Homeschool Year 12: 11th, 9th, 5th, and 3rd Grade

 

If you had told me in the fall of 2010 that I'd still be homeschooling all of my children 11 years later, I'm not sure that I would have believed you. Yet, by the grace of God and with some fantastic support, here we are about to start our 12th year! 

A big part of why we're still homeschooling is our CC Community. Classical Conversations is such a blessing to our family. We meet once a week and have fellowship and are spurred on to keep on keeping on--in our faith, and our academics. We joined when Jon was 5, and I can't imagine homeschooling without our CC family!

Speaking of family, at home we'll be reading some missionary biographies together and watch World Watch News each morning. Then the older kids will go get to work, and the younger kids and I will continue our morning time by doing some of the following:

• hymn singing
• learning part of the West Minister Shorter Catechism
• reading/memorizing some poetry
• reviewing CC memory work
• reading a chapter book (some of the books we'll read are listed below)
• Little Pilgrim's Progress
• Pages of History
• The Last Battle
• Vanderbeeker's Make a Wish    
• Archer's Cup, A Green Ember story

Here's a quick rundown of what each of our kids will be doing this year individually:

Maggie, 8, 3rd grade:

• Math: Saxon 5/4
• Language Arts: The Good and the Beautiful level 1
• Handwriting: The Good and the Beautiful level 2
• History: Veritas Press Self-Paced Ancient History
• Science: The Good and the Beautiful Animal Kingdoms

My girl will also be continuing to take ballet, and adding jazz and art classes this year. She's pretty excited!

Will, 10, 5th grade:

• Math: Saxon 7/6
• English Grammar: Essentials of English Language
• Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing
• Spelling: Spelling Workout E
• Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears
• History: Veritas Press Self-Paced Ancient History
• Science: The Good and the Beautiful Animal Kingdoms and Marine Biology

Will's excited to be a part of Acting Academy Jr this fall, and to be trying out for a musical in October!

Sam, 14, 9th grade, Challenge 1:

• Math: Shormann Algebra II with Integrated Geometry
• History: American History/Government/Economics
• Logic: Memoria Press Traditional Logic
• Latin: Henle Latin 1
• Science: Apologia Physical Science
• Literature: American Literature novels

Sam will be playing basketball again this year. 

Jon, 16, 11th grade, Challenge 3:

• Math: Shormann Calculus
• History: American History/A Patriot's History of the U.S.
• Music Theory: Math in Motion (dual enrollment)
• Latin: Henle Latin 2
• Exposition: Shakespeare and Poetry (dual enrollment)
• Science: Apologia Chemistry

Jon will be swimming again this year, and leading worship at youth group. 

I'm so thankful for the gift of being able to learn alongside these kids, and I'm praying that this year the Lord will help us all to ask great questions and dig deeper and learn amazing things together!

What We've Got Checked Out: Non-Fiction Books for Cycle 2

   After my recent post explaining our current schedule and showing off our amazing new table, I was asked by more than a few people what non-fiction books my kids, ages 11, 0, 5 and 3, read before lunch. Honestly, I have compiled books from a hodgepodge of sources, many of which I'm sure I'll forget. Mostly, I've taken the recommendations of lovely ladies that I follow online like Sarah Mackenzie, Pam Barnhill, and Brandy Farrell, and even some of my real-life friends-gasp! 😉 I am also an Usborne Books and More rep, and I try to order their amazing non-fiction books as often as I can afford. However, since I'm not much of a salesperson, I mainly just check out a ton of books at the library. Thankfully our library has an educator card which lets me check out unlimited books with NO FINES or late fees! This summer I googled "living books" and came up with several great lists that I have used to fill our library basket. Here are a few lists of living books I have really loved with links to buy the books if that's your cup o' tea.
Living Books for Science and Nature Study
Living Book for History and the Middle Ages
Living Books for Math

When I look at all these lists, I like to get a wide variety of levels. Honestly, more often than not I like to get the simpler books. I want my older kids to really enjoy this time and I want them to read to their younger siblings during this time at least once a week. With that in mind, here is a quick list of the non-fiction books we currently have checked out from the library:

