A Joyful Keeper

I’ve come up with a different way of getting the kids to do some basic routines. I used to have a checklists up on their doors. This worked fine, except when they lost the dry erase markers! My new latest method is easy, easy, easy…. and utilizes all of our fingers.

In the morning, I ask the kids to do their “first five”. And we count on one hand….

1. Get up (easy, eh?!)

2. Have breakfast

3. Brush teeth

4. Get Dressed

5. Make up bed

and it is not all in the above order, but something more or less logical!

Once they have done all of these five, they come and report to me. Then they start on their next five:

1. Quiet Time

2. ACE school work

3. Piano practice

4. Reading

5. Free time!

This set of “fives” have to be done in order, except for the piano practice - that can be done inbetween school work if they like. But the rest needs to be in order, especially the last one!

The reason I started doing this was because often we were just doing things in all sorts of order and not getting half of it done. This is a simple system that keeps us on track.

I know I heard about the “First Five” system of chores or routines from one of the many homemaking/organizing books I’ve read. I can’t remember anymore where it was from. If anyone knows, please do let me know so I can give credit where it is due. I never really applied it to my own life because there were always more than five things I needed to do in the mornings when I got up! But for my children, it fits right in, without being overwhelming (hence one of the things to do is to get up and another is to have free time!).

So, now when I see a child wandering around aimlessly in the morning, I just wiggle five fingers at him/her and they get the message right away! If they quickly say, “I’ve done them!”, then I’ll wiggle all ten fingers! And as a bonus, it makes us smile!

As Dan keeps informing me, it is only …… days till the Olympics! The kids are looking forward to staying up till well past midnight on Friday to watch the opening ceremony! I wonder whether us oldies will last….

Since our new ACE stuff is not here yet, I have taken the opportunity to get stuck into some Olympics homeschooling. We have started lapbooks that I hope to work on throughout the Games. As usual, it is taking me time to search for information and my right arm is feeling it! Remember I said I had tennis elbow? Well, it is fine unless I spend too much time on the computer - like today. It is aching. Ah, this is why I am getting a pre-made curriculum! I just have to hang in there a little longer!

Sore arm or not, it is still fun to search the net and find all sorts of interesting things about the Olympics. Here are some links I’ve found to FREE materials on the Olympics this year. (Please note that I have not looked at every page on these sites and do not necessarily agree with what is on them… ah, the need for disclaimers these days! Please use wisdom…!)

Free Lapbook Unit Study - probably the best site I’ve found!

Official Beijing 2008 Website

Beijing 2008 Educational Kit - free pdf book about the Beijing Olympics

Australian Olympics Website - info about our athletes, etc.

Info about Aussies at the Olympics this year from Wikipedia

National Geographic - info about the Olympics including blog of a boy living in Beijing

Olympics Timeline

Olympic Worksheets

Olympic Worksheets from ABC teach

Olympics Printables from Reader’s Digest

Oylmpic Worksheets from The Teacher’s Corner

China Worksheets from the Teacher’s Corner

Worksheets from Activity Village

Lesson Plans and lots of links from Education World

Lesson Plans and links from A to Z Teacher Stuff

I think that is most of it. If I come up with any more, I will post them. I am also making a few notebook pages, etc, for my own children which I will share with you if I (when?!) I get them done!

If you have any other links to share, please let me know. Let’s all use the Olympics this year as a great learning experience. I know I am already learning a lot!

We have been “officially” homeschooling for seven and a half years, ever since Daniel was 7 years old. Of course I have been teaching them since they were born…. but in the eyes of the world/government, this is how long we’ve been doing school at home.

I have always set the curriculum. I have chosen a mixture of Australian and American products, and developed a certain style that really doesn’t fit in any box. We read lots of living books. We use workbooks. We do unit studies. We unschool. I really don’t have a name for our type of school!

