tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57095680385940891612024-02-07T11:32:43.571-05:00Our Great Homeschool ExperimentNataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-62826721786584165692013-04-05T06:00:00.000-04:002013-04-05T06:00:00.758-04:00Birthday Boys<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My boys both have spring birthdays- less than two weeks apart, in fact! This year, they decided that rather than having birthday parties, they wanted to do something different to celebrate. Works for me! Planning two celebrations so close together can be exhausting- not to mention- expensive!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 2 asked if we could go to an indoor water park for the day, so we packed up and set off for an overnight birthday celebration. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a fun-filled day and worth the emotional effort it took for me to don a bathing suit and get wet while snow softly fell outside. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhumcy62NSzu89tFdhJlpYSrh5jN6ozKpM7hf4TIPMvgBR6G2-IjCGJj-BeGpw1kkKGlb0Cd08n9K4NSpIrV4NC8kFiJ7wolNaKcBkNTB4RBVoef-dZ_L25gvCx-kxUDATbbxGJ01utPFA/s1600/IMG_5006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhumcy62NSzu89tFdhJlpYSrh5jN6ozKpM7hf4TIPMvgBR6G2-IjCGJj-BeGpw1kkKGlb0Cd08n9K4NSpIrV4NC8kFiJ7wolNaKcBkNTB4RBVoef-dZ_L25gvCx-kxUDATbbxGJ01utPFA/s320/IMG_5006.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The snow, though annoying this late in the season, was beautiful and reminded us of the day TS 2 was born on a snowy, late winter day NINE years ago.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the fun perks of this trip was an impromptu reunion of sorts we had with old friends. We decided to go to church on Sunday morning at a church local to the water park. Several old friends from our church had moved to this area over the years, and we hoped we might see some of them. Did we ever! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were even able to grab some lunch with them afterwards. It was a blessing to catch up with our sweet friends!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 1 requested tickets to a Yankees/Red Sox game for his birthday celebration. If you're not from around these parts, perhaps you don't appreciate the rivalry between these two teams, but it is pretty intense. Despite the bitter cold, our die hard Yankee fans had a blast!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, both boys also had their annual celebratory dinner at a local Mexican restaurant as well.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's hard for me to believe that TS 1 is TWELVE years old now. He is changing so much, so quickly. Yet in so many ways, he is still a child. It's a new phase of parenting for us. I'm trying to help him think and make good decisions for himself, rather than making all of the decisions for him. I'm trying not to be too frustrated when he fails. I am so proud of who he is and who he is becoming! I am so thankful for the gift of TIME with him now that we are homeschooling.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Happy birthday to our precious boys!</b></span></div>
Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-86144780833635342872013-04-02T10:30:00.001-04:002013-04-02T10:30:34.520-04:00Blog Lovin'Since Google Reader is going away soon, I'm going to try Blog Lovin' as my reader. If you'd like to do the same, click on the link below!<br />
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<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5474953/?claim=rw2kkeam97q">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-49935688006763135472013-03-15T16:28:00.003-04:002013-03-15T16:28:25.183-04:00Weekly Wrap Up: Determination<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, homeschooling three children has proven to be quite the time-consuming task :) My blogging has taken a back seat, though I enjoy it so much. This week, I am determined to blog, hence the title of this post. My last wrap-up post was over a month ago! Where to start?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We are in an exciting time period in history right now- the first battles of the American Revolution! </b> TS 1 has a great deal of reading each week in both history and literature, but he enjoys this subject and never complains about the workload. We are trying to do the <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/07/tog-for-dummies-i-mean-minimalists.html">Tapestry of Grace</a> Dialectic discussions each week as well, but it is challenging. They often take at least an hour, which I break into two sessions. Finding this time each week plan (a two-week stretch for us this year) is not always possible. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 2 and TS 3 are in the Lower Grammar level, and have much less reading each week. I beef up their learning with read-alouds, lap books and videos.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of read-alouds, we are all enjoying <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Boys-Wartime-Daniel-Siege-Boston/dp/0142417505/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363298649&sr=8-1&keywords=daniel+at+the+siege+of+boston+1776">Daniel at the Siege of Boston 1776</a> as our current read aloud. It is from the Boys of Wartime series, and was recommended to us by our local children's librarian. It is very engaging, yet the plot is simple enough that even TS 3 can follow along.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have been watching Liberty's Kids episodes about this time period as well. I recorded them on my DVR, and we have been watching each episode as we come upon that time in history in our readings. I think you can also find some of the episodes on YouTube, if you're interested. I stumbled on this great, little video on the Declaration of Independence on YouTube, which helped cement the main principles we had studied this week about the document.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In science, we started the lesson on Senses this week. Here the <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/why-this-crazy-experiment-anyway.html">test subjects</a> are doing an activity to demonstrate that our sense of smell and our memories are closely related since they are both processed in the temporal lobe of the brain. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While Tom taught science last year and for the first half of this year, we had to make a change recently. The content is much more complicated this year, and it became hard for the boys to attend as they need to in the evenings. I am teaching science now during the regular school day. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Math. Oh, math. I'm still not sure how I feel about Math-U-See. I am very close to switching all three to another curriculum for next year. Namely, Teaching Textbooks for TS 1 & TS 2 and Christian Light for TS 3. I just find the explanations for some of the higher level concepts more confusing than they need to be. None of my children seem to need or even benefit from the use of the manipulatives, so I'm really thinking of making the switch. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Collage Pictures- Clockwise from Top Left:</u></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. TS 3's reading is progressing wonderfully! She is reading level 1 readers almost completely independently now. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. TS 2 at the dentist</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. TS 3 sniffing herbs in science class</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. TS 1 at the dentist</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. TS 1 & 2 integrating the sense of smell and memory in science class</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. TS 3 at the dentist</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have an exciting weekend planned.<b> Tomorrow is TS 2's NINTH birthday! </b> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of a birthday party this year, he requested a day at an indoor water park with the family. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wishing you all a lovely weekend!</b></span><br />
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-47232916646781628542013-02-20T06:00:00.000-05:002013-02-20T06:00:07.854-05:00Cousin Homeschool Day!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday was our first day of a week-long winter recess, and guess what we decided to do? Homeschool! Actually, my sweet niece (let's call her <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">TS 4</a>, shall we?), has been asking for me to homeschool her all year, so we chose Monday to do just that. She slept over Sunday night and we had our Cousin Homeschool Day Monday. Actually, it was just us girls. The boys could not be convinced that it would be fun to pretend to do homeschool on our first day of break. They promptly parked themselves in front of a variety of screens all day from TV to computer to iPod, until I called for a friend to come over and play. </span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> TS 1 checking on spring training news on the iPad</span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>TS 2 playing LEGO Harry Potter on the iPod</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we woke up Monday morning, my niece was so excited to get started. She told me she was dreaming all night about homeschooling! We started off with a pancake breakfast, complete with cookie cutters to make fun shapes. </span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> TS 4 making a butterfly pancake</span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>TS 3 with her flower pancake</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After breakfast, TS 4 helped TS 3 with her morning chores while I got ready for the day.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started with our usual morning activities: Bible, calendar, reading and writing. My sister sent a list of CVC words and sight words that TS 4 is working on, and I used those for our reading and writing activities. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then it was time for audio book and center time. The girls listened to Flat Stanley on CD in TS 3's room while I prepared a fun President's Day craft for center time. I found this Log Cabin idea on <a href="http://pinterest.com/nattyloo/">Pinterest</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After center time, we had snack and a read aloud. I read <u>Abe Lincoln's Hat</u> to the girls while they munched on goldfish. They seemed to enjoy it and asked good questions during the story.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While they played together during break time, I pulled together some activities for math and science. The girls did a simple addition with pictures worksheet I found online first. Then I gave each of them a handful of coins to sort by president onto another President's Day sheet I found online. They each got to keep their coins after, which they loved! Finally, they practiced their addition facts with the Math Fact Master iPad app that we use daily. TS 4 was even able to e-mail her results to her mom through the app.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For science, we read a few pages about the nervous system from the <u>First Human Body Encyclopedia</u> I have been working through with TS 3 all year. We discussed the pages and then watched a couple of nervous system videos I had pinned on Pinterest during lunch. The boys joined us for that.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We wrapped up our Cousin Homeschool Day with more reading. The girls each took turns reading a story to me. They were very proud of their accomplishment!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What better way to end a busy Cousin Homeschool Day than some Just Dance 3?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkplf7WnAP788Fq88MWLUCFeanL8d5b0udp-tcXOA05LSd626fvFWNJYfinpmLHFPyK5cRrNK53M9Me1J_zJq_9df8LB77wsXXxE9M21kdzbL43fRIv3pP60ydA0o_W01VM09j-fu4RuY/s1600/IMG_4736.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkplf7WnAP788Fq88MWLUCFeanL8d5b0udp-tcXOA05LSd626fvFWNJYfinpmLHFPyK5cRrNK53M9Me1J_zJq_9df8LB77wsXXxE9M21kdzbL43fRIv3pP60ydA0o_W01VM09j-fu4RuY/s320/IMG_4736.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was so much fun to bless my niece! And she was a blessing to me. About halfway through the day, she turned to me with a beaming smile and said, "Titi Natalie, I am having so much fun, I never want this day to end!" Thanks for the wonderful endorsement, TS 4!</span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-42945963458290802742013-02-08T20:02:00.000-05:002013-02-08T20:02:22.295-05:00Weekly Wrap Up: The One with the Halfway Mark<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Last week, we finished up our second quarter, so we are officially halfway through our school year. </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems like a good time to recap what each of our three <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">test subjects</a> are up to in homeschool. (You can check out a complete list of our curricula </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/2012-2013-curricula.html">here</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, if you're interested.)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/11/what-ts-1-has-been-up-to.html">TS 1</a> has moved on to the second book in the Apologia worldview series, Who Am I? It really holds his interest and is doing a great job of helping him apply biblical priniciples to real life situations. He is still enjoying the Dialectic level of Tapestry of Grace for history. He did well on the Unit 3 Test, and is keeping up with the readings each week. We continue to have a discussion at the end of each week plan, too. We are on to Unit 4 now, the Age of Revolutions. In Math, he is almost halfway through the Zeta book on Decimals and Percents, which keeps him on course to finish the book by the end of this school year. This will allow him to move on to Pre-Algebra for seventh grade next year. We are planning on participating in a Spelling Bee in the near future, so we have put aside our Spelling Power curriculum for awhile to study words from a spelling bee list. TS 1 is working on writing five paragraph essays in his Following Narnia composition curriculum. He seems to enjoy writing and this curriculum in particular. His co-op enrichment class for the second half of the year is Geography and since TS 1 has developed a love for this subject recently, he is thoroughly enjoying this class.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-ts-2-has-been-up-to.html">TS 2</a> continues full steam ahead with the Gamma book for Math. He has mastered all his multiplication facts and is working on multi-digit multiplication now. He continues to enjoy history, though not as much as his older brother. I have found myself reading most of his history assignments aloud this year so that TS 3 can join in with the lessons, too. We have been focusing quite a bit on improving reading comprehension recently, so reading aloud the history assignments allows for extra practice with this. While he does a lesson twice a week on <a href="http://www.smarttutor.com/">SmartTutor</a> for this skill, most of the work with reading comprehension has been accomplished through reading together and asking him to narrate back the main idea, to answer questions about the characters, setting and plot and to give predictions about what might happen next. I have taken a gentle approach with reading comprehension, in the hopes of increasing his interest in reading. As a result of this approach, coupled with a very helpful librarian and some high interest books, TS 2 seems to be looking forward to reading now! Writing is going well, too. He has moved from writing his compositions with me to writing on his own with my edits and suggestions coming after he has completed the composition.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The boys are studying science together again this year using Apologia's Exploring Creation through Anatomy and Physiology. It is considerably more complex than last year's study of Astronomy, which has made it more challenging to teach to both levels. It can be easy to water it down too much for TS 1 or get too in-depth for TS 2. We are going to try to do more of the hands on activities and experiments in the course and find more related YouTube videos to customize the learning to each boys' level more. They have just begun studying the Nervous System, and we made models of the brain and a neuron this week. (I have no clue how that little yellow guy got in the shot- lol!)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-ts-3-has-been-up-to.html">TS 3</a> is my most challenging test subject to teach, which might seem strange since she is only a Kindergartner. However, she learns so differently from the boys, who seemed to progress in a (mostly) straight line without much regression at any given point. TS 3, however, will have mastered something for a long time and one day out of the blue seem to have lost that knowledge. This is a pattern we have seen since she was very small and beginning to learn simple concepts such as colors and shapes. Because of these challenges, we have changed (or put on hold) quite a bit of her curricula since we started. Looking back at where we started this year, though, her reading has come along beautifully. She is reading CVC words, some blends and sight words very well. She can spell the majority of the CVC words we have worked on, many blends and sight words as well. She uses context clues while reading and is learning to use different inflections for dialogue, questions and exclamations. In all, I am trying not to worry when I see regression, and just take time to review until she regains mastery and then return to the curriculum when she is ready. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We are in the midst of a blizzard tonight, so weekend plans include hunkering down with my loves, good books, movies and comfort food! </b></span><br />
