blog post using Campbell
The Home Scientist Main Page
Experiences in Biology - I'm not sure why I saved this one now lol. I think it was supposed to be a great lab book...
The Home Scientist Lab corresponding to the "dragonfly" book
Campbell's other Biology Book
MIT Open Courseware Fundamentals of Biology
HippoCampus Biology
Bozeman Biology Videos
Khan Academy
Online Honor's Biology Syllabus using Campbell
Biology Podcasts
Biology Videos
Boseman Videos
Video lectures
Another resource using Campbell
Biology Corner
What a Plant Knows
And of course, we can't forget The Great Courses -
Biology: Science of Life
Understanding Genetics
Understanding the Human Body
Understanding the Brain
Biology and Human Behavior
Origins of Life
Obviously, there is way more here than could possibly fit into a 9-month, 9th grade Biology course. However, I like the idea of exposing her to some of the more "out there" stuff, just so she knows that this science thing is infinite, the possibilities are endless as to what she could go on to study. She may even rabbit-trail into something off course from just "biology", and that's ok.
We could add in a "health and nutrition" class to be half a credit to go along with Biology when it comes to human body systems. A few I've looked at in the past for that are
Real Food Nutrition and Real Food Nutrition for Kids
This one is completely new to me, I just ran across it the other day. I'll have to look into it more, but it definitely looks like something we'd be into.
The HBD one follows along with The Unhealthy Truth so it seems promising. And, they have a health 101 for teens!
It seems like I had come across one that had The Omnivore's Dilemma for Kids as required reading; I'll have to do some searching and see if I can find it again.
Math -
Fairly simply, math is Algebra this year. We'll be using the Saxon Algebra 1 text, and I'm going to have to decide if I want to get the videos again this year (we used them in Algebra 1/2 this past year). Another option, other than purchasing the videos, are the videos on Khan Academy site and also HippoCampus.
Foreign Language -
She's a little ambitious with what she thinks she's going to do in the Foreign Language department for high school. She's mentioned Latin, Greek, French, and of course, Japanese. I've told her that we can just pick one to focus on for our "credits" and the rest can be at a slower pace, not necessarily anything she'd get full credit for, but maybe could work out as elective credits or something. So far, what I've got saved for links for a foreign language are -
Visual Latin 2 - We're doing Visual Latin 1 right now. I love the guy, the kids love the guy; I'm not 100% sure it's enough as a stand alone for a credit. We may have to find something to supplement it with. The problem with that, once again, is finding something with a non-Christian bias.
For Japanese, I've saved a few courses from the MIT Open Courseware. This may just be a little side-fun, I'm not sure how much of a foreign language you can learn from books and worksheets. Seems to me like a full immersion is needed to be able to get any kind of fluency. But we'll take it one step at a time.
Japanese I
Linguistic Theory and the Japanese Language
Beginning Japanese II
Genki
Irasshai
As far as electives go, we have to figure something out for PE. I'm wanting to put them back into Kung Fu, so they are moving their bodies on a daily basis and also learning the disciple that comes with that. Also, my littles are old enough for it now, as well, and that would just be fantastic to be able to put everyone into something.
She's always liked art (obviously, hence the nickname) and has always taken an art class outside of the home until recently. Our latest art teacher has retired, so we'll have to figure something else out. There are a few things that her dad and I have up our sleeve for her upcoming birthday that might be something we could expand upon, definitely worth looking into for an elective for high school.
I would like it if she were interested in photography, but that hasn't come up as of yet.
Something too that would be fabulous for high school is a debate class; however, she's so painfully introverted (no idea where she gets that from lol) that it might literally kill her to get up in front of other people and talk.
Let's see, we've got history, english, math, science, foreign language... it feels like I wrote out so much but at the same time it feels like I'm missing something. Not sure what though, lol.