(We do have a gazillion fiction books checked out and we love Audible, but these are books I've picked and assign them time to read to reinforce our learning)

History Books:
The Kitchen Knight: a tale of King Arthur retold by Margaret Hodges
Caedmon's Song by Ruth Ashby
Year of the Pilgrims, 1620 by Genevieve Foster
Year of Columbus, 1492 by Genevieve Foster
Abraham Lincoln's World, 1809-1861 by Genevieve Foster
Son of Charlemange by Barbara Willard
Leonardo and the Flying Boy by Laurence Anholt
Augustine Came to Kent by Barbara Willard

English Grammar:

I, You and Don't Forget Who: What is a Pronoun? by Brian P. Cleary

Mine, All Mine by Ruth Heller

Behind the Mask by Ruth Heller

Animals:

Lemurs and Other Animals of the Madagascar Rain Forest by James Martin
The Galapagos Penguin by Kim A. O'Connell
Meerkats by Therese Harasymiw
I Am a Sea Turtle by Darlene R. Stille

Science Books:
Nicolaus Copernicus: the Earth is a Planet by Dennis Brindell Fradin
Neptune: the Stormy Planet by Greg Roza
Pluto: the Dwarf Planet by Greg Roza
Mars: the Red Planet by Greg Roza
Saturn: the Ringed Planet by Greg Roza
Uranus: the Ice Planet by Greg Roza

Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey
The Stars: a New Way to See Them by H.A. Rey
Stars by Steve Tomecek
Asteroids, Comets and Meteors by Giles Sparrow
The Moon by James Buckley Jr.

Planets: a LEGO adventure in the Real World by Penelope Arlon and Tory Gordon-Harris
Planets by Becky Baines
The Water Cycle by Rebecca Olien
Full STEAM Ahead by Paul A. Reynolds (Water Cycle)

Nature Study:
Crinkleroot's 25 Mammals Every Child Should Know by Jim Arnosky
Crinkleroot's Guide to Walking in Wild Places by Jim Arnosky
Butterfly House by Eve Bunting
A Tree is Nice by March Simont
Rocks in His Head by Carol Otis Hurst

Math related:
The History of Counting by Senise Schmandt-Besserat
Bedtime Math by Laura Overdeck
Bedtime Math: The Truth Comes Out by Laura Overdeck
Getting Started with Coding by Camille McCue
The Adventures of Penrose, the Mathematical Cat by Theoni Pappas
Sir Cumference and the...series by Cindy Neuschwander

Art Related:
The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock (Kandinsky)
The Turn-Around, Upside-Down Alphabet Book by Lisa Campbell Ernst

And a few others that I have purchased for this year:

History/Biography:
The Magic Runes: A Tale of the Times of Charlemange by Emma Leslie
Ten Boys Who Changed the World by Irene Howat
*The Story of Inventions by Anna Claybourne and Adam Larkin

Science/Animal:
Astronomy by Emily Bone (Usborne Book)
Penguins Usborne Book

Bees and Wasps 

The Solar System

Art:
Usborne Book of Famous Paintings

Encyclopedias:
Usborne Encyclopedia of World History 
The Usborne Medieval World 

Math:
Life of Fred Apples through Honey by Dr. Stanley F. Schmidt
The Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
Fractions, Decimals and Percents by David Adler
Math Start Books by Stuart J. Murphy

*Disclosure: None of the Amazon links are affiliate links, but the Usborne Books are linked to my own Usborne Website. Please let me know if you have any questions about any of the books that I own*

Notebooking with Boys-CC Cycle 2

         Guess what? We've finished our homeschool year, which means I'm starting to look forward to next year. The teacher in me totally loves planning what we'll be doing. The teacher in me also loves summer break! I personally need this time to recharge and just be mom to my kiddos. After reading some great books*, I am trying to streamline some of our learning so that I have more time to read great books with my kids and let them explore different things they're interested in and less time spent on busywork. After all, I don't need to keep them busy just for the sake of keeping them busy, I'd rather invest that time a little more wisely.