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-1301099932191987762013-01-25T06:00:00.000-05:002013-01-25T07:29:02.138-05:00Weekly Wrap Up: The One in the Frozen Tundra <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Brr! It has been bitter cold in these parts this week! </b>It's weeks like this one that make me dream of moving south. We have been spending much of our time indoors, or bundled up like Eskimos just to get from the house to the car.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>On Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we had a half day of school. </b>All three <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">test subjects</a> worked on the three R's in the morning, and then went to a birthday party for their cousin in the afternoon. It was a swimming party, and they had a blast. Tom took them so I could continue to catch up on phone calls and paperwork. <b>It was so peaceful to be home alone for a few hours. </b> While I am able to find alone time most weeks, it is always out of the house. To be home alone was a gift!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of MLK, we finished up our copy work this week, and had some great discussions about the meaning behind the quotes and what they told us about the kind of man he was. We have yet to watch the documentary I mentioned <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2013/01/weekly-wrap-up-homeschool-mothers.html">last week</a>, so I am hoping to schedule that in for some evening next week.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Late Monday afternoon we had some friends over to practice making these crochet hearts. Aren't they adorable?</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>On Tuesday, we had a busy homeschool day and our regular gymnastics class in the afternoon.</b> My dad was kind enough to take the kids to their gymnastics class, so I could spend a few hours at the hospital with a friend who is nearing the end of her life. In the midst of the sadness, I feel such joy and hope knowing that we will see each other again in glory!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The highlight of my Wednesday was traveling into the city to have dinner with three of my four college roommates. </b> Since most of us live hours away from each other, and we have a total of 11 children between us, getting together is a rare event. It was great fun!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>As a result of all the Wednesday night fun, though, we all overslept about an hour on Thursday. </b>Even though it wasn't a longer day than usual, it felt that way because we started and ended later. Besides that glitch, Thursday was a productive homeschool day. I even found a few moments while the kids were taking a break to work on the Quarterly Reports that are due to our school district next week. It's hard to believe that we are almost at the halfway point of our school year!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Friday is our co-op day, and despite this bitter cold, some the gym classes are still scheduled to be held outside. </b> I am so thankful that I am not assisting in the gym classes this year, but I am concerned for TS 1 who may spend 45 minutes out in the cold tomorrow. He, of course, don't understand what all the fuss is about and is perfectly happy to be outdoors despite the frigid temps. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>On tap for the weekend: basketball games, a boy cousin play date at Dave and Busters and church! </b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/search/label/Weekly%20Wrap-up" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/kbmomto3/weeklywrap-up2.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXiXCj8JzIwZg-_fb2RbiPj2J-xLqe59grbFNoSa_gBWyV36LMZLHjVF9S6P4yaH2Q4AkT7tC3ALYf18Pj7HZjXBgofORIG4DxWhAS0G5ZdgeHHlvGEJEicgNX4cwQYbt-jtTj2reWsc/s1600/HSMJ-wideIHN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXiXCj8JzIwZg-_fb2RbiPj2J-xLqe59grbFNoSa_gBWyV36LMZLHjVF9S6P4yaH2Q4AkT7tC3ALYf18Pj7HZjXBgofORIG4DxWhAS0G5ZdgeHHlvGEJEicgNX4cwQYbt-jtTj2reWsc/s320/HSMJ-wideIHN.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.homegrownlearners.com/" title="Homegrown Learners"><img alt="Homegrown Learners" src="http://homegrownlearners.squarespace.com/storage/Mary_CollageFriday.png" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; cursor: move;" /></a></span></div>
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-39521137699740377912013-01-18T16:20:00.000-05:002013-01-18T16:20:13.110-05:00Weekly Wrap Up: Homeschool Mother's Journal Style<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #414141; font-family: Arvo, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 28px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In my life this week…</span></strong></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1c1c1c;">I had quite a bit of paperwork and phone calls to catch up with this week. I still have more paperwork, phone call and appointments to take care of, but I'm beginning to see the light. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #414141; font-family: Arvo, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 28px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In our homeschool this week…</span></strong></span></div>
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We began Unit 4 of Year 2 of Tapestry of Grace this week, the Age of Revolutions. We all learned about Benjamin Franklin. TS 1 also read about England's colonization of India, while TS 2 and TS 3 learned about John Harrison and how his sea clocks solved the problem of sailors knowing their longitude at sea.</div>
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We also spent some time learning more about Martin Luther King, Jr. this week thanks to the ideas Mary posted on her blog, <a href="http://www.homegrownlearners.com/home/2013/1/14/assumptions-and-prejudices-learning-about-dr-king-free-copyw.html">Homegrown Learners</a>. If you are looking for at your fingertips ideas you can carry out easily to teach about MLK, that post is the place to go! The boys have been working on the copy work pages Mary created. They both read <u>Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?</u> this week, too. We all watched MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech on You Tube. I'm planning for us to watch the documentary Mary mentioned next week. <br />
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<i>Some computer learning</i> </div>
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<i> TOG Unit 2 Lapbook Complete</i></div>
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<i>One of TS 3's journal entries</i></div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…</span></strong></h3>
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Slow down, read aloud more and listen to your children. (Reminding myself here, too!) I am certainly guilty of speeding around and being too "busy" to really listen. I've been making more of an effort to do just that, both during the homeschool day and during our family time. It's been a blessing, not just to my children, but to me as well!<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #414141; font-family: Arvo, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 28px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I am inspired by…</span></strong></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Droid Sans', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">From Benjamin Franklin to John Harrison to Martin Luther King, Jr., this was an uplifting week for all of us as we studied these interesting, inspiring and world-changing men!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #414141; font-family: 'Droid Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 20px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></strong></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #414141; font-family: 'Droid Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 20px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…</span></strong></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Droid Sans', Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">Dance class, gymnastics, basketball practices and games, baseball clinic and playdates- oh my!</span></div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My favorite thing this week was…</span></strong></h3>
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Returning to co-op! I am not teaching this semester, and as much as I loved teaching the U.S. Government and Elections classes in the fall, I am grateful for the semester off. No prep work the night before, no lugging posters and bags back and forth the morning of, and no rushing out the door to arrive early for set up on Friday mornings. The kids seem to love their new classes as well as the ones that are continuing from first semester. </div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What’s working/not working for us…</span></strong></h3>
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We seem to be chugging along fairly smoothly overall right now, except for TS 3's math. We are floundering a bit, and I am trying to decide what to do. As you may remember, TS 3 was in <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-ts-3-has-been-up-to.html">Kindergarten at school</a> last year, and we are doing Kindergarten here at home this year as well. She is on the younger end of the spectrum for her grade, so I wanted to give her more time for some basic concepts to gel. I did decide on the Alpha level of Math-U-See, however, for her this year, rather than the Primer level because that seemed too basic for her. She has been doing well up until now. It seems we need to shore up some of her fundamental math concepts before going on with the addition facts, though. I have been supplementing with games and ideas from friends, but I am thinking about getting the Kindergarten or 1A level of Singapore Math as a supplement as well. I would use it to build up some fundamental skills and when she seems ready, we would return to Math-U-See.<br />
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Things I’m working on…</span></strong></h3>
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Getting back to a more consistent Quiet Time routine each morning. I am a night owl by nature, so I struggle to get myself to bed before 11 p.m. on any given night. That makes rising at 6 a.m. very difficult for me. I know how important it is for me to spend time alone with the Lord before the demands of the day begin, so I am trying to reset the body clock to do just that.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #414141; font-family: Arvo, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 28px;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></strong></span></div>
I’m grateful for…</span></strong></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Droid Sans', Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Endless resources and helps for homeschool, both online and real life. The opportunity to learn alongside my children, and to be (with my husband) the primary shapers of their worldview. <br />
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Friends that make me laugh, and the ability to stay connected with them through texting and social media right in the midst of this <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/why-this-crazy-experiment-anyway.html">homeschool experiment </a>of ours.<br />
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A photo, video, link, or quote to share (silly, serious or both!)…</span></strong></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #1c1c1c; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i>-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.</i></span></span></div>
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-61549174153097095422013-01-04T09:03:00.002-05:002013-01-04T09:03:53.837-05:00Weekly Wrap Up: The One after Christmas Break<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How is it possible that I have not written a weekly wrap up post since <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/09/weekly-wrap-up-one-in-which-we-got-our.html">September</a>?!? That's just crazy! It's certainly not from a lack of wanting to blog- I love documenting our <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/why-this-crazy-experiment-anyway.html">great homeschool experiment</a> here. It seems, though, that my free time and energy level has decreased exponentially with <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/05/its-official.html">the addition of our third test subject</a>. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first week of January seems like as good a time as any to get back to writing a weekly wrap up, so here goes:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our (almost) two week Christmas break included the typical frenzy leading up to Christmas as well as family gatherings for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. </span></div>
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<i>Christmas Eve</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg9GdihmHPGFnHrWI5zRF5fjMdrdIkg942mriCxOffXmemKQ8KF3V0-UGlWr8VOy3EdtPmbAI4I5wtXwO3FWYsXkvb3EwEU2OqN92RHJ_b5twzi4OwVtyyy1UOp4rzQ9V1cXQTaiX6_pM/s1600/Christmas+Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg9GdihmHPGFnHrWI5zRF5fjMdrdIkg942mriCxOffXmemKQ8KF3V0-UGlWr8VOy3EdtPmbAI4I5wtXwO3FWYsXkvb3EwEU2OqN92RHJ_b5twzi4OwVtyyy1UOp4rzQ9V1cXQTaiX6_pM/s320/Christmas+Day.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Christmas Day</i> </div>
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<i>Kid's Table</i> </div>
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<i>Jesus's Birthday Cake</i> </div>
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<i>Christmas Day Attire- The difference in the way the boys and TS 3 dress makes me smile!</i></div>
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<i>Some of the cousins on New Year's Eve</i></div>