Over the last year and a half, there have been so many changes in our lives and I have been growing weary. I have noticed that I have spent more time in organizing the children’s curriculum than in “doing school” with them. By this I mean, table time… sitting at the table and doing structured work. I have pieced together things that had me running from the school table to the computer to print out “one more thing”…. which interrupted the nice flow we had going. Then I would remember another thing…. back to the computer… back to the table… We struggled to finish projects because I would add more things to the topic, trying to delve deeper or stretch the children. In the end, I wore myself out.

I didn’t want to give in for a long time and go to a “structured curriculum”, but I felt I had to for the sake of my sanity and the children’s education! So I began to look at things on the web. Many things I looked at had teacher’s books which gave you a myriad of extras to challenge the children with. I steered away from these because I knew I would just get stressed and try to do too much again. To cut a long story short, we chose to give ACE/School Of Tomorrow a try.

We’ve been loathe to follow this path because of many negative reports we’ve had. However, we know two homeschooling families whose children have used ACE and have turned out into lovely, godly young men and women. This encouraged us to give it a go until the end of this year. (Remember, we in Australia start in January and end in December.)

The children have been doing diagnostic tests for the past week and a half. We are just about ready to send it all back to the school, Australian Christian Academy, to get them assessed. In the meantime, I took time to put away ALL of our old school work, because I knew that if I kept it out, I’d be tempted to do extra things again… I have resolved to do ACE and only ACE for the rest of the year. We will continue to voraciously read living books, however!

I am hoping that this will give us time to do some other family related things - spend time together in the garden, with the animals, playing games. If I don’t have to do as much planning, I am hoping the house will run a bit smoother! I will have time to do some sewing occasionally, etc.

So far the test results show the children at the levels I would have judged them to be at - strong in spelling, comprehension and reading, weak in grammar (we just haven’t done much!) and reasonable in Maths. Daniel is ahead in Maths, but the two youngest haven’t learned their times tables well, so that has put them a bit “behind”. But, they will continue to pick that up slowly. All in all, I am quite happy with where they are at.

The children themselves are happy to try this new curriculum. They are looking forward to working at their own pace. We will see how it goes. I’d love to hear from any others who are using this curriculum.

So, that is the news in the homeschool department! Tune back in later in the week for news from the homestead.

Today was just one of those days. Actually, it started yesterday. It happens quite regularly, and I’m sure no one else in the whole wide world has this happen to them… You’d think that after 7 years of homeschooling I’d be prepared for the attack - the attack of panic in the Homeschool.

Just in case you are one of those who has never experienced this (because it only happens to me), this is how it goes. Your day starts out fine. Everything is going well…. until you look around you and realize that the dishes aren’t done….. dinner isn’t even a figment of your imagination, and your son has just spent the last hour on one Math problem. The children are hungry, but you didn’t have time to bake this week and you are being frugal, so of course you didn’t BUY any snacks. You decide to bake cupcakes… and donuts…. and some cheese cookies while you are at it. The kitchen looks worse and worse, but the children are fed - sugar and white flour. Oh, and some cheese.

The kids have a break and run to their rooms to play, leaving you to survey the mess.

Then the voices start….. you can’t do this.. it’s too much…. they will never learn everything they need to know…. they are behind…. you haven’t even put the washing in the machine yet….

The voices are not just discouraging, they are also full of “good” advice. No, don’t put them in school, get a REAL curriculum. Then you will know that they are covering EVERYTHING. You can have more time for yourself. You can sew. You can quilt. You can have gourmet meals on the table, because this wonderful curriculum that will teach them EVERYTHING is self taught. You don’t have to do ANYTHING, but make sure they are at the table working. That is the only way you are going to survive the high school years…. until you have to put them in school……

When your husband sets foot in the door he knows there is something very wrong. As soon as he hears you wail, “I can’t do it anymore!!!! ” he knows… it’s that time of the month again where there is panic in the homeschool……

Thankfully this too passes and the Word of the Lord reigns supreme:

“At their wit’s end, they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,

and he bringeth them out” (Ps. 107:27, 28).