So, without further ado:
History -
As stated previously, Ms. Artsy has chosen to start over with her history studies, so that she gets the full 4-year cycle in her high school career. So, we'll be starting off with the Ancients. Truthfully, I think this is her favorite time period, especially those of the Greeks and Romans. She's big into the mythology. For our spine for History, we'll be using Susan Wise Bauer's History of the Ancient World and the Study Guide that goes with it. A link I have saved that may become useful is from the Khan Academy. Part of history includes reading Great Books, and this is kind of where the line between history and English blurs. She'll be reading the Great Books that correspond to her history time frame, but she'll be analyzing the literature and writing notes and compositions based on her reading. The list includes books of the bible, the epic of Gilgamesh, Iliad and Odyssey, Oedipus the King, Agamemnon, Medea, The History of the Peloponnesian War, The Republic, On Poetics, Rhetoric, Aeneid, and more. We will get through what we get through.
To further enhance her history studies, beyond just reading, we'll be looking into getting most if not all of these Great Courses lectures:
The Other Side of History: Daily life in the Ancient world
History of the Ancient World: A global perspective
History of Ancient Egypt
Great Pharaoh's of Ancient Egypt
Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor
Foundations of Eastern Civilization
Ancient Greek Civilization
History of Ancient Rome
And a class from the Open Yale Courses -
Introduction to Ancient Greek History
Obviously, plenty of resources to provide a thorough and engaging year in Ancient History.
English -
Following the recommendations in The Well Trained Mind (TWTM), high school English is a lot of literature study, and the literature we're studying corresponds to the time in history we are studying. Ms. Artsy has chosen to start over with her history, instead of continuing on, so we will be back at the beginning with the Ancients. So, Here are my links that I have saved for English; maybe going through them for this post will remind me why I have them all saved.
First, Susan Wise Bauer has a great list of books in The Well Trained Mind, as well as The Well Educated Mind. And really, I'm viewing The Well Educated Mind as a sort of outline for high school, or the high school you wish you had if you had had a classical education. So the majority of our choices will be based off of these two books.
There's also The Great Books, Ancient Course. Now, this is from a "christian worldview" which we do not partake in, so it will require some tweaking. But, it gives me a sort of an outline to follow as far as hitting the books that we should be reading over the course of the year, and maybe give me an opportunity to find tests and essay questions pertaining to the books we chose to read.
The Great Courses:
Masterpieces of Ancient Greek Literature
Greek Tragedy
The Iliad of Homer & Odyssey of Homer
Aeneid of Virgil
Herodotus
Classical Mythology
Great Authors - This one can be used to span all 4 years, picking and choosing which authors we watch the lectures on.
History of World Literature - Same as above, can pick and choose lectures that apply
Human Myths - Fine line between history and language arts
These are a collection of lecture series by professors who are wild about their courses. They have a wealth of information to share, and even if just watching and getting a shallow bit of it, I believe she'll be better off than without them. These are a few of the books we'll be reading, so what better way than to have her go through the literature analysis with college professors?
Science -
Science in TWTM is, once again, based on period reading. Lots and lots of reading. I'm not trying to completely bombard her with all the reading all the time, so we will have a "typical" science class, with an actual high school text book, and piecemeal lab that we can purchase and do ourselves at home. In this instance, I wish so much that we could find a local co-op or group of equally aged children going through the same thing, but for the most part around here everyone is of a christian worldview and use Apologia texts, and I'm just not going to do it. So I am going to do the best that I can with online virtual labs, any and all field trips we can manage, and of course, labs at home.
TWTM recommends "source reading" based on subject matter and, of course, history time period. For Ancients/Biology, the recommendations include Hippocrates, Euclid, and Aristotle. These may be interspersed throughout the year, we'll take time off of science principle learning to do a bit of reading and a paper on the reading, and then go back to the principles.
For the book; I still haven't made my decision as to which Biology book I'm going to use. I have it narrowed down, and I just have to make the sticking decision (or buy both. I'm sure my husband would love that). This is the immensity of the links that I have saved for Biology for next year.
First, there is this thread on TWTM forums that has a huge plethora of information that I gleaned a lot of my links from. As far as the rest of it, I'm going to try to remember why I saved the link, and try to put them in some kind of order that makes sense. I'm 99.9% sure that nobody reads this anyway, so we'll just pretend like it's all for my benefit.