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<i>Cookies and Milk for the Kids' Toast</i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We started back to school on Wednesday, and although we have not yet gotten back to our pre-break schedule in terms of getting up on time and finishing on time, we were able to fall back into a full work load. </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We treated ourselves to a play date after our first day back to school. While the kids played, the moms learned to crochet. I felt like an old lady, and had resisted the trend for so long. When I saw <a href="http://goldhoopstochickencoops.blogspot.com/2012/12/african-flowers_27.html">this blanket</a> on my friend Vanessa's blog, though I succumbed to the peer pressure. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is my first piece of work! Isn't it cute?!?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday morning we hit the books again. <b>We are wrapping up our <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/07/tog-for-dummies-i-mean-minimalists.html">Tapestry of Grace</a> unit on Colonial Times. </b> It has been an engaging study for all of us! We are hoping to join with some homeschooling friends for a unit celebration in the near future. The kids are excited about the idea- we had so much fun at our <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/03/weekly-wrap-up-one-with-medieval-feast.html">Medieval Feast</a> last year.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are in the midst of a media fast this week for the kids. <b>I am convinced that there is much more peace in this home when we power down the iPods, iPad, TV and computer for an extended period and remember how to interact with one another and play creatively! </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After dinner, this little lady pulled out a workbook to "play" with last night. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Co-op does not resume until January 18th, which gives us another day at home this week and next. We are treating them as normal school days and following our regular routine. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have another play date scheduled for this afternoon. We have been trying to have these friends over for months now! (We are a bit over-scheduled after-school this year, but that is for another post.) </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our weekend holds a basketball game both Saturday and Sunday for TS 1. TS 2's team has the weekend off. <b>On Saturday, TS 3 and I will make our annual trip to the American Girl store with my sister, her daughter and our mom. </b>We are looking forward to an afternoon of browsing the store, wrapping up with dinner in the cafe!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I hope your holidays were filled with joy and peace and you make a smooth transition back to school, friends!</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/search/label/Weekly%20Wrap-up" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/kbmomto3/weeklywrap-up2.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXiXCj8JzIwZg-_fb2RbiPj2J-xLqe59grbFNoSa_gBWyV36LMZLHjVF9S6P4yaH2Q4AkT7tC3ALYf18Pj7HZjXBgofORIG4DxWhAS0G5ZdgeHHlvGEJEicgNX4cwQYbt-jtTj2reWsc/s1600/HSMJ-wideIHN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXiXCj8JzIwZg-_fb2RbiPj2J-xLqe59grbFNoSa_gBWyV36LMZLHjVF9S6P4yaH2Q4AkT7tC3ALYf18Pj7HZjXBgofORIG4DxWhAS0G5ZdgeHHlvGEJEicgNX4cwQYbt-jtTj2reWsc/s320/HSMJ-wideIHN.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-84231692103484373272012-12-31T06:00:00.000-05:002012-12-31T06:00:02.880-05:002012: The Year in ReviewI'm not sure why exactly, but I've been a little quiet and even melancholy as of late. I'm sure that comes across in my <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-i-saw-eternity-in-124-days.html">last</a> <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-chasing-after-wind.html">two</a> blog posts. I never intended to become so sporadic with my posting in this space. I truly enjoy writing and I love how this blog has become a scrapbook of sorts of our <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/why-this-crazy-experiment-anyway.html">experiment</a>. Browsing some blogs over the weekend, I noticed a theme in some posts reflecting on 2012 and I thought that might be just the way to remind myself of my many blessings and break out of this funk in which I find myself. Won't you join me on a stroll down 2012 lane here at the <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">lab</a>?<br />
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It is interesting to me to see that I wrote this post back in January of 2012 since just this morning at church, I was gleaning wisdom about parenting from a friend. Have we embraced the truth that <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/01/weekly-wrap-up-fool-insists-on.html">A Fool Insists on Quarreling</a> and turned from it since last year? Well, not completely, of course, but this study we did last year is one I still reference with the kids from time to time. This study, coupled with clear and consistent consequences, has helped us navigate poor attitudes and sibling fighting in more godly ways.<br />
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In February, we went on the <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/02/best-field-trip-ever.html">Best Field Trip Ever </a>and pulled off a performance in a <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/02/weekly-wrap-up-one-with-surprise.html">Surprise Assembly</a>. I also took the time to <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/02/weekly-wrap-up.html">re-examine our homeschool mission</a>, which is always an encouraging thing to do for me!<br />
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In March, I wrote about our <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/03/weekly-wrap-up-one-with-medieval-feast.html">Medieval Feast Unit Celebration</a>, which was a 2012 highlight for sure! I'm looking forward to planning a Colonial Times Unit Celebration to mark the end of our study in this era soon.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSIj_v5QLU4u6y-xYD1Q-HpCfc1vZ0mOu5lKGetFeNXJYhF_zKsqCzmshYSmKwQbhpt2N54KqudWEMz4m44ttl946xqQP6Q3nn5njry28WnWXvA8v0Me49vniiirxQprYwnqHCu_l3__w/s1600/medieval+feast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSIj_v5QLU4u6y-xYD1Q-HpCfc1vZ0mOu5lKGetFeNXJYhF_zKsqCzmshYSmKwQbhpt2N54KqudWEMz4m44ttl946xqQP6Q3nn5njry28WnWXvA8v0Me49vniiirxQprYwnqHCu_l3__w/s320/medieval+feast.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In April, TS 1 allowed me to share his autobiographical essay <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/04/god-on-diamond-essay-by-ts-1.html">God on the Diamond</a> as a testimony to how God is working in the hearts of our children, even as we fumble along on the parenting journey.<br />
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In May, I attended my first large homeschool convention with a dear friend who was trying to decide whether to take the plunge and homeschool her three children. (She did and we love seeing them at co-op, field trips and other homeschool events!) I offered this post, <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/05/convention-recap-and-tips.html">Convention Recap and Tips</a>, after I returned. After attending a celebration in honor of another dear friend's achievement of Doctor of Philosophy, I wrote this post <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/05/on-pursuing-ones-passion.html">On Pursuing One's Passion</a>.<br />
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In June, I wrote the <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/06/top-10-reasons-we-love-homeschooling.html">Top 10 Reasons We Love Homeschooling</a> and the <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/06/10-reasons-for-our-classical.html">Top 10 Reasons for our Classical Christian/Charlotte Mason Approach</a>. It was good for me to reflect on these thoughts at this time!<br />
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<a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/07/tog-for-dummies-i-mean-minimalists.html">TOG for Dummies, I Mean Minimalists</a> was a fun post to write in July. As I re-read it, I realize we are doing things a bit differently this year. Perhaps another TOG post is in order?<br />
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My one post in August re-capped our <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/08/weekly-wrap-up-whirlwind.html">Whirlwind</a> of a summer.<br />
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September's highlights included <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/09/weekly-wrap-up-one-with-2-baptisms-and.html">Two Baptisms and a Birthday</a> and <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/09/weekly-wrap-up-one-in-which-we-got-our.html">Getting Our (Homeschool) Groove Back)</a>. <br />
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In October, I detailed what our TS 3 has been up to in <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-ts-3-has-been-up-to.html">Homeschool Kindergarten</a> and what TS 2 has been up to in <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-ts-2-has-been-up-to.html">Third Grade</a>.<br />
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November brought <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/11/what-ts-1-has-been-up-to.html">TS 1's turn in the spotlight</a>.<br />
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And that brings us back to December, and my reflections entitled <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-i-saw-eternity-in-124-days.html">How I Saw Eternity in 124 Days</a> and <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-chasing-after-wind.html">A Chasing After the Wind</a>.<br />
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On this New Year's Eve friends, I pray you find a moment to reflect on your own blessings. Perhaps you might find a quiet moment, also, to wonder about your struggles and what God might be working in and through them. I pray you have the opportunity to ring in the New Year with loved ones, and that your celebration is filled with hope. May your New Year be filled with the peace and love of Jesus!<br />
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-22413770711356030082012-12-22T08:00:00.000-05:002012-12-22T08:00:00.126-05:00How I Saw Eternity in 124 Days<br />
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<i>*Posted in remembrance of my sweet "nephew" Jayden on the one year anniversary of his passing into the arms of Jesus.*</i></div>
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I hope you have seen the video my cousins made in celebration of their sweet baby Jayden, who went home to be with the Lord after 124 days of life here on this earth. If you have not, please watch it first <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/01/story-of-jayden.html">here</a> before reading this post.</div>
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As I mentioned in that post, there are so many things I want to say about the experience of loving and losing Jayden. God gave him to our family for a short time, but for a great purpose. Part of Jayden's purpose was surely to change me. In honor of him, I want to share with you how God used this precious baby to do that.</div>
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Before Jayden was even born, he began to change me. During Christina's pregnancy, we were made aware of some concerns the doctors had about how Jayden was developing in utero. Each time a concern was raised, we prayed and God removed the issue. At the next sonogram, the concern would be gone! <b>Through Jayden, I learned how to really pray- fervent, unceasing, faith filled and unselfish prayers. And because of him, I learned that God does still heal! </b>I saw Him miraculously heal JJ not once but twice. </div>
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When Jayden was born and all seemed well, I was overjoyed! When I saw his precious face in photos for the first time, the tears of thankfulness flowed. <b>Even now, as I look back, I thank God my cousins had a </b><b>month of typical life with a newborn. I pray that God has engraved the sweetness of that time on their hearts forever.</b></div>
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One afternoon, when JJ was about a month old, I got a phone call from Christina to let me know they were on their way to the hospital and to ask for prayer for Jayden. Once again, it was time to persevere in prayer. <b>Through the ups and downs and the lack of answers from the doctors, Jayden taught me how to press on in prayer and to trust God with the result. His life forced me to put my faith in action. Do I really believe that with God all things are possible? Do I really believe that God’s plan is perfect?</b></div>
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When God made a way for my cousins to bring Jayden home and I was able to meet him, I felt such great thankfulness for the opportunity. <b>Holding him for those brief moments were a gift I will never forget nor take for granted. I will never forget his beautiful eyes, his round cheeks, his sweet smile and of course how he looked just like his daddy. </b></div>
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During my visit, my cousins held a beautiful prayer service for Jayden. I will never forget how they purposed to keep the mood light yet prayerful and reverent. Their grace and peace spoke volumes to those of us looking on- both believers and non-believers. <b>As a believer, I was encouraged to see that God does indeed give special grace in our time of need. And those who don’t believe saw a faith that was real, and how God could be loved, honored and glorified even as one walks through pain and fear.</b></div>
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When I got the phone call I had been praying against for so long, my heart broke. But Jayden’s life and my cousins' response to his life and his death, once again taught me. <b>I learned<i>, really learned</i>, that life is a vapor. This is not just head knowledge for me anymore. Instead I feel that truth now with an ache in my heart. My eyes have been opened to see that not one of us is promised tomorrow. I have had to experience what that feels like and to watch my loved ones suffer because of it. I have been forced to acknowledge how I have taken the precious gift of life for granted. I have been inspired to change that- to become one who appreciates each moment of life- my own and my loved ones- as a gift. </b></div>
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My cousins' determination to honor God by celebrating Jayden’s life despite their pain was beautiful! Once again, I saw Him give them the special grace to do just that at JJ's Celebration of Life service. From the music they chose, to the words of the pastor, to the incredible <a href="http://onethingspokentwothingsheard.blogspot.com/2012/01/story-of-jayden.html">video</a>, to Christina’s unscripted appeal onstage to all to come to know God, to the release of 124 balloons in celebration of his 124 days of life, they set the tone of celebration and faith in the midst of suffering and sorrow. <b>They lifted God and His goodness above all else and, in doing so, set an example for all of us who believe and planted a seed in the hearts of those who do not.</b></div>
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The truth is, I wish with everything in me, that Jayden was still with us. That our prayers had been answered differently and I could have rejoiced to watch him toddling through my cousins' yard as we enjoyed our annual week together in the summer. I mourn with them. I weep with them. <b>But praise God that we do not grieve like those who have no hope! We know where JJ is- in the arms of our Jesus. And we know that he is healed and whole. We know that we will see him again- and this time it will not be for a vapor but for eternity.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I don’t know how to do this. How to grieve a sweet little cousin. How to love my cousins well. How to minister at this time. I only know this. <b>That I love my cousins and their family so very much. And that He loves them exceedingly and abundantly more than I ever could.</b> So I simply trust that they will come through this stronger and more equipped to do His will. And I ask Him to give me what I need to be there for them. </div>