         We just finished up our sixth year of Classical Conversations. Although I am far from being an expert, I know that I am constantly looking to those mamas who are a few steps ahead of me to figure out what might work better than what we've been doing, so I thought I would share for those who might benefit from what is working well for us. In the past we have used pages from CC Connected to give each of my older kids (they just finished 3rd and 5th) what we call a "CC Notebook" with one page of copywork from each subject we cover with Classical Conversations. This has been great reinforcement for my boys as they have both gone on to become Memory Masters for the past couple years. My youngest son, Will, is 5, and not really up for all the copywork the other two boys do, but I think he can do some. I am trying to make him an age appropriate notebook for the fall. I have listed below the usernames that I am planning to use for my older two and made a note if I think I will use them for Will, too. For now, I'm planning to give him a history page with a coloring portion and some simple printing and a simple science copywork sheet. I'm considering a timeline matching page and possibly a geography page as well. We'll see. For now I thought it might be helpful for others to see what our notebooks look like and which users we'll be using for Cycle 2. Please feel free to comment here with any questions, or send me a message on Facebook. :) Also, check back later because I plan to post about what we're going to be doing besides our CC notebooks this fall!

Things we are using from CC Connected: 
History color and copy pages by Melissa Corkum (cursive for my older two and print for Will)
Science copywork pages by me (heatherg) (I made a younger version for Will and shared them on CC Connected, too)
Geography blackline maps by Tara504 (and possibly her lapbooks if I get crazy! ;))
English Grammar pages by me** (heatherg)
Latin by abbycarp and anniepat
Math by me** (heatherg) for Sam and Will and
         chart to be laminated by JosephsAprilAnn for Jon who is over 10 and can't do skip counting
Timeline: I might use the pages by user whitmanmc for Sam and Jon, or I may create my own.
         I may also use Sheri Ellis' timeline sheets for Will

*I cannot recommend Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie enough! Read it and be encouraged homeschool mamas!!
Also, any of Leigh Bortins books are an excellent help us mamas to understand her vision and plan for using Classical Conversations to help our kiddos blossom under this program! :)
**I have been told that the files I uploaded to CC Connected are not working right. If you find this to be true, please let me know. I can open them from my computer, but that may not mean anything!
You might be interested in reading about why we homeschool, getting started with CC or about how we use Audible.

How Our Family Uses-and LOVES-Audible!

I love reading, but if I'm honest since college I haven't read nearly as much as I'd like. Life is busy. Whether it's work, kids, extracurricular activities or laundry, by the end of the day turning on Netflix seems easier and let's face it easier is appealing at the end of the day. I kept hearing about people using Audible either for themselves as they commuted to work, or for their kids, but thought, "I don't have a commute, I'm a homeschooling mom." Or "I can read to my kids" and I do, but I cannot tell you how much I love Audible. 

In December I saw a deal on Living Social or Groupon that was similar to this one and decided to give Audible a try. We had three months to see if it would really be useful to our clan. We're now 6 months in and it has decidedly changed how I spend my time. But I'm getting ahead of myself! 

Honestly what pushed me over the edge was the busyness of life. I wanted to be reading aloud to my kids more than I was and they wanted me to be reading to them more, and I saw this as a way to meet that need without having to rearrange my schedule. Since I homeschool them and we're all together nearly 24/7, we have quiet time daily from 2-3:30 pm. During this time, everyone goes to their own space-a bedroom or the basement-and plays quietly by themselves. They have often used this time to listen to Adventures in Odyssey or Jonathan Park or books on CD from the library, but now they are bringing a Kindle or iPad and listening to Audible instead. They have gotten so wrapped up in an audiobook that they will stay past 3:30 and are often found listening other times of the day. 

