School Interrupted-Life on the Move

Over the last 6 months, since I previously posted, a lot in life has changed. Our family moved again, twice, making that 3 moves in 18 months. A lot to say the least! We are finally settled, for a while anyway, and I felt it was time to start back to the regular routine.

During this time one of my biggest challenges has been school. My role as wife, mother, and primary educator became severely redirected when moving boxes invaded and nothing was at a status quo. Over these months I have struggled with feeling that life was running me instead of me directing life. But as I reflect on these past months, and all that was happening, I am so thankful for the Lord working in mighty ways. These are some of the rich blessings we have to celebrate as a family:

Health and Safety- Amidst packing, moving many miles to a new environment, and many new encounters the Lord has kept us healthy and safe.

House Provisions- We moved across the country to live in a temporary home that was gratefully provided for us. It allowed us the time needed to find another home, that while still temporary, is very comfortable and a great place for us to be currently.

Friends- It is never easy to leave behind friends, but again the Lord has given us so many new connections that we are thrilled to have a growing number of dear friends.

Proximity to Family- We are very thankful for a new closeness to family. Everyone lives 3 hours or more away, but we are able to see each other more frequently than before.

Church- Through much prayer the Lord directed us toward a Church family that we are excited to be a part of and look forward to getting to know more. Very thankful for Truth being taught.

Activity- While it may seem silly to have this as a praise when life can be so busy, we are thankful for the wealth of activities available to us all, both in homeschooling and the community. Being near the mountains again is a personal blessing to me =)

This is only the quick list of items as I sit here and think, but it is a good reminder that while I may feel I am running through my days the Lord is sustaining in mighty ways. I can surrender the little nagging feeling I have of school being delayed, or temporarily stalled, to a Great God and instead praise His name for the miracles He is working all around and in me during these times. The school bell we can hear ringing from our newest home is not intended for me. My children will learn where and when they need to through God's providence.

Picture Study- A Charlotte Mason Approach

Winslow Homer - Waiting for Dad

While there are many things in our homeschool day that I orient around a classical education, I truly appreciate a large part of the Charlotte Mason (CM) philosophy and practices in home academics. Some time back I decided to purchase the Dover Publications Art Cards to put to use in a CM picture study manner. I have been meaning to post about these cards and how I prepared them for some time, and when I read the two most recent posts from Simply Charlotte Mason, I was encouraged to share. (If you are not familiar with picture study, please, please take the time to learn how simple and meaningful this is. Go here and here to start.)

When I ordered my art cards from Dover I loved the way they had information about each card in the books. I knew I wanted to make an "art library" using the cards, but I wasn't willing to give up the overviews of the artists while discarding the cover and leftovers of the book. So, I decided to cut out and save the parts that I could use.

My intentions were to create photo albums with the cards. I pasted the overview information to an insert for the back cover of my album and added specific information to the reverse side of the images. Then I combined all the cards and the information in 4X6" photo albums. Now I have an easy reference for finding images by artist or artistic style. While these small prints don't show the detail of a larger image, I am glad to have them available and for a reasonable price.

Now let's do some picture study!Frank Benson - Sunlight

Memory Building

Last fall I had the privilege of gaining and sharing a wealth of information with a group of homeschool moms led by a Master Homeschool Teacher. (I call her a "Master" teacher based on her years of experience schooling both her own children as well as others.) From this time I gleaned many useful ideas that I have enjoyed implementing in my own school. Here is one of them...

Mental Memory Building

My objective with this activity is to encourage memory skills, directional awareness, attentiveness and color recognition. Each is a basic skill that is used in all areas of life and especially academics. I use this with all my kids at different levels of difficulty.

For the materials, we use what we have on hand, LEGO DUPLO, stored in the cooler you see in the photos =). We play it as a game and the kids love to do it, but they also let me know when they are done. Mental activities can be taxing, so move along when they are ready.

To start I select a series of blocks, usually 3 blocks in 2 colors, and set them in a line.

I allow my child to look at the blocks for a period of 1 second per block before hiding them and asking them to recreate the series I had with the blocks placed in front of them. When they announce they are done, we compare their blocks to mine to see if they remembered correctly. We casually dismiss errors and praise both hard work and correct answers.

After the child has shown they can easily get 3 blocks I move to 4 blocks in 2 colors, 4 blocks in 3 colors and finally 4 blocks in 4 colors. We keep adding to this until they are worn out or the level of difficulty is too great.

For my older boys I have found that creating a line alone is too simple, so I add more blocks and start moving in different planes.
This challenge can continue to grow as much as desired by the parent and child. My kids have found it is fun to test their siblings.
The best part is when they get to challenge you!
A great tool even for adults to build basic mental memory skills.

For a system available for purchase that uses this type of training, Audiblox, is a brand I am aware of although I have not used it myself and cannot give an opinion regarding it. On their site you can find a number of videos clips that demonstrate these ideas, and their use for learning disabled students.

Thirsty Thursday - White Board Schedule

It may seem crazy that something as simple as a white board has brought such joy to my school days, but I finally feel I really look forward to each day of school now. Let me share a bit of our story.

Last year we were in the midst of a basement remodel and finished it up just about the time we started our schoolyear. I was so excited organizing my materials on the new book shelves and felt like I had my schoolroom set. The year started off well enough, but I was often feeling like I didn"t have anywhere to organize our daily routine.

I tried notecards, schedules, and various assundry papers, but I often felt that I was putting more into it than any of us were benefitting from. So,...fast forward a year. Our newly remodeled basement had water damage and needed more work. Back to square one on the classroom, and this time it was pushing the beginning of the schoolyear. We did get it all put back together but in a slightly different arrangment and with added wall space. Finally I was able to hang our stashed whiteboard in a useable location and WOW! what a difference it has made.

With 4 young children, and only two of them doing any independent schoolwork, the white board has made school so much more organized for all of us. I am able to write our schedule out the night before with simple details my older boys can read. Throughout the next day of school, the kids look forward to erasing the board and seeing the subjects completed. At the end of the day the board is wiped clean and ready for the next day's events to be posted.

It keeps us all going and ready for school.

Read more educating encouragements at Five J's.

Roman Aquaduct

Our school year has continued throughout the summer this year due to early summer travels, so the kids and I have continued with Tapestry of Grace in the final unit where we are currently learning about Ancient Rome.

At times I find myself feeling a bit overwhelmed with trying to accomplish all that I want to for the school day when the kids are ready to run outside and play with neighbors (who are out of school for the summer). So, to take a little more laid back approach to our schooling, I try to find ways to make hands-on activities less intensive. This lesson on Roman Aquaducts is a great example. I had all these grandiose ideas of the cardboard/plastic tubing aquaducts we could build, but then...reality hit. The mess, the time, the work (mostly done by Mama). It just wouldn't be worth it, so in lieu of the elaborate structure we could build we did the next best things- the Marble Maze.

As you can see in the image, we did assemble it in a linear fashion similar to an actual aquaduct, and indeed it did carry water from the bathtub spout to the red holding tank at the end. They boys thought it was great and proceeded to run marbles in their new waterslide before excitedly running outside to play with their friends.

Homeschool Blogging

I have attempted to start a blog before this about family and life, but abadoned ship as it was not working at that time. I continue to feel that I am learning so much that I would like to share, though, in my family's homeschooling journey, that I think I will try again. My hope is that this will be avenue to share some of the things I find and learn as I go with the hope that there may be some who will benefit from it. Praying the Lord leads in this new endeavor.