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<b>Thank you, Christina and Jason, for sharing Jayden with me. I am forever changed because of him!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-35115426927018410832012-12-18T17:06:00.003-05:002012-12-18T17:06:53.335-05:00A Chasing After the Wind<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I listen to the news, scroll through my News Feed on Facebook and navigate blogs following the inconceivable evil wrought on Friday morning in Newtown, CT, this is what keeps rising up in my mind: </span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text Eccl-1-14" id="en-NIV1984-17330">"I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. </span>What is twisted cannot be straightened, what is lacking cannot be counted." Ecclesiastes 1: 14-15</span></i></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="text Eccl-12-13" id="en-NIV1984-17537" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; position: relative;">Twenty fresh-faced, rosy-cheeked lives were snuffed out in an act of carnage so repugnant, one cannot bear to think on it too long without a visceral response. Six brave, selfless women- mothers, daughter, aunts, sisters, wives, friends- were prematurely ripped from this earth. Countless family members, friends and survivors have been forever marred by staggering trauma and loss. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="text Eccl-12-13" id="en-NIV1984-17537" style="position: relative;"><br /></span></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="text Eccl-12-13" id="en-NIV1984-17537" style="position: relative;">We cry out about gun control and mental illness and prescription drugs. Politicians make impassioned promises to right all that is wrong with this world with their policies and laws. <b>But the hard truth is this: what is twisted cannot be straightened, what is lacking cannot be counted. </b></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="text Eccl-12-13" id="en-NIV1984-17537" style="position: relative;">No amount of dialogue or legislation or research or best practices can restrain the evil that can be borne out of the human heart. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>We are a twisted people living in a fallen world. </b></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Our ONLY hope is not found in anything we can do to save us from ourselves. <b>Our futile attempts to do so are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.</b></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, our ONLY hope is found in the God of the Bible. Our ONLY hope is found in the Father who loved us so much that He sent His only Son to take the penalty for our sin. Our ONLY hope is found in the Holy Spirit who gives us power to live a godly life. <b>Our ONLY hope is in the ONLY One who can straighten our twisted hearts and make our lives count despite all we lack in our own strength. </b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Today, we weep with those who weep. We pray and cry out to the God of all comfort to heal the broken-hearted and to be close to those who are crushed in spirit. </b>We share God's love whenever and however we can. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hslda/posts/10151274260138419">It's the only appropriate response in this hour.</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Soon, yes, there will be honest dialogue about gun control, mental illness, and prescription drugs. And spirit-filled believers must enter in to these dialogues, using the principles from God's Word and the wisdom He gives us to make a difference in this world. <b>However, we must never be blinded to the truth in this process. The truth that <a href="http://www.qideas.org/blog/a-connecticut-winter-why-our-hearts-break.aspx">only God can bring the full restoration our hearts long for</a> and we must never waver in this message. </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Now all has been heard;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span></span></span><span class="text Eccl-12-13" style="position: relative;">here is the conclusion of the matter: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fear God<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-17537P" title="See cross-reference P">P</a>)"></sup> and keep his commandments,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span></span></span><span class="text Eccl-12-13" style="position: relative;">for this is the whole duty of man. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For God will bring every deed into judgment, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span></span></span><span class="text Eccl-12-14" style="position: relative;">including every hidden thing,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">whether it is good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14</span></i></span> </blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>There is a day, and it's coming soon, when He will right every wrong and wipe every tear from our eyes. </b></span> </div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"And in despair, I bowed my head. There is no peace on earth, I said. For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men. Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: God is not dead nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. With peace on earth, good will to men." from I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day</span></i></blockquote>
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-46404648211571093372012-11-09T06:00:00.000-05:002012-11-09T06:00:04.630-05:00What TS 1 Has Been Up To<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you may have read, I'm sharing about what each of our <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/why-this-crazy-experiment-anyway.html">test subjects</a> have been up to so far this year. You can read all about <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-ts-2-has-been-up-to.html">TS 2's year</a> so far here and <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-ts-3-has-been-up-to.html">TS 3's here</a>. This week is is TS 1's turn in the spotlight. <span class="Apple-style-span">TS 1 is in sixth grade, and we are using the following curricula as part of our Classical </span><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/05/2012-2013-curricula-and-our-homeschool.html">Christian/Charlotte Mason style homeschool</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span">.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/year2/" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Tapestry of Grace, Year 2, Units 3 & 4</a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.growingwithgrammar.com/1gwg_Level_6.html" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Growing with Grammar Level 6</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (Grammar)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/fn-t" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Following Narnia: Writing Lessons in Structure and Style</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (Composition)</span><a href="http://www.areasonfor.com/transaction_detail.php?id=60" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Reason for Handwriting, Letter F</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (Cursive Practice)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Complete </span><a href="http://store.mathusee.com/catalog/general-math/zeta/" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Math-U-See Epsilon Level and Begin Zeta Level</span></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_65" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Apologia: Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology</a></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #2d2d2d;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d;"><b>Bible:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=42_55" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apologia: Who is God?</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.rosettastone.com/homeschool" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America)- Homeschool Edition</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Activities within Tapestry of Grace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Weekly Piano Lessons</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Weekly Homeschool Co-op (PE, Art and U.S. Government and Elections Class)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;">Community Sports (Baseball and Basketball)</span> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year, I decided to try TS 1 in the Dialectic level of </span></strong><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/07/tog-for-dummies-i-mean-minimalists.html"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TOG</span></strong></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>.</strong> He is a sixth grader this year, which is the first year that TOG recommends trying the Dialectic Level of the curriculum. Since TS 1 enjoys history and is a fairly quick reader, I thought he might be able to handle this level. The difference between the Dialectic level and the level he was on last year (Upper Grammar) is that in addition to learning important facts about people and events, the student is also challenged to make and articulate connections across events, people and countries. Moving up to the Dialectic level has turned out to be the right decision for TS 1. He is enjoying history more than ever before! The amount of reading has not been overwhelming and he is so curious and interested in the content. We are having a discussion of the content and the connections across the different readings and events at the end of each week plan. We both really enjoy these discussions, but we have had to spread them out over two days because they are quite lengthy. <strong>I can't really express in words just how delighted I am to see TS 1 enjoying history, to see it coming alive for him.</strong> This was one of the subjects that had been so dry and lifeless for him in school, so to see this change makes my homeschooling mama heart happy :)</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC1zzHjnhO5aQjhS7CeC3QSB0x3YXzYyiQznvr3kM_cXIrBgSaMzTXyscGQNu0BM7yTAGSFWKCPZXmvPxRHyoHHtr4-t8LV0W2qp_ONhKYD7-qX_euQEVelWC6frB87-uphs1YqOVtVr0/s1600/mus+zeta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC1zzHjnhO5aQjhS7CeC3QSB0x3YXzYyiQznvr3kM_cXIrBgSaMzTXyscGQNu0BM7yTAGSFWKCPZXmvPxRHyoHHtr4-t8LV0W2qp_ONhKYD7-qX_euQEVelWC6frB87-uphs1YqOVtVr0/s320/mus+zeta.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(What? Doesn't everybody do their math hanging off the couch???)</span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 1 finished his </span></strong><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2011/07/why-math-u-see.html"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MUS</span></strong></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong> Epsilon book a few weeks ago- hurray!!! He started right away on the Zeta level, and is moving quickly through the introductory lessons.</strong> I seriously considered switching to a new math program for TS 1, as I am not sure MUS is the right fit for him. However, since I had purchased the next level already, and he was not opposed to moving forward with it, we decided to bite the bullet. Before we came to this conclusion, I researched Teaching Texbooks (looks great!) and even had him take a couple of the assessments to determine the level he would enter if we switched. I also looked into Life with Fred (so fun!), but decided I would need to do too much supplementing with it to feel he had covered all he needed to for a full year's study. In the end, I decided that it didn't make sense to switch now, when he is only one level away from Pre-Algebra. If we still feel a change is in order, I think it makes more sense to do it at the end of this level than now. Since he had already changed from a spiral math program at school to MUS, I was worried than another change now plus the change to Pre-Algebra next year just left too much opportunity for gaps in his learning. I'm still not sure if we made the right decision, but a decision had to be made nonetheless!</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spelling Power has turned out to be a truly painless way to work on spelling a little every day. Growing with Grammar works the same for us for grammar. This year I added a handwriting component for TS 2 because his handwriting is quite poor. He learned beautiful d'nealian print and manuscript in school, but he usually rushes when writing and produces sloppy work. He is capable of much more in this area, so we are working on that this year. <strong>He works on handwriting three times a week, and keyboarding once a week. </strong></span></span><br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(What? Doesn't everybody do writing on their knees leaning on the chair???)</span></i></div>
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For composition, TS 1 has been working through IEW's Following Narnia curriculum. The program is a combination of review of what he learned last year and assignments that build upon and expand the skills he already learned. He is doing well with the curriculum and works independently on it for the most part. <strong>If he had not completed the Student Writing Intensive last year, Following Narnia would have been much more challenging for him and labor intensive for me.</strong> I would not recommend that one start with this curriculum if you are new to IEW unless the teacher had time to prepare for and directly teach each lesson. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span>TS 2 continues to work through the first book in Apologia's worldview series, <u>Who is God</u>? <strong>I am pleased with how the curriculum teaches biblical concepts plainly and clearly and then links them to real-life situations through stories and probing questions. </strong>We use the accompanying notebook, although it is not a necessary component of the program. It simply enhances it and makes it easier for me to be sure he is understanding and applying what he has read. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tom is doing science with the test subjects again this year, and they seem to be enjoying the Human Anatomy study. <strong>They recently completed the lesson on muscles and are on to the Digestive system this week.</strong> I have been finding you tube videos to reinforce what they are learning this year, as the content is much more detailed than last year's Astronomy study. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>TS 2 is continuing through the first level of Rosetta Stone's Latin American Spanish course. I believe he is almost through with Level 1. </strong>To be honest, since this is not a required elective and won't be for some years now in our state, my goals for Spanish right now are just to provide exposure to the langauge. As a result, I haven't been as diligent as I would like in keeping tabs on his progress up to this point. I'm working on that :)</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As for all the extras, co-op is in full swing and TS 1 is really enjoying his classes. He is taking U.S. Government and Elections, Physical Education and Art. Piano lessons are also going well and he performed Bizet's Habanera from Carmen a few weeks ago at co-op assembly. He was also invited to play on the sixth grade basketball team at the school he attended through fourth grade. Practices have already started and games begin sometime around Thanksgiving. He is enjoying it so far! TS 1 also participates in a weekly baseball clinic, and has learned a lot of new skills so far.</span></span></div>
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-72362207033111839962012-10-19T14:20:00.000-04:002012-10-19T14:20:24.194-04:00Co-op AssemblyEach week at our homeschool co-op, a different family takes a turn performing during the morning assembly time. This week it was our turn. The test subjects decided to recite a Bible verse together and then the boys each played a piece on the piano. They were followed by TS 3, who sang a song and did the sign language to go along with it. It was very cute and since I am wiped out this afternoon, this little video will have to serve as my weekly post :)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ydkfL93khzY" width="560"></iframe>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-8320337924712607972012-10-12T06:00:00.000-04:002012-10-12T16:53:45.772-04:00What TS 3 Has Been Up To<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When my IRL life friend, <a href="http://goldhoopstochickencoops.blogspot.com/">Vanessa</a>, commented on <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-ts-2-has-been-up-to.html">my post last week</a> to say that she was looking forward to reading about what <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">TS 3</a> was up to in our homeschool, I got right to work on this post. I have a saying, "what Vanessa wants, Vanessa gets." This old adage is true for a myriad of reasons. First of all, Vanessa and I have similar roots, and roots like these must be respected ;) We both grew up in New York City and both of us are Puerto Rican- these two things might not seem like much, but when you are raising your family in suburbia, these commonalities provide for lots of laughter between us. Secondly, we have very a similar sense of humor. I know I can say something outlandish, and without missing a beat, she will respond with something even more hilarious. Thirdly, she is my sister in Christ, an encourager and a prayer warrior on whom one can depend. And if all that isn't enough, get this: <b>the girl brought me a Pumpkin Spice Latte to our last field trip!</b> It was an outdoor hike at a nature preserve and she knows how too much nature gets this city girl all worked up. Love you, V!