Category Archives: homeschooling

Jan 27 2016

Starting Cursive

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If you have been reading this blog for a bit, you may know that I do not believe in teaching manuscript first and then cursive. In fact, I don’t believe in teaching manuscript at all. My children will experience what I did when I went through school: cursive first and only.

In preschool, they learned to print: MAMA LOVES ME, for instance. In the second semester of kindergarten, they started learning cursive. By first grade, they would be ready for copy work and a writing program. We spend most of first grade perfecting handwriting, all in cursive.

Girl holding tablet with cursive handwriting

Her first lesson in cursive handwriting

Romanian children and children elsewhere have done it for centuries. Manuscript first is a relatively new phenomenon and the result of extremely liberal principles introduced in education, one of them being dumbing down the curriculum. I am surprised by the number of conservative people who have not looked into this issue more carefully.

Since small children may not have the tactile skills for holding a pen properly, I have always made it a goal to wait until mine were at least six years of age before starting cursive. My daughter is one month away from being six, but she recently asked to start cursive.  Continue reading »

Jan 24 2016

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 16

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Chapter 16 describes England after the Norman Conquest. I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter and, for the first time ever, we did all the crafts and activities suggested. How can I NOT build an edible castle? How could we NOT work with Play-Doh in different colors to illustrate the blending of languages into English? How could we NOT play a medieval game of Fox and Geese?

Coin purses craft for children

Coin purses – a rare cloth craft we put together for history

I even shocked myself by summoning enough courage to do a textile craft… after I told you guys I do not enjoy them and I draw a line there… But there was absolutely no sewing involved, not even fabric glue… So we made two almoners (coin purses).

The chapter is rather long, with three stories, so we finished the map and coloring page (a castle) in one day and left the crafts for the next day.  Continue reading »

Jan 19 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 3 – Gulliver’s Travels

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Written by Jonathan Swift (an Irish clergyman) and published in 1726, this book has never been out of print. It contains four volumes, each detailing a voyage to a different fantasy land. First and foremost, I want to say that this is NOT a children’s book.

Tuesday Tome - Gulliver's Travels

Many of us grew up with a fragment or two of this book in our literature program. Maybe we have watched the cartoon or seen a picture of Gulliver as a giant surrounded by six-inch Liliputians. However, this book was written as a satire on human nature, English politics, and travelling books so prevalent during Swift’s time. Until you read the unabridged book, you don’t really get the whole meaning behind it.  Continue reading »

Jan 7 2016

Why Kindergarten Is The Toughest Year

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I have a theory which says that kindergarten is the toughest year. Let’s see… Where shall I begin? This is such an obvious statement to me, I have a hard time organizing all the bombarding thoughts that come to me in its support.

For starters, you are likely to be pretty new to homeschooling. If this is your first child, then you are a nervous wreck. You are scared by the whole enormity of taking on your child’s education as your personal responsibility and the negative words of Aunt Suzy or Grandma Thelma still ring through your ears. May the Lord bless all the Suzys and Thelmas of the world with more knowledge on the subject of homeschooling and sensitivity, right?

Girl counting with math teddy bears

My daughter, in Kindergarten this year, learning (playing?) with the math teddy bears.

Secondly, you probably think that every day that goes by without doing at least an hour of the 3 Rs is a wasted day. It is not, but you don’t really accept this if this is your first child. You will probably be more relaxed by the second child’s kindergarten year though.  Continue reading »

Jan 5 2016

Tuesday Tome Week 1 – How to Read a Book

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Mortimer Adler is many things to many people. Or a nobody to some. He has become an important figure in my life because of his work in putting together a collection of the best works in Western literature. Then, I got to read his own work and learned some more.

What better way to start my Book of the Week Club than with a book about how to read books? I know of no better book that Mortimer Adler’s classic “How to Read a Book.”

Tuesday Tome Week 1

I read Adler’s book in about 10 days but it can totally be read in a week if you get one of those easier weeks without deadlines outside your normal homeschool routine. Translation: no canning projects or publishing deadlines and then it can be done in a week. Continue reading »

Jan 1 2016

Science4us.com Review

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Here we are again, talking about science. Science4us.com is a wonderful online curriculum for K-2 which can also be used in grades 3rd-5th for review of key concepts. It was developed in 2010 and has since received several awards. The Department of Education gave them a grant for game-based learning innovation and they used it well.

Science4us.com activity

Science4us.com activity

This is an online curriculum so once you pay ($7.95 per month) they will send you login information and you are good to go. Once logged in, you can choose from four books: Life, Physical, Inquiry, and Earth/Space. Inside each book, you will find different modules which can be picked up in random order. Once inside a module though, you should start from the top left and work your way down through the activities in order.  Continue reading »

Dec 27 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 14

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I read Chapter 14 to the kids in the car, while my husband was driving us to the piano recital. It was my way of distracting everybody – especially myself – from nervousness. I think it worked. My kids did well on their recital, considering their age. It was my daughter’s first piano recital and she played two songs. My son played three songs. It was his second piano recital.

Homemade viking bread

Crusty, gritty and oh so yummy viking bread

Lots of nervousness going on and lots of dynamics among all of us, so I decided we needed to distract ourselves completely with history.  Continue reading »

Dec 23 2015

Christmas Break

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Another Christmas has come and we have been allowed to experience it. No matter how you celebrate it or if you celebrate it at all, the idea of coming together with loved ones and exchanging presents is a great one.

This year, my kids are excited to track Santa’s voyage around the world on Santa Tracker, compliments of Google. I have allowed them a whole week (this one) of no school and no instruments. We still read in the evening and do our devotional. They log onto Mathletics.com and Science4us.com which theoretically counts as school but it is so much fun for them, they don’t think of it as a chore. I have reviews coming soon on both, by the way.

Homeschooled brother and sister working on the computer

My kids working on science4us.com

We are still dealing with the loss of their eight-year-old friend, Deborah. My daughter says that “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” reminds her of Deborah and she asks, “Don’t you think of heaven, going there one day and finally meeting up with her again when you listen to this song?”  Continue reading »

Dec 22 2015

Tuesday Tome

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Drum roll please… Announcing a new series for the new year, called Tuesday Tome.

Every Tuesday in 2016 I will post about a book I read in the previous week. Yes, I am going there. I will challenge myself to reading one book per week. That will be 52 books in 52 weeks. I want to slow down my writing and increase my reading. I am in need of filling and feeling.  Continue reading »

Dec 21 2015

The Well-Educated Mind

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When I purchased my copy of The Well-Trained Mind three years ago, I thought I would never be interested in The Well-Educated Mind. I thought I would be reading right along my children as we followed suggestions from The Well-Trained Mind. Who would have time for anything else? I was wrong.

The Well-Educated Mind

The book for homeschooling parents who are thirsty for more

Not that I find myself with “vast chasms of time” on my hands, to use Thomas Jefferson’s expression. But I got my kids on track with their assignments from The Well-Trained Mind and now I find myself curious, hungry, and eager for filling in the gaps in my own education. When I heard The Well-Educated Mind was being revised and re-published in October 2015, I placed my pre-order in September and waited (im)patiently for it to come out.  Continue reading »