Today Daniel breezed through his Math and Science. Matthew and Elizabeth wrote a story in their free time. Matthew worked on his Bee lapbook and happily told me all he already knew about bees. Elizabeth started working on a cat lapbook, making up crossword puzzles and word searches herself. The dishes eventually ended up in the dishwasher and the kitchen was tidy. Some more dirty clothes were washed and dinner was on the table, simple, but nice.

You know what? My children may not learn EVERYTHING, but I didn’t either when I was at school. Our curriculum may not cover EVERYTHING, but it covers what we think is important. And some of my children still don’t know their times tables, but one day they will.

And so the panic ends…. and it is time for bed. Aren’t you glad this NEVER happens to you?!

I haven’t really got back into the swing of blogging yet! So here is a bit of a catch up post.

I had a lovely day for Mother’s day - with breakfast and presents in bed, and then lunch with Robyn’s family. This is one of the presents I got:

I know I will be using it a lot. I also got a few other bits and pieces, including some yummy chocolate!

This weekend we went to my parents’ place to see my sister and her family one more time before they headed home to outback Australia. My Dad had built my nieces and nephew a cute cubby house from bits of wood and cardboard boxes:

Isn’t it too cute?! Even our older kids loved it. They played in it for hours while us big people had cuppas and chatted. Saying goodbye was sad as we probably won’t see each other for another few years, but we were glad we got to have this extra afternoon together.

Dad sent us home with some more pumpkins, so I really need to get my big pot out and make a big batch of soup!

I did a lot of school planning last week. I mostly worked on Science and History schedules. Daniel is doing Apologia’s General Science and there is a lot to get through. I split up the chapters into days and made a simple checklist for him. It is a pretty full schedule, but so far it is ok. Here is this week’s if you’d like to see it:

Apologia General Science Module 3 Checklist

I found a complete schedule for this textbook (and others in the Apologia series) at Donna Young’s website. She has done a fantastic job in putting these schedules together and other resources too. They are free and great to use if you don’t want to make your own.

I also did a schedule for Daniel and Elizabeth for History. We are on Chapter 14 of The Story of the World, Middle Ages. I typed up the review questions from the student workbook with lines underneath them for answers for Daniel. For Elizabeth I typed up some copywork for her to copy onto notebooking pages. I would post these as well, but I am not sure about copyright laws, so I’d better not.

And that about sums up what’s been happening around here….. I’m slowly getting around to everyone’s blogs again and popping in to say hi! It’s nice to be back in blogland.

We are slowly getting back into a school routine after having three weeks of holidays with our visitors. We all find it difficult to get back into things when we’ve had a long break. One thing that I try to do to make it easier, is plan something fun. The kids were keen to make another mural, and we will start on that as soon as I can find some paper to cover a large portion of the wall in our hallway. In the meantime, I found the Ancient China Treasure Chest that we started on last year, and the kids tried their hands at some Chinese writing:

While the two younger ones were in China, Daniel was in the same time frame in Europe, building a castle:

This castle is going to be so cool! I’ll keep putting up photos as it gets built. The main problem is to find a spot for it where it won’t get wrecked during construction!

I find it easy to get stressed when things don’t go the way I planned in the first weeks back at school. At these times I need to keep my eyes on the Lord and take it a day at a time. He led us to homeschool, and He will give us the strength and wisdom. Oh, how I need wisdom!

Yesterday was a tough day with the children’s attitudes. Dh had a chat with them last night and today went much better. Again, I need to remember to allow all of us, myself included, some time to get back into things.

I cannot know why suddenly the storm
Should rage so fiercely round me in its wrath;
But this I know–God watches all my path,
And I can trust.

Just in case anyone is interested, I have my school plan for 2008 worked out. You can see it HERE. It is basically an outline of what books we will be reading & using.

What I haven’t written about or planned, is the everyday learning and extra-curricular stuff. I’ll add a bit on that another day. Most of the everyday learning, however, can’t be planned - it just happens! LOL!

I have gone more structured this year, with a lot of things the children can do themselves. These are the basics. On top of this is the things we do together - music, languages, sports and in depth History and Geography. Field Trips will be in there somewhere, and all these things will be linked to English, somehow…. oh yes, by writing about them!