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, without further ado, here is what TS 3 has been up to</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> so far this year. TS 3 is in Kindergarten, and we are using the following curricula as part of our Classical </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/05/2012-2013-curricula-and-our-homeschool.html">Christian/Charlotte Mason style homeschool</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Humanities Core:</b></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Includes History, Geography, Church History, Music and Art Appreciation</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 3- <a href="http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/history-and-geography/story-of-the-world.html" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Story of the World</a>, Sections selected to correspond with Tapestry of Grace readings for TS 1 & 2 as well as selected Lower Grammar picture books from Tapestry of Grace</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 3- <a href="http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/pal" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Institute for Excellence in Writing Primary Arts of Language</a> (Reading, Writing, Spelling and Handwriting)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 3- <a href="http://store.mathusee.com/catalog/general-math/alpha/" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Math-U-See Alpha Level</a>; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Math-Made-Easy-Grade-Workbook/dp/0789457245/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337046072&sr=1-1" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Math Made Easy 1</a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 3- Human Body Study using a variety of workbooks and books from the library</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS3- <a href="http://www.explorerbiblestudy.org/Store_ProductDetail.aspx?pid=c5Igh92580423g6cg02I" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Explorer's Bible Study, Beginnings I, Precious in His Sight</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Activities within Tapestry of Grace</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Weekly Homeschool Co-op (Three Group Classes including PE, Music and Literature Enrichment on Fridays with Other Local Homeschoolers)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUk96cDvPmonL1_fiQlaPMxBaQwg0ENonkAdmBAtXts4gNPJCiJGuZaRxrXz8AeD3QtCaDgcD-eJ65r7Pprm3TX9AgiAvFyd5VyHEiWN-PXA48ik2BGpsr9NXBQSnGfE_T7GOhsAl6UOo/s1600/IMG_1535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUk96cDvPmonL1_fiQlaPMxBaQwg0ENonkAdmBAtXts4gNPJCiJGuZaRxrXz8AeD3QtCaDgcD-eJ65r7Pprm3TX9AgiAvFyd5VyHEiWN-PXA48ik2BGpsr9NXBQSnGfE_T7GOhsAl6UOo/s320/IMG_1535.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you've been hanging around <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/why-this-crazy-experiment-anyway.html">our lab</a> for long, you might have noticed that TS 3 was a Kindergartner last year, too. She went to Kindergarten at the school that all the test subjects attended before this experiment began. Going in last year, we knew she was on the young side for Kindergarten and anticipated some challenges for her in the very academic program she entered. She held her own, though, with the encouragement and support of her wonderful teacher. Once we decided to bring her home for this school year, though, it was an easy decision (relatively) to have a Kindergarten do-over. She simply needs more time and practice to nail down the fundamentals before the pace and workload of a first grade curriculum begins. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With this in mind, our focus with TS 3 is simple: building up her reading, writing and math skills.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When she and I meet first thing every morning, we begin with a lesson in her Bible study book. It is a very sweet curriculum and consists of a short Bible story, some questions to check her comprehension of the story, a song and a prayer. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM94VDhUtH_1KIZkm9uKTn2DxG-lhzV6XDc8q2nZ7r2cfSdalfb7tLYzSXuC_yLNqvXItTHs3KoV7Rfhh7cnkgyOM64kllFlpo4Y2vFcXxeZMtHTDWkZ0iWaeK_sVzTsXo0BrJamwJXso/s1600/bible.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM94VDhUtH_1KIZkm9uKTn2DxG-lhzV6XDc8q2nZ7r2cfSdalfb7tLYzSXuC_yLNqvXItTHs3KoV7Rfhh7cnkgyOM64kllFlpo4Y2vFcXxeZMtHTDWkZ0iWaeK_sVzTsXo0BrJamwJXso/s320/bible.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Bible time, we spend a few minutes working with the calendar using a small magnetic calendar and <a href="http://www.ouraussiehomeschool.com/2012/03/calendar-notebook.html">this calendar journal</a> I found on <a href="http://pinterest.com/nattyloo/">Pinterest</a>. We end Calendar Time with a journal entry each day. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqFePIe4I1Uh0TTWa_JtI4VstN1IRg9Hw-hjDSSAsHU9T_03E9Ao-_9Z-x1JI5s-BSkktvmkLi_SUTf9R9xdLcmNOeTGn8Y2PkoBPMmGpXPpePsky1QwEl7VVQepOK_1CLnPwwakNepk/s1600/calendar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIqFePIe4I1Uh0TTWa_JtI4VstN1IRg9Hw-hjDSSAsHU9T_03E9Ao-_9Z-x1JI5s-BSkktvmkLi_SUTf9R9xdLcmNOeTGn8Y2PkoBPMmGpXPpePsky1QwEl7VVQepOK_1CLnPwwakNepk/s320/calendar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Calendar Time, we begin our reading and writing lessons for the day. This time usually includes some combination of the following: reading and summarizing a story orally, learning how to print new letters and learning new phonogram sounds, reviewing phonograms that were learned in previous lessons (or from last year) and/or reviewing printed letters that were previously learned. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that I've said all this, I should mention that I am going to be changing the way we do reading together soon. The PAL program I mentioned above seems to be moving too fast for TS 3, and there have been several instances recently when she seemed more confused and taxed than I think she should be so early in the year. After talking with my trusty, experienced homeschool mom friends, I am going to pare down our reading time to include working through words lists, phonogram cards, sight words and phonetic readers until TS 3's fluency is more solid. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My morning meeting time with TS 3 lasts about 60 to 90 minutes, and then she is off on her own for about an hour. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During that independent work time, she listens to an audiobook in her room and then has a Center Time. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Center Time changes every day and every week for variety. The centers that she rotates through include:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mondays- Writing, Stickers or Stamping</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tuesdays- Puzzles, Coloring or Blocks</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wednesdays- Scissors, Playdough or Painting</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursdays- Arts and Crafts, Games or Dance</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Audiobook Time and Center Time, it is Snack Time for everyone. This is when I do the history related read aloud for all three test subjects. After snack, the boys go off for a break, while TS 3 and I work on her math lesson. In addition to her Math-U-See lesson each day, she either plays a math game on the iPad or completes a page in her Math Made Easy workbook. After Math time, she has a break to play while I catch up with the boys.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up for TS 3 is Reading Eggs, an online reading program she has been using since late last year. She completes a lesson a day on Reading Eggs. She is usually able to complete this lesson independently, although she does need my help from time to time. We may put Reading Eggs on hold as well soon, and switch to Explode the Code online for some additional lower level reading practice. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Reading Eggs comes lunch and a break for all of us. TS 3 does another Center Time in the afternoon with one of her brothers using the file folder games I created from the PAL reading curriculum which reinforce what she is learning. At some point in the afternoon, I sit down with her again to read aloud one of the Lower Grammar books from <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/07/tog-for-dummies-i-mean-minimalists.html">TOG</a> for history or a few pages from the science books we are studying about the human body.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiePGniV-N7unNiOXw0-iqj5P3iL8wq7rOvTXbsIx5W6HdXWAbd8XP-WXqDCeTm_y-F2Pu4Spgm-nuN60wv4-rAIocg7kuGftWvZE7jLLUFZWu2tVh8WXtPimUoEJL4eqfSfLrWsVvV2XA/s1600/science.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiePGniV-N7unNiOXw0-iqj5P3iL8wq7rOvTXbsIx5W6HdXWAbd8XP-WXqDCeTm_y-F2Pu4Spgm-nuN60wv4-rAIocg7kuGftWvZE7jLLUFZWu2tVh8WXtPimUoEJL4eqfSfLrWsVvV2XA/s320/science.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>She's doing the skeleton dance from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpvuqj5nv6U">this video </a>at the end of our science lesson on bones this week.</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 3 uses this schedule chart to work through her day. It helps her "see" where she is in her day, and it helps me, at a quick glance, to make sure she is on track even when I am not working with her.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All things considered, I think TS 3 is doing well so far this year. Once we implement the tweaks I mentioned here, I hope she will feel more confident in reading and make steadier progress in this area.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Are you home schooling a Kindergartener? I'd love to hear all about. Leave a comment or a link to your blog, please!</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/search/label/Weekly%20Wrap-up" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/kbmomto3/weeklywrap-up2.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXiXCj8JzIwZg-_fb2RbiPj2J-xLqe59grbFNoSa_gBWyV36LMZLHjVF9S6P4yaH2Q4AkT7tC3ALYf18Pj7HZjXBgofORIG4DxWhAS0G5ZdgeHHlvGEJEicgNX4cwQYbt-jtTj2reWsc/s1600/HSMJ-wideIHN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXiXCj8JzIwZg-_fb2RbiPj2J-xLqe59grbFNoSa_gBWyV36LMZLHjVF9S6P4yaH2Q4AkT7tC3ALYf18Pj7HZjXBgofORIG4DxWhAS0G5ZdgeHHlvGEJEicgNX4cwQYbt-jtTj2reWsc/s320/HSMJ-wideIHN.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-20402043274633875962012-10-05T17:22:00.002-04:002012-10-06T16:44:06.977-04:00What TS 2 Has Been Up To<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I thought I'd mix it up a bit this week and write about how </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">TS 2</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is doing so far this year. (I'll write separate posts about what TS 1 and TS 3 are up to in the coming weeks.) TS 2 is in third grade, and we are using the following curricula as part of our Classical </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/05/2012-2013-curricula-and-our-homeschool.html">Christian/Charlotte Mason style homeschool</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;"><b>Humanities Core:</b></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Includes History, Geography, Church History, Music and Art Appreciation</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 2- <a href="http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/year2/" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Tapestry of Grace, Year 2, Units 3 & 4</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><b>Language Arts</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;"></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;">TS2- <a href="http://www.clp.org/store/by_course/5" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Christian Light Publishing Reading, Grade 3</a> (Reading Comprehension)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;">TS2- <a href="http://www.areasonfor.com/article.php?id=19" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">A Reason for Handwriting</a>, Book T (Cursive Handwriting)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;">TS2- <a href="http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/sid-a" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Institute for Excellence in Writing: Student Writing Intensive , Level A</a> (Composition)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;">TS2- <a href="http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/first-language-lessons-level-3-student-workbook.html" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">First Language Lessons, Level 3</a> (Grammar)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;">TS 2- Spelling Power</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;"><b>Math</b></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;">TS2- <a href="http://store.mathusee.com/catalog/general-math/gamma/" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Math-U-See Gamma Level</a>; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789457296/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0789457415&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Math Made Easy 3</a></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2d2d2d; line-height: 18px;"><b>Bible:</b></span></span></div>
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TS2- <a href="http://www.explorerbiblestudy.org/Store_ProductDetail.aspx?pid=3c441F258043ch7g15hF" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Explorer's Bible Study, Beginnings II, Jesus, My Shepherd</a></div>
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<b>Foreign Language:</b></div>
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TS 2- <a href="http://www.rosettastone.com/homeschool" style="color: #bd8222; text-decoration: none;">Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America)- Homeschool Edition</a></div>
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Weekly Piano Lessons</div>
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Weekly Homeschool Co-op (PE, U.S. Government and Elections and Art)</div>
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Community Sports</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In an earlier post, I wrote about how I decided to try TS 2 in the Upper Grammar level of <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/07/tog-for-dummies-i-mean-minimalists.html">TOG</a> this year. As it turns out, we have moved back down to the Lower Grammar level for now. The history readings were too detailed and he was feeling lost and confused. He seemed to be holding his own with the literature readings, but was a bit overwhelmed with the jump in the amount of reading each week. It was not an easy decision for me, even though he is on the young side for Upper Grammar level. In the end, I realized that my goal for history at the grammar level is to expose the kids to the big picture of the people and events of a given time period in an engaging and interesting way. The best way to provide that experience for TS 2 right now is to stay in the Lower Grammar level.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 2 is flying through his <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2011/07/why-math-u-see.html">MUS</a> Gamma book. At this point, he has learned his 0, 1, 2 and 10 times tables. He seems to be understanding the concept of multiplication as well and is applying it successfully to simple word problems.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spelling Power has turned out to be a truly painless way to work on spelling a little every day.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He is doing well with IEW as well. I did not realize that the Student Writing Intensive was actually geared to 4-6 grade when I decided on it for TS 2's third grade year. We are taking it slow and he is doing very well so far. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We still love First Language Lessons and he has memorized Robert Louis Stevenson's poem, <u>The Land of Nod</u>, already. Christian Light's Grade 3 Reader and workbook are providing a good foundation for our reading comprehension work this year. While we read a lot in our homeschool, I still felt TS 2 needed a reading comprehension program that covered all the bases. Using it, I feel more confident that he is working on these skills more explicitly, more completely and more often than if we just discussed his history readings each week.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 2 just finished his Studying God's Word book from last year for Bible. It was a study of the doctrines of the Christian faith. Part of his work in this book was to learn the answers to a series of 60 questions about the faith. I am so proud of all he learned! I'm working on a video to share. He just started the Bible study listed above for his daily bible time, and it seems to be just right for him.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tom is doing science with the test subjects again this year, although we have gotten off to a slow start so far. They seem to be enjoying the Human Anatomy study and wrapped up lesson by making and eating an edible cell. Throughout the first lesson, they loved these two videos about cells, and the information they learned in the reading was reinforced through them. TS 2 especially seems to learn quickly when information is put to music or rhythm.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As for all the extras, co-op started a few weeks ago and TS 2 is really enjoying his classes. Piano lessons are also going well and he will be performing a piece at co-op assembly in a few weeks. He was invited to play on the third grade team at the school he attended for pre-k, kindergarten and first grade. Practices start next week and games start around Thanksgiving. He is very excited about it!</span><br />