The first several months I used our credits on children's book collections (the Ramona collection, Henry Huggins collection, etc) but would pick up other books with our Audible membership discount like A Cricket in Times Square, The Jungle Book, Blackstart of Kingston, My Side of the Mountain and many others. I love knowing that they are listening to books that I have chosen and then hearing one child recommend one to another child. Sometimes more than one of them is listening to the same book at the same time on different devices. It's really been wonderful to see them diving more deeply into books they might not have picked up on their own. 

Personally I wasn't sure it was going to be very useful, but I was content to use Audible to be filling my children's heads with good literature. However in April I was trying to read a Jane Austen book for book club and was not finding as much time to sit with my nose in a book as I had hoped and saw that I could get the audio version for less than $2. I spent the next few days listening to Emma as I prepared dinner, washed up pots and pans, folded laundry, drove to the store, and more. I followed that with a few other Austen works and just recently finished three of the Anne of Green Gables books that way. I have always wanted to read them, but have never actually done so until now. I just started David Copperfield and plan to check off many other Bucket List books this way. My favorite thing to do at night now is to crawl into bed, click off of Facebook or email and onto Audible, stick my earbuds in (my hubby falls asleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow), and play 10 10 while I listen to someone read to me. It's really quite delightful. 

If you've ever considered Audible and have any questions, please let me know. I am no expert, but I am thoroughly enjoying it and highly recommend it! 

For more helpful information, this blog post is very helpful: http://www.plumfieldandpaideia.com/audible-reading-with-my-ears/

Special What's in the Bible? Sale!!

Just wanted to share this special deal with you! If you were wanting to buy some DVDs for your kiddos to watch on your way to Grandmother's house, wait no longer! This sale is only good through Thursday night.

       

Also, if you missed my blog post on their website, you can check it out here.

Getting Started with Classical Conversations

Currently, I know at least five families who are starting with Classical Conversations in the fall. I am so excited for them since, as I have mentioned before, our family has been so blessed by our involvement with CC. Each of those moms I mentioned before have asked me for advice about starting out with CC. I definitely don't have all the answers, but we have been in CC for four years, so I can give my opinions on what has been helpful for our family, and what I would recommend for a first year CC family.

What do you need to buy:

1. The Foundations Guide: We use this weekly, and sometimes daily. You will use it each week when your community meets. I bring a pencil along and jot down notes next to each subject. For example, if the tutor shares a clever tip, trick, or song to help my kids remember a certain subject, I scribble a little something to help remind me when I'm home and reviewing with them later. Besides the weekly facts that (you and) your kids will be learning, there is also fabulous information from Leah Bortins, the founder of CC throughout the book. This is a must for every CC family.

Sam and his buddy, Luke, playing the tin whistle in their class

2. A tin whistle: Each child will use one for six weeks each year, so this is another must. I am tutoring this coming year, so we now have three tin whistles in our home. Since we've been at this for a few years now, the practicing isn't so painful anymore...except when the little ones get their teeny hands and mouths on the whistles! 

If you are working with a tight budget, this is absolutely all that you will NEED to do Classical Conversations as a part of your homeschool journey. If you intend to follow the model set forth by CC, they recommend you supplement what you are learning each week with your community with a math curriculum, a language arts program (this usually includes: spelling, phonics, grammar, and handwriting), and lots of reading. The first year it is vitally important that you take a deep breath and try to just soak up the information with your kiddo(s). Don't give in to the pressure to do everything out there. Start simply and if you feel led to add in some way, maybe dive deeper into some of the memory work. I have found going deeper to be more rewarding than trying to go "wider" and cover more things in a more shallow way. 

Reading the best book, his Bible

That said, our family has used the following curriculum at one point or another:

Math: Saxon Math

Phonics: Explode the Code, Phonics Museum (Veritas Press)

English Grammar: Shurley English

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears, and more recently CC's Prescripts

We've supplemented with many books from the library that correlate with our science and history and the time period that we're studying. 

If you can invest a little more, and it is important to realize that it is an investment, here are a few more of my favorites for doing CC at home. Each year that we have been involved, I have taken the plunge a little more and bought a few more CC products to help us here at home. I have listed them below in the order of their value to me. In my opinion, if you start at the top of this list and add on towards the bottom, as your budget allows, you will be better off for it.