The reason I am aiming for more structure this year, is because last year was so unstructured. I will see how we go. I am hoping that structure in the mornings, will help us to learn unstructured in the afternoons - if that makes any sense at all! I know what I’m trying to say….. lol! I also plan to do outside activities and projects on Fridays. With our main “book work” done in the first four days, this will allow a bit of Friday fun. We will still do Maths on Fridays though.

I’ve printed out a mountain of ebooks, or should I say a leaning tower… Now I need to bind them all! When I am done, I will post photos.

Hosted by Biblical Womanhood

There is nothing more frugal than FREE!! And this is my gift to you this Christmas… I made these simple Christmas notebooking pages and want to give them to all of you this Christmas Season.

This ebook is especially for those of you who homeschool. Feel free to pass the link on to others. Just go HERE to download your copy!

Last week we went to visit Sovereign Hill, which is a wonderful historical Gold Rush village. We have a family membership so that we can go as often as we like. Of course it doesn’t fit in with the period of History that we have been studying lately - the Middle Ages. The perfectionist in me says that we can’t start studying something else until we have finished the Middle Ages. The practical in me says - the weather is beautiful, this is the time to make the most of your membership and go regularly. So, I have listened to the practical in me and we will set aside our Middle Ages study until next winter, and make the most of our spring and summer and our family membership to Sovereign Hill.

What helped me make the decision was Elizabeth reading the Little House books for the umpteenth time. Just as I did as a child, she loves them. I had a few unit studies on the Little House books sitting on the shelf that I had picked up on sale years ago. They were sitting on my shelves waiting for the right time to use them. I decided that now was the right time. With us moving out to our little homestead soon, we could do a lot of the things that the guides suggest to do that are “country-ish”, like growing things, making butter, etc. I know we don’t really need to be out in the country to do that, but it does fit in nicely. Now, to convince DH to pack all our stuff into a covered wagon for the move….????!!!!

Also, the gold rush in Australia and the pioneer days in America are around the same time period, so I can link it all together. I think it will work well, and the children will enjoy spending more time at Sovereign Hill, I know. It will also make History come more alive for them, as they can see the way people used to live in those days, while studying about it.

I have never really been that fussed about studying History chronologically. I think it does have its place, but as we have traveled a lot over the years, I have tried to fit our History in with what we were seeing. For example, when we were in the Middle East, we studied Ancient History, and we saw rock art (paintings) that were approx 4000 years old. We walked on Roman Roads that were built 2000 years ago. That is living History.

Australia is a young country. It makes sense to me to make the most of the the History we see around us. So we although we are jumping around a bit, I am hoping that by using time lines and other things, the children will be able to draw it all together.

I was thinking I’d love to share a bit about our travels in the next months. I need to get myself and my photos organized! I’ll also be sharing the History we will be learning about currently. I’m afraid we didn’t get very far with the Middle Ages timeline - that will have to be continued next year!

So those are my musings for this beautiful Monday, and here is my menu plan for the week:

Hosted by Orgjunkie

 

Tuesday

Taco Salad

Wednesday

Tuna Casserole and Rice

Thursday

Pasta Bake

Friday

Leftovers

Have a great week everyone!!!

I’ve started putting up some of my forms as pdf’s on this site! I have been wanting to do this for so long now. Go and check it out over HERE - they are all FREE!!!! You can also use the Freebies link on the side bar.

Feel free to pass the link on to others. I want to bless as many people as I can with these forms. There aren’t many up yet, but I am hoping to keep adding to them bit by bit. So, spread the word and drop back in now and then.

On another note, my blog is fixed. Frugal Friday has gone back to where it should be. I don’t know what went wrong, but I fiddled with the post that came after it, and it went back to normal…. who knows… just glad it is back to normal!

Well, it’s dinner time, and look what’s just come out of the oven:

Yummy Cheese and Herb Pull Apart!!! If anyone is interested, I’ll post a recipe and tutorial sometime…..