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-23640550520160003152012-09-28T06:00:00.000-04:002012-09-28T06:00:01.859-04:00Weekly Wrap Up: The One in which We Got Our Groove Back<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This first (almost) month of school has been a whirlwind! <b>While homeschooling three has turned out to be quite a feat (for me, at least), I think I can finally say that we have found our groove. </b>We tried several different schedules before I felt we fell into a workable one. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>First, we tried a "little ones first" schedule, </b>which equated to me spending about 90 minutes with my daughter for kindergarten followed by 30-45 minutes with my third grader. This left my oldest waiting until after lunch for any focused time with me, which was just not working out for us.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Then we tried a modified "little ones first" schedule,</b> which meant I still met with TS 3 first, but for a shorter time. Then I met with TS 2 for about 45 minutes for Language Arts, and tried to squeeze in a little time in with TS 1 before lunch. This schedule just left all of us feeling rushed all day long.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our current schedule, which seems to be flowing more smoothly, looks something like this:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8:30-9:30 Meet with TS 3</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9:30-10 Meet with TS 2</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10:00-10:30 Meet with TS 1</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10:30-11 Snack/Read Aloud</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11-11:30 Meet with TS 3 while TS 1 & 2 take a short break</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11:30-12 Meet with TS 2 while TS 3 takes her break</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12-12:30 Meet with TS 1</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12:30-1 Lunch</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1-1:30 Meet with TS 3 while TS 1 & 2 have recess</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1:30-2 Meet as needed (Recess for TS 3)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2-3 Meet as needed</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>While I am still bouncing from one <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">test subject</a> to the other all day, there is less waiting time for any one child for my help. </b>I was reluctant to separate the kids for their breaks, but I was noticing that TS 3 was choosing to do her own thing anyway during break time while the boys played baseball outside. If she starts to feel lonely and wants to play with them during breaks, I will have to rethink this. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> now, though, we are all enjoying our homeschool groove :)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everyone seems to be far enough into their studies at this point to know what to expect in a typical day in each subject. This is probably also helping us to feel like we are in a groove with school. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>In other news, we had a great first week at co-op last Friday! </b>My first experience teaching at co-op went really well. I am teaching two U.S. Government and Election classes to two age groups, 1-3 grade and 4-6 grade. I am so glad I did most of the planning and preparation over the summer! I cannot imagine if I had to plan and prepare two group lessons every week. Since most of the work is done already, I simply have to review my lessons beforehand and perhaps prepare a chart or two for visuals.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The weather was so beautiful after co-op on Friday that we wound up staying afterwards for almost three hours! </b> The kids had a blast playing outside together and the moms had the chance to catch up from the long summer break.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>We went apple and pumpkin picking last Saturday. </b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 3 and I have been reading lots of great picture books about apples these past few weeks, so it was a fun experience to tie into our reading. <b>She and I have been baking with apples all week. </b>We made apple muffins on Sunday. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Wednesday afternoon, we made an apple crisp to share with our home Bible study group. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are thinking about making applesauce over the weekend. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have our homeschool group's kick off meeting this Saturday, which should make for a fun afternoon. If we have another "groovy" week here at the lab, perhaps I'll have some time to share about what each test subject is working on in their various subjects :)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Have a wonderful weekend, friends!</b></span><br />
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-45214892179954385322012-09-14T16:11:00.003-04:002012-09-14T16:11:50.490-04:00Weekly Wrap Up: The One with 2 Baptisms and a Birthday<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Phew! Homeschooling three <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">test subjects</a> is kicking my butt! </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moving from two to three students has increased the demands and busyness of my day exponentially. I am still trying to find a schedule that seems fair and manageable for each of us. In addition to the hectic school day, a few after-school activities, namely dance and baseball, started up again this week, too.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am still working with TS 3 first thing in the morning for about an hour, and then sending her off to do centers and computer work while I rotate among the boys. <b>I have decided, though, that TS 1 must get to his math in the morning, so meeting with him in the morning is also a priority. </b> He doesn't really need me to teach him the material. My presence at math time is usually more for moral support than anything else. If he has to wait until the afternoon to begin math though, it usually ends in tears or conflict. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I am also re-evaluating how much work I have been assigning TS 2.</b> He is an industrious worker for the most part and does not waste much time, yet he is often the last to finish each day. Considering he is only in third grade, while big brother is in sixth, I need to figure this out. As I mentioned <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/09/weekly-wrap-up-one-featuring-back-to.html">last week,</a> I am contemplating moving him back to Lower Grammar in <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/07/tog-for-dummies-i-mean-minimalists.html">TOG</a> to see if that helps.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Moments like these, make all the frenzy of this adjustment period worth it:</b></span></div>
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<i>TS 2 reviewing sight words and phonograms with TS 3</i> </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Switching gears for a bit, I have to share that both of our boys decided to get baptized this Sunday! </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 2 was the first to tell us that he wanted to be baptized when he heard an announcement at church about upcoming baptisms. TS 1 was not sure if he was ready even up to Sunday morning. We want our children to take the step of baptism out of of obedience to God and of their own accord and not under pressure from us, so we talked to him about why a believer gets baptized and we helped him decide if the reasons he had for and against baptism were valid. In the end, though, we left him to wrestle with the decision on his own. Of course, we rejoiced that they both decided to enter the waters of baptism. It was a beautiful day!<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/S3tbfx_WNm4" width="560"></iframe></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today is TS 3's sixth birthday! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><b>SIX years ago today, the most beautiful little girl in the world was born in Guatemala! </b>A little girl, 2,000 miles away, was born in our hearts and changed our lives forever. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started the day today with her requested breakfast treat: chocolate chip pancakes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tonight we will celebrate as a family with her birthday dinner at the local Mexican restaurant we go to for all our birthdays. Obligatory birthday girl in sombrero picture forthcoming :) Cousins and friends will join us on Sunday afternoon for a gymnastics birthday party.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, friends, I think this is about all I can muster today. I am wiped out! And next week, co-op starts! <i> I think I can, I think I can...</i></span></div>
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-35099442258279718722012-09-07T11:19:00.001-04:002012-09-07T11:19:05.575-04:00Weekly Wrap Up: The One Featuring Back to School!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>After a productive Labor Day weekend which included a healthy balance of work (garage and attic clean out) </b></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>we started back to homeschool on Tuesday. </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>If I believed in Murphy's law, which I don't, but if I did, I would have expected the unexplained and out of the blue fever that TS 2 came down with on Monday night. </b>He was so excited for the first day of school that he came downstairs on Tuesday morning fairly close to our regular wake up time anyway and even worked through part of his schedule. I encouraged him to take lots of breaks throughout the day, which he did whenever the Motrin wore off and the fever crept back up. He had fever on and off on Wednesday, too, but has been fine since then.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I had this idea that since we already had a year of homeschooling under our belts that we would just launch full speed ahead on the first day of this school year. </b> <i>(Stop laughing! I'm still a newbie, you know :) </i> After that first day, I took all of our electives out of our schedule and pared us down to the basics for the next week or so. Once we are on a predictable schedule again, we will add subjects like Spanish and keyboarding back into our days. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After this reality check, Wednesday went much more smoothly. <b>My biggest challenge right now is figuring out how to balance my time between the three <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">test subjects</a>. </b>The way my schedule is set up right now, I spend about an hour first thing in the morning one-on-one with TS 3, working through her main curricula (Bible, Calendar Time, Reading, Writing and Math). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then while she is off doing some independent activities (Center Time, <a href="http://readingeggs.com/">Reading Eggs</a>, Audio Books), I spend 30 minutes or so individually with the other test subjects to review math and any other subjects that need my attention. I circle back with TS 3 for history or science later in the day. This routine is working well enough, but I feel like the the boys are getting frustrated when they have to wait an hour or more for my focused attention. I know part of this process is training them to wait, but part of their frustration is understandable because sometimes they need my help before they can move on with their assignments.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A dear friend and veteran homeschooling mom gave me this index card idea, which has been very effective in guarding the individual meeting times I have with each test subject.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I keep one of these colored index cards out on the table (or couch) beside me to indicate whether I am available to help anyone but the child I am working with at the time. </b>Red says, "please do not interrupt us at all right now." Yellow says, "you may ask a quick question." Green says, "you are free to ask anything, or tell me whatever you have been waiting to tell me." It has been working very well so far, although one test subject, who shall remain nameless, keeps forgetting to check the card before calling across the room for me. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursday was another productive day, but, boy, was I worn out by 3 p.m.! <b>Homeschooling three children is hard work. </b> I have a feeling there will be a revival in my prayer life this year. After only three days, I'm fully aware that I will not be able to do this in my own strength! </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's Friday, and we seemed to have found our groove now. I am still contemplating possible tweaks to our schedule, but I want to wait on any changes until the end of next week. <b>The other issue I am wondering about is my decision to try TS 2 in the Upper Grammar level of <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/07/tog-for-dummies-i-mean-minimalists.html">TOG</a> this year.</b> The jump in reading (both the amount and the level) per week might be too much for him. Again, I am not making any big decisions just yet, but I am thinking about changing over to a mix of Lower and Upper Grammar for him.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Some of my favorite moments from our Back to School Week:</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TS 1 and 2 climbing the walls, literally</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When all three wandered into the same room to work- love being together!</span></div>
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-9991463039863308602012-08-31T21:41:00.003-04:002012-08-31T21:41:35.803-04:00Weekly Wrap Up: A Whirlwind<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, this time it's been over a month since my last wrap up post this summer! We have had the busiest summer I can remember. I'll try to share some of the fun here. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My mind has been focused on getting organized and ready for school. The kids and I did a major playroom clean out and our basement is a much more pleasant space right now. If only it could stay that way for the long haul :) </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I just began cleaning out the attic yesterday, but it is so overwhelming up there that I can only do 30 minute spans before I need to leave. However, in 30 minutes yesterday, I gathered a large bag of garbage, three large bags of toys and household items to donate and several cardboard boxes for recycling. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have had the chance to crack open all the curricula and begin the first few weeks of lesson planning for all three <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">test subjects</a>. Right now, I am feeling most apprehensive about teaching Kindergarten, believe it or not. I guess it is the unknown that has me a little anxious. Trusting God will work all the details out. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Over the past month, we spent more time on the baseball field watching TS 1's team work their way up from a 0-5 record to a 9-5 record, ending up in third place in their division. Not bad, huh?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We spent three days at the beach with Tom's sister and her family. It was a wonderful, relaxing getaway.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We went to a local aquarium with my sister and her daughter. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My delicious little nephew stayed behind with our mom, but I have been visiting him as much as possible. He is at the cutest stage, smiling and cooing when you talk to him.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My dad and I took my three kids to the Six Flags I grew up going to each year with my family. It was a fun-filled day.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Next up was VBS! The theme this year was Sky, where everything is possible with God. My role is always to teach the kids the songs and motions, and to take the pictures for the daily slide show. I am truly blessed to serve at VBS. TS 1 was a crew leader for the first time this year, which he was very excited about!