Over the next 30 days, I will be reviewing www.Science4Us.com. Science4Us is an engaging, elementary science curriculum that teaches science using a fun, interactive approach. If you have your own blog and would like to review Science4Us, check out their homeschool review program. Make sure to come back and read my full review.
Vocabulary Matters
Posted onOn the birthday of Noah Webster, a quick post about how much vocabulary matters, how reading to your child today is just as important as giving him three healthy meals before the night falls, and how to download a free book by New York Times best-selling author and marketing guru Seth Godin.
The single most important indicator of future success is a student’s vocabulary. How to develop it? Read a ton of books on a variety of subjects. It’s that simple. Your library card just became your most valuable possession… Homeschooling does not have to be expensive or stressful. Take a trip to your local library, pick up a handful of books your child likes and another handful of what you think he should read. Sometimes the two lists are not the same. Continue reading
Thoughtful Thursday Week 42 – Mr. Lincoln
Posted onToday we went to the Pigeon Forge Library for a program called “Meet Mr. Lincoln.” For about 40 minutes, Dennis Boggs told us the story of Abraham Lincoln from birth until his assassination. The costume, hair and makeup were perfect. The delivery was superb. It’s easy to overdo impersonations, but I am happy to tell you that this one is just right. One can tell Mr. Boggs has extensive theater experience.
My daughter with Mr. Lincoln at the Pigeon Forge Library.
The whole point of this presentation is to encourage children to read and “stay in school.”
Mr. Lincoln comes to schools, libraries, conventions, homeschool groups and any other gathering interested in history and literacy. You can find all the information and rates on his website. Continue reading
Thoughtful Thursday Week 41 – Chattanooga
Posted onSince we have a membership at The Muse in Knoxville and we heard so many good things about the children’s museum in Chattanooga, we decided we should put our membership to work for us. The Muse and Chattanooga’s Creative Discovery Museum are part of the ASTC network – American Science and Technology Centers. If you get a membership with one, you get free admission elsewhere.
The four of us in front of the Chattanooga CDM
We have already been to the Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC. I decided that October would be the month to visit the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga.
For your information, there are two different networks of museums for children (besides zoos and aquariums): ASTC and ACM. The ASTC network is different from the ACM network. ACM is the Association of Children’s Museums. ASTC is the Association of Science and Technology Centers.
Your membership card should have the logo of the network of which you are a member. Chattanooga’s Discovery Continue reading
Wonderful Wednesday – Prickly Lettuce
Posted onAnother weed I have been going by on my walks is the prickly lettuce. Thanks to Barbara from this blog, now I know what this plant is. Apparently, we could even eat it and use it for medicinal purposes, but I will not try that any time soon. I am not that brave.
It’s just good to know names of plants I go by though. I took the kids on a short nature walk to show them this plant just past our neighbor’s house. They drew it and filled out the rest of their notebook page.
My children sketching a prickly lettuce on our street
We split open the stem to see the milk inside, but it had dried up. I guess we got to it too late in the season. However, it was not too late to observe the seeds and the dandelion-like white puffed up flower. Continue reading
Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 9
Posted onChapter 9 deals with Japan but, of course, one cannot discuss Japan without China and Korea. The map work was helpful and, in another one of our coincidences, our Adventures in Odyssey CD this week told a story about a Japanese American who lived in Pearl Harbor during the infamous attack which resulted in America’s involvement in World War II.
The kids don’t know yet about World War II – not that much that is. So I had to separate for them what was real and what was fiction in that story.
We read some of the books recommended. The Crane Wife was the most interesting. I had no idea this story is so influential in Japanese culture. Fiction books celebrated in different cultures can teach us so much about those countries and the way their people think and view the world.
Spinach tossed with sesame seed dressing
Again, I decided that the best crafts were the ones we could eat. I made a Japanese meal according to the instructions. Rice, mushroom soup for breakfast, sesame seed dressing for green vegetables (spinach in our case), teriyaki sauce for our veggie meat (Frichik), and stir-fried vegetables.
