Our Classical Conversations

 

Here is a quick glimpse into our Classical Conversations classroom.  In these pictures we are studying abstract art, doing a science experiment and learning Latin.  We have thoroughly enjoyed learning with other students and parents.  

Of course building friendships has been wonderful too!

The Sacramento Children's Museum

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of checking out the Sacramento Children's Museum with a few friends.  It really was amazing.   The boys played and played.  It really was the perfect place for them to explore.

a peek inside the museum

Okay, so maybe I got a little bit carried away with pictures from the Children's Museum, but I had so much fun and I want to share it with you.  And, yes, the boys had fun too!  If only we lived closer.

Cael & Kipp exploring "waterways" with the twins looking on from the stroller

our friends, having a great time

we had lunch in the "party room"

the big boys playing in "my neighborhood"

I had to pick Kipp up and set him in the boots :-)

Each exhibit had a mailbox so the kids were running around mailing letters- very fun!

"baby bloomers"

Yes, I realize Cael is a bit old for the "baby bloomers," but I was nursing the twins and wanted the big boys close.  This is the cutest spot for the the little guys.  They even have dress up costumes.  I wish I were able to take more pictures of everything, but when you take four boys ages 5 and under (and you are breastfeeding two of them) there isn't much time for picture taking!  And yes I took half of these pics while feeding the babies!  Hey, sometimes you just have to make it work.

"airways"

This was so neat!  This "contraption" would suck in the hankies or lightweight balls and they would go flying all the way through and then it would spit them out. 

um... yeah... I have no idea what this does...

"Studio of the Arts"

Needless to say we had a blast!  It was very convenient, relaxed and not so big that I had to worry about my children running off and it worked well for me- on my own with all four boys.  I even loved the bathrooms!  They had "real" changing tables and stall for the entire family.  Everything was just so kid friendly how could you not LOVE this place?!  We cannot wait to go back.

The Hard Truth about Homeschooling

Week 2
of the 2011-2012 school year started off a bit rough.   I will save you all the details and just say the babies were crying, diapers were “exploding”, Kipp would not stop singing at the TOP of his lungs and Cael an unwilling pupil.

After the fourth attempt to start school I gave up and sent the big boys outside to play, put the babies down for a nap and cleaned the kitchen.  Forty-five minutes later we began again for the FIFTH time.

Thankfully it went better and we even had a productive day.

The craziness got me thinking though...

Homeschooling is a TON of WORK!  

Although, I am enjoying it I am AMAZED that people actually do this with MULTIPLE children, for YEARS and even DECADES!!  I knew it would be hard, but seriously.

And this leads me to...

The Hard Truth
(to ADMIT that is....)

I have heard homeschool moms talk about how much they love having their children at home with them all day and some even go so far as to say how much they enjoy TEACHING their children.  To be painfully honest I must admit I have never believed them.  How could they enjoy all that WORK?  And what about having time to themselves don’t they miss it?  Please, please don’t hate me homeschool moms, but I thought it had to all be an act, so that you could look like super mom maybe? 

I AM SORRY!  I did not understand.   And how could I?  I had never been there.

I had not seen the joy that comes over my child’s face as he read on his own for the very first time or recited his memory work well.

Now here I am in the very beginning of our homeschool years and loving every minute, really.

YES, it is the HARDEST thing I have ever done.  To make myself prepare and teach lessons to a child, let’s be honest, that would rather be playing is no small task.  Then to do it while nursing twins, changing diapers, preparing meals, and doing tons of laundry seems down right NUTS, but...

It has been AMAZING.  I truly am enjoying it, it must be a God thing.  Being apart of Cael's triumphs and being there to cheer him on, is really beautiful.  I cannot imagine it any other way.  My child is WORTH all the hard work, the long days and the sacrifice.

Before I overwhelm you with all this mushiness.  Let me just say I cannot imagine doing this for decades either, after all it is still HARD WORK, but I am taking it one year, well one day really, at a time and will see where God leads.  At this moment I am just grateful for the opportunity to share in this learning experience with my son.

These days there is no alone time, free time or even me time, but now is the ONLY time I have to raise my children to love the Lord, to be men of character and to serve others.  My little blessings are worth way more than I can give.  Some of you, MOST of you are thinking "she IS CRAZY!"  NOPE-- just transformed by God!

Cael's Kindergarten Curriculum 2011-2012

It has been a fun process choosing curriculum for Cael's first year of school.  I find I am having to rein myself in!  There are so many wonderful options out there.  Who knew this would be so fun?

Bible- Daily Devotions & Bible Memorization

Devotions- We have two devotional books we are using right now.

Growing with Jesus by Andy Holmes takes a verse, discusses it and gives a very simple daily application for the topic.
My Bible Pals Storyboook tells a Bible story and gets the children involved by having them make hand motions or answer questions that go along with the story.  It contains a couple discussion questions, verse and prayer with each Bible story.  I love how concise, but lively the stories are.
These two books are great for our family considering our oldest is 5. 
We are also doing "character studies." I knew I wanted to pick something along the lines of obedience and character to work on, but wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to go about it. You can see how Erica does it over on her blog.  Unfortunately for us her character studies are a bit too advanced for my young children, but I am hoping to come up with our own simple version.

Memory- We memorize one verse a week.  Bible Forget-Me-Nots has been a fun way to get started memorizing.  The boys love listening to the CD that goes with the verses.
We also memorize verses they are working on in Sunday School or anything else we think would be valuable for their age.


Poetry- IEW Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization (Book & CD)
I absolutely LOVE this program.  The boys have so much fun listening to the CD and memorizing the poems.  To be honest I didn't know what the point of memorizing poetry was, but it seemed like a good idea.  :-D  But as we have begun to memorize the poetry I see how we are working on our vocabulary, annunciation, attention to detail, and public speaking skills (every stray person that comes to our home is another opportunity to practice our new skills!).  And we love, LOVE Andrew Pudewa's voice, the boys are always asking to listen to the CD when we get in the car.  I cannot say enough good things about this program.