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The morning after VBS ended, we loaded (and I mean LOADED) up the minivan and headed to the mountains for a week at the Word of Life Family Campground. We had no clue what was in store for us, but it turned out to be the best family vacation we have ever had. In addition to time for relaxing and fun family activities, we each had a few hours of solid Bible teaching every morning and a few evenings as well. We all left feeling stronger and encouraged in our walk with the Lord!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My cousins had a celebration on what would have been their <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/01/story-of-jayden.html">baby Jayden's</a> first birthday this month. Much to my disappointment, we were not able to be there, but my heart and prayers were with them all day. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Last weekend, we enjoyed our annual church picnic. We all enjoyed a beautiful day with our church family. The boys were especially excited to have a softball game against the grown ups :) They won, of course!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A date night in followed by a last minute decision to take in a movie. The kids were at Papa and Abuelita's for a sleepover. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Questions/thoughts I have…</span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Still pondering these questions: How will I manage home schooling all three of my own kids next year? Will I be able to give each one what he/she needs?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Things I’m working on…</span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The attic. Hold me.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And getting back into our routines- morning Quiet Time, breakfast, morning chores, evening chores, etc.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m reading…</span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I finished re-reading and taking notes on <u>A Charlotte Mason Companion</u>, as well as Jimmie Lanley's <u>Notebooking Success</u> e-book.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am working through Beth Moore's <u>Mercy Triumphs</u> study, which is on the book of James. It is excellent so far.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As for our <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/06/top-10-read-alouds-on-our-summer-wish.html">Read Aloud goals</a>, I'm sad to report that we did not get further than Homer Price. We listened to about half of <u>The Secret Garden</u> on audiobook, but it never really captured their attention. I felt like I was forcing it on them, so I just let it go. Perhaps we will get into a read aloud groove in the fall. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I’m praying for…</span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My prayer partner and I agreed to pray for one another's specific requests everyday in August. It has been a wonderful experience. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am also using <a href="http://ordinaryinspirations.blogspot.ca/2011/05/10-things-praying-for-your-husband-does.html?m=1">this plan</a> to pray for my husband everyday. It's almost impossible to follow the times laid out, so I usually combine a few of the prompts and pray a few times each day instead. It's been instrumental in keeping a positive outlook on my husband and our marriage. I encourage you to try it!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><span class="text Job-1-21" style="position: relative;">And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,</span></i></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><span class="text Job-1-21" style="position: relative;">And naked shall I return there.</span><span class="text Job-1-21" style="position: relative;">The <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> gave, and the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> has taken away; </span><span class="text Job-1-21" style="position: relative;">Blessed be the name of the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>.” Job 1:21</span></i></span></div>
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Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-89435610518888542432012-07-30T10:38:00.001-04:002012-07-30T10:38:28.959-04:00Homeschool ShowcaseUnless we know one another in real life, there's a good chance you found my blog through Kris at <a href="http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/">Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers</a>. Today on the Homeschool Showcase feature on Kris's blog, my recent post on <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/07/tog-for-dummies-i-mean-minimalists.html">TOG for Dummies</a> is mentioned. If you don't already read Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, you need to fix that now :) You can start by reading today's <a href="http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/2012/07/homeschool-showcase-100/">Homeschool Showcase post</a>!<br />
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<a href="http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/p/homeschool-showcase.htm" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="new"><img alt="" size="125" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/kbmomto3/showcase125.png " /></a></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-20766093026662765342012-07-24T06:00:00.000-04:002012-07-24T09:50:34.397-04:00TOG for Dummies, I Mean Minimalists<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2011/07/why-tapestry-of-grace.html">Tapestry of Grace</a>, affectionately known by its initials- TOG- here at the <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/why-this-crazy-experiment-anyway.html">lab</a>, is more than just a history program for our family. In fact, in my <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/05/2012-2013-curricula-and-our-homeschool.html">2012-2013 Curricula post</a>, I refer to TOG as our "humanities core" since that more aptly describes how we use the curriculum. Using TOG, we cover history, geography, fine arts, literature and church history at three learning levels- lower grammar, upper grammar and dialectic (beginning this coming school year.) If you have ever used or even simply perused TOG, you are well aware that the curriculum can be a bit intimidating- what with all its pages per week of learning threads, reading plans, writing plans, teacher notes, etc. It does not have to be, though. Really, I promise! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this post, I want to describe how we are using TOG in our homeschool in the hopes of encouraging you who might be doubting whether you can manage this program in your homeschool. Of course, our way is not the only way to use TOG. It's certainly not the best way to do it either. A friend jokingly calls me the "minimalist homeschooler" because I don't spend a great deal of time planning our lessons week to week. Call me crazy, but I'd rather use my time and energy <i>executing</i> those plans! And you know something? <b>By the end of the school year, we had actually completed all the lessons I had planned for, the <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">test subjects</a> (and I) had learned a great deal in each of the above subjects in the time period covering the Fall of Rome to the Reformation, and we all enjoyed both the content and the process. </b> That's got to count for something, right? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, for what it's worth, here is how we use TOG in our homeschool: </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1. Using the reading assignments grid from the TOG week plan, I determine the read aloud we will use and which books the test subjects will be reading in each category for the week on Sunday evenings. </b> Since we are only completing two of the four Year 2 units, we usually have the time to complete both the history core and in depth assignments each week as well as the literature and church history selections. (In the 2013-2014 school year, we will switch to a regular pace of one TOG year per school year, and may have to drop some of the history in depth selections at that time depending on the amount of reading assigned each week.) Since I am a newbie to homeschooling, I simply used whatever reading resource TOG suggested for each subject area, but you can certainly make changes to book selections as you see fit. <b>My humble suggestion, however, would be to use the curriculum as much as possible! </b>Unless a book is objectionable in some way, or you know <i>off hand</i> of a better selection, trust the resources laid out in the week plan. <b>I literally spend about 15 minutes choosing and typing the assignments into my planner for the week. </b> <b>Remember, save your time and energy to execute the plan not to plan the plan :)</b></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>2. We work on TOG every day of our four day week. </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Even if for only 20 minutes of a read aloud and map work, or 15 minutes reading a lower grammar book, or 30 minutes reading an upper grammar core history selection. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>Working through a portion of the TOG week plan each day is key to our success in navigating the curriculum without feeling overwhelmed. </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> On Fridays last year, we attended a co-op art class based on the art from the historical time period we were studying in TOG.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Our weekly plan usually looks something like this:</span></b><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 1: Read Aloud and Map Work</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We used the Story of the World selections found under the alternate resources column within the TOG curriculum fairly consistently as our read aloud last year. We also used the SOTW maps, as I found them more teacher friendly at the lower and upper grammar levels than the TOG maps. Some weeks we also read the suggested TOG read aloud if we had the time and interest.</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Days 2-4: History Core and In Depth Reading</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Days 5-6: Literature Reading and corresponding Student Activity page for literature</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Days 7-8: Church History Reading, Lapbooks or Timeline, Dialectic Discussion</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This plan varies with the amount of reading that is actually assigned per week. Some weeks the history reading can all be completed in a day or two and other weeks, they will stretch out for four days or so. <b>However, the order of the assignments- reading first then the lapbooks, timeline and discussion- always remain the same for us. In this way, I am able to use the lapbooks, timeline and discussion as an evaluation tool at the end of each week plan. </b>Of course, if you are working on a full pace- one TOG week in 4-5 days of school, you would tweak the amount of reading assigned per day. Your week might look something like this:</span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 1: Read Aloud, Map Work and History Core Reading</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 2: History and In-Depth Reading</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 3: Literature Reading and Student Activity Page</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 4: Church History Reading, Dialectic or Rhetoric Discussion</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 5: Lapbooks, Timeline, Evaluations</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>4. We use field trips and other real life experiences to teach without the test subjects knowing they are learning :) </b>There is nothing like a fun experience or natural conversation to reinforce what has been learned "in the classroom." Last year, we learned more about Medieval Art, Architecture and Daily Life through museum visits, a trip to a Medieval feast, <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/03/weekly-wrap-up-one-with-medieval-feast.html">a unit celebration</a> and countless dinner table conversations about the things we were learning about in TOG. For this coming school year, I am looking forward to field trips that will provide hands on experiences with life in colonial America and the events of the Revolutionary War. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>5. </b> <b>We determine our goal for TOG and used the curriculum to achieve that goal. </b>Last year, with only a lower grammar and an upper grammar student, my goal for our TOG studies was simple- to give the test subjects an overview of world history from the Fall of Rome to the Reformation and to do so in a way that was engaging and fun. I did not want history to be a dry presentation and recitation of dates and facts, but a living testimony to the people and events that shaped the world. With this goal in mind, I could rest at ease a bit when we did not get to an assigned reading selection or we rushed through a lapbook or two. <b>Completing assignments was not the goal-understanding the general scope of the historical time period was! </b> Next year, with a young dialectic student, I will add the goal of beginning to see and understand connections between historical events and people. <b>Determine your goal for TOG and then use the curriculum to meet that goal. </b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>6. Try not to get bogged down in checking everything off on the list. </b> Believe me, this is not easy for this Type-A mama to say, but say it I will, because letting go of that checklist mentality is what gave us the freedom to learn a great deal and enjoy the process to boot! What didn't we do? Arts and activities (some was covered in our co-op class or field trips), evaluations (we used the lapbooks and will add timeline and discussion for our dialectic student), vocabulary or people/event lists. Now, you might do all those things we skipped and simply read less. <b> Prioritize your assignments with your goal in mind!</b> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. <b>We will use the Pop Quiz CDs to catch me up on the week's learning this year. </b>There were times last year when I felt as if I had not gotten a clear picture of what the test subjects were studying over the course of a week plan. When I mentioned this to a friend, she remarked that she uses Pop Quiz to get an overview of the week when she does not have time to read the Teacher Notes. Since I hardly ever make time to read all the Teacher Notes each week, I purchased Pop Quiz and plan to listen to it each week to stay caught up with what the test subjects are learning week to week.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that, dear readers, is how we use TOG here at the lab. I hope I offered you some tidbit of useful information :)</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you a TOG family? How do you use the curriculum?</span></b><br />
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<center><a href="http://www.livingandlearningathome.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa370/ah0302/TriviumTuesdays-button.png" style="cursor: move;" /></a></center></div>
