Author Archives: Adriana Zoder

Sep 3 2016

Radio Theater from Focus on the Family

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As we homeschool, we morph and change. The children grow and we grow with them. I drove them to Knoxville (one hour both ways) for three years to participate in Adventure Club – a scouting program through our church.

Then, I got burned out. They were younger. No matter what we did in the car for their entertainment, they drove me crazy. My children have never traveled well. It was just too much driving for their age and it had to stop.

Focus on the Family Narnia radio theater

Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis in radio theater form on 19 CDs.

Nine months later, they are different people. Plus, we have discovered radio theater CDs from Focus on the Family. We have listened to almost the whole series of Adventures in Odyssey. We are working through Chronicles of Narnia now.  Continue reading »

Sep 2 2016

Why We Do Tae Kwon Do

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Our children started tae kwon do at the Gatlinburg Community Center in January 2016. It all happened because our son got interested in ninjas through the LEGO Club magazine (thanks a lot, Ninjago!). Also, because my husband insisted we let them do this. I have allowed eight months to go by before I blogged about this, as I was not very sure about it myself. So far, I am very pleased with the results.

Have you read Wild At Heart? I read it before I was married with children and it helped me understand men – their desire to fight, to protect, to be bold and gallant knights.

Boy and girl in tae kwon do outfits

My children are very proud of their yellow belts.

I feel like my son is a knight-in-training. He loves war. He has dreams of training the Gatlinburg Police Force as ninjas to fight bad guys. His sister imitates him in everything he does, so they both had a desire to learn martial arts. Since most of the things we do in our homeschool require lots of motivating on our part, we were very happy to provide one activity the children were eager to do.

Let me tell you something in case you missed it: I am homeschooling real children – the kind that do not always show enthusiasm for math or violin or spelling. This mom gets weary of cajoling and looking for the right buttons to push in order to extract willingness to “do school” from her children. It is refreshing to have one thing they rush to with eager hearts.  Continue reading »

Sep 1 2016

My Children Got Into Youth Orchestra

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Last Sunday, we took our children to West Valley Middle School in Knoxville, where the Knoxville Symphony held auditions for their youth orchestra. They have six ensembles and our kids auditioned for the entry level orchestra called Preludium.

Boy and girl at Pearl Harbor Exhibit

Our children at the Pearl Harbor Exhibit inside Ripley’s Aquarium

By Wednesday, I was getting really anxious to hear the results, even though their violin teacher, who is a concert master in Canada, assured me they would get accepted. The question was, also, how they would be placed, as they are two years apart in skills. I knew that KSYO might start another ensemble, for children whose skills are not yet at Preludium level, but nothing was certain.  Continue reading »

Aug 31 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 35 – The Horse and His Boy

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Volume 3 in The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy was a completely unknown book to me. How sad! This book has fed me so much since we read it with the children. We also listened to it in radio theater form from Focus on the Family.

The Horse and His Boy

Shasta is an orphan boy raised by a cruel man, who ends up running away to Narnia on a talking horse. So now you know who the characters in the title are. The books presents several other memorable characters as Shasta meets friends and foes on the way to his new destiny.  Continue reading »

Aug 30 2016

How to Choose Literature for Children

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Once you decide reading should be an important part of your homeschool, you face the next question: how to choose good literature for children. There are lists of classics for kids online and, of course, the Harry Potter series is among them once you reach middle school. “The Call of the Wild” is another one. Or “Oliver Twist.”

How to Choose Literature for Children

Let’s take each of these titles and look at them closely. The Bible clearly states witchcraft is evil, so why would any Christian read Harry Potter? But even if you decided you wanted to know what the whole world is so crazy about, my biggest problem with the Harry Potter series is that the characters lie, cheat, and steal in order to accomplish their goals. Since readers usually end up sympathizing with the main characters, I do not want to put such role models in front of my children.  Continue reading »

Aug 29 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 3, Chapter 3

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Chapter 3 came with two stories, but they both focused on King James. I know it’s a bit much to read two stories in one sitting, and work through questions and narration, but we do it because, frankly, I find it hard to split history in two days during the week. Plus we have been doing this through the summer and the kids could take it.

When I finish one story, I ask them the comprehension questions. Then, I ask my eight-year-old to narrate the story back to me. As soon as he stops, they say, “Next story! Next story!” So it’s not like I am stressing them out or making them suffer. They love history.  Continue reading »

Aug 28 2016

Auditioning for KSYO

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Today was the day we had been looking forward to since the end of June. It was at the end of June my children attended String Camp in Knoxville, with the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra. When we started camp, I did not think we would be interested in joining simply because of the drive.

Boy and girl with violins

Before the second day of String Camp last summer

But by the end of the week, we were hooked. My children were having fun in orchestra and even though I was exhausted I knew it would all be worth it. Plus, I was enjoying seeing they finally had some positive feelings about the violin. Making friends who also like violin helped a lot, I think.  Continue reading »

Aug 27 2016

Wordly Wise 3000 Review

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The only vocabulary curriculum on the market, Worldly Wise 3000 has been around for decades and only gets better with each new edition. We are working out of the latest edition, which is the third.

Wordly Wise 3000, 3rd edition

Vocabulary curriculum, available for grades K-12

Even though it is clearly written for classroom use, Wordly Wise 3000 can be easily adapted for homeschooling. We started out with the volumes for Kindergarten and First Grade, which require you buy the Teacher’s Manual, as well. After that, grades 2-12 do not require the Teacher’s Manual. So you only need to spend about $9 for a consumable student workbook per child. Rainbow Resource Center seems to have the best prices though you can find these everywhere else. Continue reading »

Aug 26 2016

National Park Service Centennial

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Yesterday, the US National Park Service turned 100 years old. There were celebrations all over, I am sure. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park had their own celebration, complete with a visit from our Congressman Phil Roe and Senator Lamar Alexander.

Boy and girl taking a break from hiking

Taking a short break on the trail

I took the kids on a hike in the late afternoon and stayed away from the morning ceremonies. We avoid crowds, as people who live in a tourist area. We thoroughly enjoyed the hike.  Continue reading »

Aug 25 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 3, Chapter 2

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The second chapter of volume three had two stories about Protestant Rebellions: first in the Netherlands, then in Scotland. We got introduced to the many times over great-grandfather of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, who reigns today with his lovely Argentinian wife, Maxima. The royal couple have three cute daughters and he is the second youngest reigning European monarch.

William The Silent Coloring Page

William The Silent Coloring Page

But let me not get carried away with modern-day monarchs. Back to their ancestors. So William of Orange or William I, or William the Silent, or William the Taciturn are one and the same person – the ancestor of the monarchy of the Netherlands. He was a Protestant who lived in a Catholic world until he could not take it anymore and he lead some serious rebellions against the Catholic king of his country.  Continue reading »