Phonics/Reading- The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise
One of things I really love about this particular reading program is that it is scripted.  This is my first time teaching a child to read; I want to know exactly what to do and then I can build from there.  It contains 231 lessons beginning with the alphabet sounds and ending with sounding out words such as "extraterrestrial."  I can use this book for Kipp to start learning the sounds of the letters and for Cael who is beginning to read.  We will be getting plenty of use out of this book, let me tell you!  I like that I don't have to juggle several books.

Our beginning reader books- BOB Books & Playful Pals by Nora Gaydos
Today Playful Pals came in the mail and we have already read the first book 3 times, this is the same boy that would rather take a nap than read (he hates naps)!  He loves it!  It is very colorful, yet doesn't contain too many sight words.
 
Math- Right Start Math
I was able to purchase this previously owned, but unused.  Cael loves it, I.... ugh... it is a ton of work.  We are going to TRY to do it this year, with Sean's help.  There are just so many little parts.  It just doesn't seem realistic for us, but Cael enjoys it so much I want to at least attempt it for a bit longer.

Handwriting- Zaner-Bloser
Our writing curriculum is currently en route!  Cael's letters look nice, but we need to really get started with proper technique I really believe we should have started this a year ago with him.  I chose Zaner-Bloser because it is what The Well-Trained Mind (WTM) recommends and after looking at it online I liked it.  I am excited to see how it works for us.


Latin- Song School Latin
We have just started using this and love it!  I have been very apprehensive about teaching Latin since I DON'T KNOW Latin, but with this program I can see it going very well.  Our first lessons have gone great and are tons of fun.

Classical Conversations- I am VERY happy to announce we are beginning Classical Conversation (CC).  This is the first year for the program in our area and I am so happy we are able to participate.  We will be covering the following subjects with CC.

Subjects
History
Latin
Science
Geography
English
Math

Activities
Hands on Science
Fine Arts

Every week they also give a presentation in front of their class.  This week's recommended topic is "Tell a Bible Story" Cael will be telling Jonah and the Big Fish.  I love it!

I am still working on making Classical Conversations flow with what we are already doing.  The hard part is figuring out how to make CC work for us.  Eventually I want it to be our spine, but to be honest it may not happen this year.  It may work best for us to concentrate on phonics, handwriting & math with CC filling in for the other subjects.  This seems a bit bare bones, but with this being Kindergarten, our first year homeschooling and our first year in CC I am okay with that. :-) Once I have a better grasp of CC I know it will all flow well.  I am looking forward to a fun year!

Additional info on Classical Conversations:
Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood
Mt. Hope Chronicles: Classical Conversations In Detail: Part I

our first day

What a GREAT day!  It amazes me how my days are SMOOTHER when we are doing school than when we aren't.  Does this make sense to ANYONE?  It is a reminder of how much my boys need structure, a task and someone to help focus them.

For the most part we stuck to our schedule.

Here is  a quick run down of our day.

6:45am- slept in so I wasn't able to get my run in, made a yummy breakfast of cinnamon oatmeal.  
8:00am- ate breakfast as a family and did our devotions & character study, this week we are going over  selflessness, something I REALLY want to work on.  We kissed daddy goodbye, I sent the boys out to play and I did dishes, vacuumed, started laundry, fed and changed the babies.
9:15am- Time for school.  Our subjects today:
Bible Memory
Poetry
Phonics
Math
Handwriting
P.E. (a family walk/run this evening)
Kipp and I also reviewed colors and shapes.

We will aslo be doing CC Memory Work (I will explain this another time), Grammar, Latin, Science, Geography, Music & Art.  These will be on other days and some of these subjects are included in our CC Memory work. 

To see the details of our curriculum see Cael's Kindergarten Curriculum 2011-2012.

While Cael and I work on school, Kipp plays nearby or outside (today he was using my duster to dust daddy's grill!).  The babies should nap, but of course Finn slept in so he was up playing and Remy was roaming around the living room looking for anything the big boys may have dropped.

In between subjects we take a 3-5 minute break.  While Cael & Kipp go outside to play, I prepare the next subject,  switch over laundry & change diapers.

Now with all the little ones napping and Cael HAPPY to be playing (school makes him appreciate his play time so much more!!) I am blogging.  YAY!  Although, I hear the laundry calling my name.  I have already done four loads this morning, but I still have at least 2 more and it all needs to be folded!  Oh, and DINNER, sigh...  If only we could all just forget about the dinner part of the day.

Here are a few pictures from our day

While I was taking pictures of Cael coloring, he started posing all on his own for me!  Love that boy!

I am very thankful for our great start! 

Classical Conversations begins tomorrow!  We are super excited.

and school begins

Tomorrow is Cael's FIRST day of Kindergarten!  He of course is sleeping peacefully, but I have butterflies in my stomach.  This is a big day for us.  We are officially beginning our homeschooling journey.  My prayer is that I can keep everything in perspective and Cael will learn nothing matters without the Lord.

If he could also learn to read and write that would be FANTASTIC! :-)

Please be praying for us as we head down this new path.

Boy Poetry

As part of our start to homeschooling we have been working on memorizing Bible verses and poetry.  It has been fun watching the boys as they excitedly recite their memory work.  Here is their very first poem.  It is such a fun one and so perfect for my bug squishing boys!

Ooey Gooey
Author Unknown
Ooey Gooey was a worm.
A might worm was he.
He stepped upon the railroad tracks,
The train he did not see!
Ooooey Goooey!