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- Broth for mushroom soup
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- Chopping chives
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- Chopping mushrooms
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- The final product
The mushroom soup was not consumed for breakfast. I pride myself in having a tolerant palate and a flexible approach to eating, as long as it did not have a mother or eyes before it got to my plate. However, I have long lost the desire for soup for breakfast, if ever I possessed such a desire. I had my soup for supper one night. Continue reading
Thoughtful Thursday Week 40 – Coincidences
Posted onEver since I can remember, I have been fascinated by coincidences. Growing up in a secular family, I wondered why I met certain people on the street. What if I had taken a different route? Would I have met somebody else? Would I have received different news? Those were the days when news came face-to-face, not via Facebook.
As I gained a spiritual perspective, I realized that coincidences are part of God’s Providence. He sets kings up, He removes them. He takes care of the sparrow. He knows my name and the street on which I live. Yes, I believe God is personal. I am no agnostic.
Five years ago, I was wrestling with, “To homeschool or not to homeschool?” That was the question. I decided to homeschool. The rest was not just history. It was a series of coincidences that simply blew me away.
They keep on coming, too. It’s like once I aligned myself with God’s will and purpose for my life, things fell into place like a puzzle. Every time.
There was the time when I decided to get more curriculum from Peace Hill Press and, the following week, this homeschooling mom, out of the blue, decided to just give me $200 worth of brand new, never before used Peace Hill Press curriculum she was not going to use anymore.
There was the time when I scheduled our weekly trips to the Adventurer Club – one hour away from home and then wondered if it was the right decision, i.e. drive for two hours only to be somewhere for 90 minutes. The following week, I got an email about another activity I could schedule in that city on the same day. I even had the right amount of commute time in between.
I could go on and on. Continue reading
Thoughtful Thursday Week 39 – Organize
Posted onA few weeks ago, on the bleachers next to a soccer field in Tennessee, parents were chatting about this new experience. Most of them had a child in kindergarten. Most of them were there for the very first soccer practice in the life of their kindergarten student. I felt like a veteran, as this was my third year on those bleachers.
They knew each other because their children attended this private school. They did not know me.
I homeschool and bring my children to the soccer practice at this private school because the coach welcomes homeschoolers. Plus it works out with the rest of the things we do in Knoxville, one hour away from home, on a particular day of the week. My husband, as the principal of our homeschool, had asked me to look around for an opportunity for our children to be involved in a team sport. This was the perfect fit for us.
So these parents who knew each other turned toward me and asked if I had a child on the field. I told them I had two, one in second grade and the other in kindergarten. Oh, they wanted to know, “Which kindergarten class is your child in?” “We homeschool.” They were very positive in their responses. They thought homeschooling was admirable. Continue reading
Wonderful Wednesday – Jewelweed
Posted onI told you I invested in the Ultimate Naturalist Membership Level at this blog about nature studies. I am going through this year trying it out, seeing how it all fits in with our goals. I know I want my kids to learn as much as possible from nature: rocks, plants, animals, insects – they are all important.
We received so many ebooks and notebooking pages, it is quite possible we will spend years going through these materials. But, for now, it is one weekly lesson at a time.
Watching a youtube video about jewelweed, just before working on their notebooking page.
Last week, we looked at jewelweed. The week before that, it was catfish. While we did not get to go fishing for a catfish, or observe one in a river, we watched the suggested nature videos from youtube. It is a bit disappointing when you cannot study your subject up close and personal. Continue reading
Story of the World, Vol. 2, Chapter 8
Posted onChapter 8 is about the Golden Age of China and the beginning of Chinese dynasties. The kids were excited to do history. We do it once a week, but when it comes back around, it’s like they have not done it in a long, long time. They are happy to be reunited with this subject. They were a bit under the weather, so I decided I would not require them to color and work on the maps just yet. But my daughter was disappointed. She wanted to color while she listened. I obliged and provided the pages and crayons.
They were both surprised by the way Chinese discovered gunpowder, printing and other things. They answered the questions very well. I did not ask for a narration this time, seeing that they both were fighting a head cold.
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- Learning to use chopsticks
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- It wasn’t as hard as she thought.
As far as crafts, they all seemed too messy. Sorry. All except making rice and teaching them how to eat with chopsticks, which is what we ended up doing the next day. By the way, cooking Chinese (or Asian) from scratch is not that complicated. If you can boil water, you can make rice. If you can stir some veggies in a pot in a bit of water or oil or soy sauce, you can make stir-fry. Continue reading