Books that are being considered:
Campbell's Concepts and Connections
Miller and Levine "Dragonfly book"
More Miller and Levine
Science for High School - I'm not even sure this one is in the running, but it's a complete kit, with lab and everything, so I'll have to look at it more.
Resources:
This blog post using Campbell
The Home Scientist Main Page
Experiences in Biology - I'm not sure why I saved this one now lol. I think it was supposed to be a great lab book...
The Home Scientist Lab corresponding to the "dragonfly" book
Campbell's other Biology Book
MIT Open Courseware Fundamentals of Biology
HippoCampus Biology
Bozeman Biology Videos
Khan Academy
Online Honor's Biology Syllabus using Campbell
Biology Podcasts
Biology Videos
Boseman Videos
Video lectures
Another resource using Campbell
Biology Corner
What a Plant Knows
And of course, we can't forget The Great Courses -
Biology: Science of Life
Understanding Genetics
Understanding the Human Body
Understanding the Brain
Biology and Human Behavior
Origins of Life
Obviously, there is way more here than could possibly fit into a 9-month, 9th grade Biology course. However, I like the idea of exposing her to some of the more "out there" stuff, just so she knows that this science thing is infinite, the possibilities are endless as to what she could go on to study. She may even rabbit-trail into something off course from just "biology", and that's ok.
We could add in a "health and nutrition" class to be half a credit to go along with Biology when it comes to human body systems. A few I've looked at in the past for that are
Real Food Nutrition and Real Food Nutrition for Kids
This one is completely new to me, I just ran across it the other day. I'll have to look into it more, but it definitely looks like something we'd be into.
The HBD one follows along with The Unhealthy Truth so it seems promising. And, they have a health 101 for teens!
It seems like I had come across one that had The Omnivore's Dilemma for Kids as required reading; I'll have to do some searching and see if I can find it again.
Math -
Fairly simply, math is Algebra this year. We'll be using the Saxon Algebra 1 text, and I'm going to have to decide if I want to get the videos again this year (we used them in Algebra 1/2 this past year). Another option, other than purchasing the videos, are the videos on Khan Academy site and also HippoCampus.
Foreign Language -
She's a little ambitious with what she thinks she's going to do in the Foreign Language department for high school. She's mentioned Latin, Greek, French, and of course, Japanese. I've told her that we can just pick one to focus on for our "credits" and the rest can be at a slower pace, not necessarily anything she'd get full credit for, but maybe could work out as elective credits or something. So far, what I've got saved for links for a foreign language are -
Visual Latin 2 - We're doing Visual Latin 1 right now. I love the guy, the kids love the guy; I'm not 100% sure it's enough as a stand alone for a credit. We may have to find something to supplement it with. The problem with that, once again, is finding something with a non-Christian bias.
For Japanese, I've saved a few courses from the MIT Open Courseware. This may just be a little side-fun, I'm not sure how much of a foreign language you can learn from books and worksheets. Seems to me like a full immersion is needed to be able to get any kind of fluency. But we'll take it one step at a time.
Japanese I
Linguistic Theory and the Japanese Language
Beginning Japanese II
Genki
Irasshai
As far as electives go, we have to figure something out for PE. I'm wanting to put them back into Kung Fu, so they are moving their bodies on a daily basis and also learning the disciple that comes with that. Also, my littles are old enough for it now, as well, and that would just be fantastic to be able to put everyone into something.
She's always liked art (obviously, hence the nickname) and has always taken an art class outside of the home until recently. Our latest art teacher has retired, so we'll have to figure something else out. There are a few things that her dad and I have up our sleeve for her upcoming birthday that might be something we could expand upon, definitely worth looking into for an elective for high school.
I would like it if she were interested in photography, but that hasn't come up as of yet.
Something too that would be fabulous for high school is a debate class; however, she's so painfully introverted (no idea where she gets that from lol) that it might literally kill her to get up in front of other people and talk.
Let's see, we've got history, english, math, science, foreign language... it feels like I wrote out so much but at the same time it feels like I'm missing something. Not sure what though, lol.
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