~The Audio CD's: these are SO helpful. We listen in the van all the time. Also, the timeline song is played each night while the kids load the dishwasher. :) They are worth every penny in my opinion!

~CC Connected (or C3): this is a subscription to the online file sharing part of the CC website. So many talented and creative CC parents have shared worksheets, songs, lapbooks, review games and more. For $6 a month, you have access to all of it. We use the worksheets and songs weekly! A word of warning, it can be overwhelming...somewhat like pinterest, more ideas than you could possibly use in one household. However, it is very helpful if you take the time to sort through and find what will work for you. I am considering posting what I am planning on having my kiddos do this coming year in another blog post, and I will list the specific files that we hope to use there. (so subscribe or come back later for that!)

Reviewing CC by playing Trivial Pursuit Family Edition and substituting CC facts for the questions

~Geography Trivium Tables: These were invaluable for us last year in reviewing the geography facts. I bought one for each of my boys that were doing CC. (If you're joining me here and don't actually know me, welcome! I have four kiddos: three boys ages 8, 6, and 3, and one little girl who is 18 months old.) These maps are laminated and very durable. We use these several times a week in various ways-label things with dry erase markers, tape a piece of tracing paper on top and trace things, ask a child to point to a place, etc. I have bought other maps, but these are made specifically to coincide with the geography for Classical Conversations and are such a great addition to our review time. 

~Memory Flashcards: When we first started with CC, I thought to myself, "Why would I pay $30 for those when I could make them myself?" Then I started writing the information on index cards and laminating them...I didn't get very far before I decided to buy the CC cards. They are smaller, neater and to me, worth the money if you can spare it. I stick them in my purse or bag and we can review on the go. Now that both of my older boys can read, they can quiz each other, too. We love these, and use them several times a week.

Jon and Sam organizing the History Cards (aka Timeline cards)

~Classical Acts and Facts History Cards: These cards will be used every year. We use them to review the timeline information at home and to go a step further with learning the information. If you are starting with CC and have only younger students, you might wait on these if money is tight. I highly recommend them, but my younger ones have little interest in them. As my boys have repeated the timeline, different facts have caught their attention and peaked their interest, and by just flipping the card, we can dig a little deeper and extend our learning. We've used these cards in many different ways in the past: hung them in the school room; sorted them and put them in order; kept them in a binder to flip through; and kept them in a basket for easy use.  We use these almost daily.

~Prescripts: Copy work is encouraged in the classical model for many reasons. I love that CC has come out with their Prescripts series that combines handwriting practice, copy work and CC memory work review all in one! Both of my boys have used Prescripts and enjoy it more than I expected--they are boys and it is writing! ;)

Additionally, I do own and use the Classical Acts and Facts Science Cards, and they are used weekly for review. And I will probably purchase the new Classical Acts and Facts Artists and Composers Cards to help me with tutoring and reviewing at home. While not necessary, these can be great to assist you in reviewing at home if you want something that your kids can actually hold onto and use on their own or with your assistance. 

Honestly, I have yet to buy a product from CC that has not helped me here at home. Any product that you can find in their store will be worthwhile, in my opinion. I hope that my compilation here will help someone out there to understand better what might be helpful when you are just starting out. I'd love to hear feedback from you and welcome any questions either in the comments section or on Facebook. 

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If you found this helpful, you might enjoy reading Why We Choose to Homeschool or a post about our schedule, What This Homeschooling Thing Looks Like for our Family. Also, I have a post about copywork and how we review for CC here.

There are some great CC blogs: A Stick and Sand, And Here We Go, Classical Conversations at Home, Half-a-hundred Acre Wood, Homegrown Learners, Mt. Hope Chronicles, and Running with Team Hogan are the ones that I have bookmarked at home, but there are many more. In fact, if you blog about CC, please let me know! I'd love to glean wisdom from others on this journey!