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<br /></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-36624493430043086032012-07-13T10:17:00.002-04:002012-07-13T10:21:19.539-04:00Weekly Wrap Up: Where a Week Stands for a Month<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 16px; margin-right: 16px; margin-top: 8px; min-width: 0px; width: 653px;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I never intended to totally abandon my Weekly Wrap posts for the summer. Nevertheless, it's been a month since I've written about our daily lives! Rather than try to detail all our comings and goings this month, I'm using the Homeschool Mother's Journal format coupled with lots of pictures for this week's post.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In my life this week…</span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed recently. There are many projects and obligations floating around in my head and weighing me down a bit. I am trying to tackle each one a little bit at a time, and that does help. Most of the projects are not earth shattering in importance. They are things like organizing photos, de-cluttering the attic and playroom, preparing for VBS, etc. However, I know I won't feel true relief until I get the largest ones completed. The two biggies on my list are: planning and preparing for the two co-op classes I will be teaching in the fall and planning and preparing for our upcoming homeschool year. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…</span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Over the past month, we spent a day with our dear old friends who are in town from London. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYO5RSMrkK0J4xuyqn3LreFvmsp-GqW42UbV0hvcCnosLQ9LJbym0Xuh1VKWJ6xx9MCdFOuLb7dgbrLC3-AkyQiuXTwv1jjwYnxfX1OrzL5cyXvcU-smErvx8IvyhwZP5X2XONeW05oo/s1600/IMG_1504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYO5RSMrkK0J4xuyqn3LreFvmsp-GqW42UbV0hvcCnosLQ9LJbym0Xuh1VKWJ6xx9MCdFOuLb7dgbrLC3-AkyQiuXTwv1jjwYnxfX1OrzL5cyXvcU-smErvx8IvyhwZP5X2XONeW05oo/s320/IMG_1504.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSD2rQ9MLBwsVEe9KwFsWvKgOMxCPMgjKR0ftSlwh6MOKqQ7MpOXjh3UCx-o0I3F31pnlyuchNe1MWyFKkMDGOU-LPJRc7z6qlv3_TEhW9T29l5zJsEmtUD6eKuK-ftvatEQaun_1Ti8/s1600/IMG_1509.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSD2rQ9MLBwsVEe9KwFsWvKgOMxCPMgjKR0ftSlwh6MOKqQ7MpOXjh3UCx-o0I3F31pnlyuchNe1MWyFKkMDGOU-LPJRc7z6qlv3_TEhW9T29l5zJsEmtUD6eKuK-ftvatEQaun_1Ti8/s320/IMG_1509.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>This little one was already strapped in and ready for departure when we remember to get a group photo!</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We met the newest baby in the family, my sweet nephew! I am spoiling him as much as humanly possible- oh how I just love snuggling a newborn. It is a little bit on heaven right here on earth.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPHR5-hH0wTmHwfu8maZj2k8D6ON3mqvyKtCsyeyy3D8zBdNx-ulS-UsuKAzWcHW9aqdFRjgji4_u4qwlE-X1WDrLannpgg2Wm5hU4RODMdCEPor7O3v_eq_6nY4TVpbCKG05XCY92oM/s1600/IMG_1658.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPHR5-hH0wTmHwfu8maZj2k8D6ON3mqvyKtCsyeyy3D8zBdNx-ulS-UsuKAzWcHW9aqdFRjgji4_u4qwlE-X1WDrLannpgg2Wm5hU4RODMdCEPor7O3v_eq_6nY4TVpbCKG05XCY92oM/s320/IMG_1658.jpg" width="239" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We spent 5 days with cousins (13 kids and 8 adults) in the country. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSaQUkazjB7oCr6o-54V-L32HN4_1uu0IVSElEUlpwJXxLuMOrI8yzdE91zR7LArsVPRoQnORFmjF0EIPW-FMrjbUUoUcLYh6yf7DCWh6fZi297PL6ygH8cK6142UwJQ7SQT5Ozt3kx4/s1600/IMG_1645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSaQUkazjB7oCr6o-54V-L32HN4_1uu0IVSElEUlpwJXxLuMOrI8yzdE91zR7LArsVPRoQnORFmjF0EIPW-FMrjbUUoUcLYh6yf7DCWh6fZi297PL6ygH8cK6142UwJQ7SQT5Ozt3kx4/s320/IMG_1645.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSWCLdi-AMVhROhTNlwMB1tV2ZT4oqoDqCJNcZfps59axia6g3v6oXT60zIi6tsJIBMIkMCxKv099-4WKIjYL3h0-cR2YjlrQWJWpwAu3AGDJtK4SJcc0-sRlpTYO7k_l8v-EMn3HbcQo/s1600/IMG_1609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSWCLdi-AMVhROhTNlwMB1tV2ZT4oqoDqCJNcZfps59axia6g3v6oXT60zIi6tsJIBMIkMCxKv099-4WKIjYL3h0-cR2YjlrQWJWpwAu3AGDJtK4SJcc0-sRlpTYO7k_l8v-EMn3HbcQo/s320/IMG_1609.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBnxHoAYJ3H2oeqg8wpvOa-1h-WQWEy7G6x5vgBImnFRASEQikvB77ZRITpR1LNu8otIDgIWhPbkKMBE2uH6gBIRPcWNqURrPLPedCQ-wZdFvFIZo-XQ3CWBESBtB0siNvKEUJ89rFH20/s1600/IMG_1615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBnxHoAYJ3H2oeqg8wpvOa-1h-WQWEy7G6x5vgBImnFRASEQikvB77ZRITpR1LNu8otIDgIWhPbkKMBE2uH6gBIRPcWNqURrPLPedCQ-wZdFvFIZo-XQ3CWBESBtB0siNvKEUJ89rFH20/s320/IMG_1615.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi62xCKuscYoIyF-Qx43bFrwL9d6pRZpLW7KBbl4ui05RmWUqHdZ-gXPi3h4Wp520Tj8LjvQa7EvDhwXWt1KNMSKHfY4kemwwF3ZpKeGFgu3-TjwMwIUnOTQdZ77HZuDoo2Ztf50Cw2Jls/s1600/IMG_1595.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi62xCKuscYoIyF-Qx43bFrwL9d6pRZpLW7KBbl4ui05RmWUqHdZ-gXPi3h4Wp520Tj8LjvQa7EvDhwXWt1KNMSKHfY4kemwwF3ZpKeGFgu3-TjwMwIUnOTQdZ77HZuDoo2Ztf50Cw2Jls/s320/IMG_1595.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We watched fireworks on the 4th of July.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We had a beach playdate with dear friends. The dads met us there and we stayed until almost 9 p.m. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6aZ29UXZ9Roe4LwYYeg1YbAeuh00VuiufjYwvwn6uxwDej9mshh0k4kOSd5auk-gPU3eHwbIaA0aTmgERapFKdg5SbONujZSzRM878k7I-a2TVLnC12-i5CpvcL5lBFsZwHaag9Jhos/s1600/IMG_1692.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6aZ29UXZ9Roe4LwYYeg1YbAeuh00VuiufjYwvwn6uxwDej9mshh0k4kOSd5auk-gPU3eHwbIaA0aTmgERapFKdg5SbONujZSzRM878k7I-a2TVLnC12-i5CpvcL5lBFsZwHaag9Jhos/s320/IMG_1692.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The kids spent a week at camp- baseball camp for the boys and day camp for our girl. They had a blast! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">They also had a much anticipated sleepover at Papa and Abuelita's house. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">TS 1 is playing on a summer travel team for the first time and loving the experience, which means we are spending plenty of time at the local baseball fields, too. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>(Our last name is not Dutra. His jersey still has not come in yet!)</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We had an impromptu backyard swim and BBQ with friends this week that spilled right over into the Wednesday night home bible study in our neighborhood. It was a wonderful time of fun and fellowship!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We have made it to the community pool with friends only one time so far, but we are hoping for more opportunities to do that soon.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My favorite thing this week was…</span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5 quiet, productive hours everyday this week while the kids were at camp. I could not believe how quickly two o'clock came each afternoon! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Questions/thoughts I have…</span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What will teaching at co-op be like? Will it add a lot of stress to my weeks in terms of planning and prepping? Or will it be great fun? Will the kids be bored or engaged? How will I manage home schooling all three of my own kids next year? Will I be able to give each one what he/she needs?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: large; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Things I’m working on…</span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I spent this week, while the kids were all at camp, working on a syllabus and lesson plans for my co-op classes. I was able to sketch out lesson plans for the entire semester for both classes and I feel so relieved. I've also been de-cluttering hot spots around the house and have plans for a big playroom clean out in the next few weeks. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I read most of <u>A Charlotte Mason Companion</u> last month. I took a break to read the <u>Hunger Games</u> trilogy this month. My reading goals for the rest of the summer include finish reading and taking notes on <u>A Charlotte Mason Companion</u>, so I can be sure to include more of her ideas in our homeschool next year. I purchased Jimmie Lanley's <u>Notebooking Success</u> e-book this week and plan to read it as part of my planning process for next year, too. I am very interested in incorporating more notebooking in our home school next year.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I realized my <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/06/top-10-read-alouds-on-our-summer-wish.html">Read Aloud goals</a> were a bit lofty for our busy summer routine. So far, we have read <u>Charlotte's Web</u> and <u>Homer Price</u>. We are going to be reading <u>A Secret Garden</u> next. If we get through the first four or five of my top 10, I will be very satisfied. There's always the fall for more Read Aloud fun, right? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A dear friend who has been through so much in less than a year. For her health, her children, her family. For friends whose husbands are out of work. For friends who are preparing for their first year of homeschooling. For my own anxiety about the burdens I mentioned above. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQcedtMylmIWOGMB42yC6O0JiviZvAiBJUH5pKVFufhoS_njL5hZ04l6LzUVL21SiKjJWvpkgkeRyNr0BMw4xrAwVCD0fbkF-ew8hMmeRPl948F-GIpbrdox2NIsokdVhKsgDyvJ5ezU/s1600/IMG_1673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQcedtMylmIWOGMB42yC6O0JiviZvAiBJUH5pKVFufhoS_njL5hZ04l6LzUVL21SiKjJWvpkgkeRyNr0BMw4xrAwVCD0fbkF-ew8hMmeRPl948F-GIpbrdox2NIsokdVhKsgDyvJ5ezU/s320/IMG_1673.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>"The</b> <b>heavens</b> <b>declare</b> <b>the</b> glory of God; <b>the</b> skies proclaim <b>the</b> work of his hands." Psalm 19:1</i></span></span></div>
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</div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-75510360711459262632012-07-10T06:00:00.000-04:002012-07-10T06:00:06.214-04:00Top 10 (er, 7) Reasons I'm Excited about this New School Year<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. All three of our children will be <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/about-me-and-contact-info.html">test subjects</a> in <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/p/why-this-crazy-experiment-anyway.html">Our Great Homeschool Experiment</a> next year and we are excited to be all together. Truth be told, I am more than a little bit nervous about how I will manage everyone's needs next year as well. I am trusting God will meet our needs and give me wisdom just as He has this year!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. Call me a nerd, if you must, but a new school year always triggers a sense of excitement and adventure in me. The chance at a new start, all the fun new books and supplies, I just love it! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. Our closest friends are taking the leap and beginning the homeschooling journey next year! I am so excited for them and can't wait to cheer them on in their adventure. They've joined our co-op, too, which means we get to see even more of them next year :)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. I'm looking forward to incorporating some of the new ideas I have been reading about this summer into our homeschool, such as finding more opportunities for <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/06/top-10-read-alouds-on-our-summer-wish.html">reading aloud</a> and adding notebooking to our routines.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5. Teaching (and therefore learning) early American history! I am excited to read some great books with the kids about colonial America up through the Revolutionary War. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">6. As much as the reality of teaching two U.S. Government and Elections classes at co-op in the fall is causing me anxiety, I am also excited about stepping into this role. As a bonus, it gives some of the veteran teachers (a few who are also friends) a break from teaching for a while.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">7. Teaching (and therefore learning) about the human body. Dad will still be teaching science to the boys, using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Anatomy and Physiology next year. I plan to teach TS 3 all about the human body using living books, videos, hands on activities, etc. I am going to try to roughly correlate my lessons for TS 3 with the topics the boys are learning, obviously on a much more basic level.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, that's it. I've racked my brain for three more reasons I am excited for the new school year and I've got nothing! We have only been on summer break for three weeks, though, so I can hardly claim to be missing the cold weather, or the routine of the school day, or anything else really so I will leave it at this- t</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">he top 10 (er, 7) reasons I'm excited about this new school year.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.manylittleblessings.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little Blessings" height="114" src="http://www.manylittleblessings.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/top_ten_tuesday_small.png" width="150" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-78496725218958665012012-06-28T19:44:00.002-04:002012-06-28T19:44:58.673-04:00Scenes from a Piano Recital<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Two weeks ago Saturday, we had our piano recital! It was truly a wonderful event. We are so, so blessed with our piano teacher- local friends if you are looking for one, call me :) <b>He is the kindest, most encouraging person I know- and I am not exaggerating. </b>He makes every kid feel like a maestro and every mom feel like she is doing a phenomenal job raising her children. And if all that wasn't enough, he is also a great musician and piano teacher. The boys have come so far in only one year at the piano and we are very proud of them.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Warning: I put this short video together using iMovie and video from my iPhone. I have no idea why everything is so distorted and stretched out horizontally and I am too lazy to try again. After all, I am almost two weeks late with this post already. </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So without further ado, I give you TS 1 & 2 on piano:</span></div>
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<br /></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5709568038594089161.post-76160225598567732082012-06-26T10:48:00.000-04:002012-06-26T10:48:08.085-04:00Oh, the Piles!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I don't have any earthly idea what possessed me yesterday, but I decided to begin the process of switching out the books and materials from this year and organizing the stuff for next year. Perhaps I simply got tired of tripping over the pile of boxes and bags from the <a href="http://ourgreathomeschoolexperiment.blogspot.com/2012/05/convention-recap-and-tips.html">convention</a>. After I cleared everything out from the bookshelves, boxes and bags, I got a little overwhelmed. I had to walk away for a little while. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once I got back to it, though, I was focused. We went from this: </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh32ll1th2Luhdq7nXWT1HyzfNAjOrz-dQBticXZU1CP2BfDWocsjizYrOYLEDZ-JZl_HmeHhLr4PiFm0OdhBaMlUEAKfUUjm1sKJeTsz4fHGnfzpWxrGkLvLb5V5zGm-0ub2cY1UsK_K0/s1600/IMG_1493.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh32ll1th2Luhdq7nXWT1HyzfNAjOrz-dQBticXZU1CP2BfDWocsjizYrOYLEDZ-JZl_HmeHhLr4PiFm0OdhBaMlUEAKfUUjm1sKJeTsz4fHGnfzpWxrGkLvLb5V5zGm-0ub2cY1UsK_K0/s320/IMG_1493.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTLOcHb-5bnpjfR8BjQO_jCF6X6x5w-pdAv-TxkmWqO-ZLyJJ9S-2bbnDIXZFhC4hUgzjGnXE3jtNgS51vct22YlJaevpzEIAdD2JlDVLhn_bbs57hTgrhc5f8Ycy66ZEszdCtJfrssDQ/s1600/IMG_1494.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTLOcHb-5bnpjfR8BjQO_jCF6X6x5w-pdAv-TxkmWqO-ZLyJJ9S-2bbnDIXZFhC4hUgzjGnXE3jtNgS51vct22YlJaevpzEIAdD2JlDVLhn_bbs57hTgrhc5f8Ycy66ZEszdCtJfrssDQ/s320/IMG_1494.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">to this.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimzWtnM-Mm6iH46_doJ6TaNjAJRSjM9Boe4N9yoKNh2B_9Gl3BDJTBFsUAbaaitObZhyyP9mxi2p7m0-0aQsJX2Xs9ydkVqrK3AKf7i1JwuNwtZZVk8YUNV8RUrbw1HbUnY7__8_-ed3E/s1600/IMG_1503.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimzWtnM-Mm6iH46_doJ6TaNjAJRSjM9Boe4N9yoKNh2B_9Gl3BDJTBFsUAbaaitObZhyyP9mxi2p7m0-0aQsJX2Xs9ydkVqrK3AKf7i1JwuNwtZZVk8YUNV8RUrbw1HbUnY7__8_-ed3E/s320/IMG_1503.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh47AhSM4IDYKki4A94SpV56Cdc9yjCGGwUv0f81mFdt5OEShJKn4KwYjUlq9C1uLU3IfEQVdQpXIiyZ9W_ToQN6Xv64-Ho2k2i1C3LgmiTaB2w9glmMVsZj2_GakeJAxH_atrsP33I5-M/s1600/IMG_1498.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh47AhSM4IDYKki4A94SpV56Cdc9yjCGGwUv0f81mFdt5OEShJKn4KwYjUlq9C1uLU3IfEQVdQpXIiyZ9W_ToQN6Xv64-Ho2k2i1C3LgmiTaB2w9glmMVsZj2_GakeJAxH_atrsP33I5-M/s320/IMG_1498.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It looks pretty good, yes? But there is still this</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9i8ynKpUG52mjfkszTP03gcsPm9YdmNb0ALmjjPOkcL4isFkKEaxBx-fNTIEcfAt4DMODNIOvSuhma9Eh5sdKACydEIzBBxWRfSX1aXopVZB0_Qjf7iG00_cXG38aqkHGNpTal6vdwxc/s1600/IMG_1496.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9i8ynKpUG52mjfkszTP03gcsPm9YdmNb0ALmjjPOkcL4isFkKEaxBx-fNTIEcfAt4DMODNIOvSuhma9Eh5sdKACydEIzBBxWRfSX1aXopVZB0_Qjf7iG00_cXG38aqkHGNpTal6vdwxc/s320/IMG_1496.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">and this</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHDysbCawZvBFYkCSIj65P9Hp1rKsXftNqQ3bQypkJFrnDTpnT_Jcldjh3guGj9q__g_OUjH07-R5cB5e2Zzg5ZvBkUd2ImfnljsolMvmCTKAzRra8ex-QimOB_83igRSWmJ2mDPG_4I/s1600/IMG_1502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHDysbCawZvBFYkCSIj65P9Hp1rKsXftNqQ3bQypkJFrnDTpnT_Jcldjh3guGj9q__g_OUjH07-R5cB5e2Zzg5ZvBkUd2ImfnljsolMvmCTKAzRra8ex-QimOB_83igRSWmJ2mDPG_4I/s320/IMG_1502.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">to deal with!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I want my mommy!!!!!!!!!</span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02568583187756261273noreply@blogger.com0