How We Plan to Review CC this Year

With our new baby on the way, I've been working on ways to automate the review process this year.  In the past, my boys have fallen behind in their weekly review because, frankly, mom lacked a plan.

We tried using the Online Tutorials on the C3 Website last year.  However, I found them cumbersome at best.  I don't like that for each week you have to go through multiple pop-up menus and then back through them again to switch subjects.  I would prefer the review by week, not by subject. 

So this year I bought the CD http://www.classicalconversationsbooks.com/cy3pocd.html

At first, I was disappointed that it too was only by subject, but then I realized you could open the files in Power Point and edit them.  Yay!

Here's what I did to create weekly review videos for the boys. 

1. I opened all the subject files for the first 12 weeks and copied them into one Power Point presentation.  
2. Next I ordered the slides by week.  
3. Then I parsed this presentation into 12 individual Power Point presentation by Week.
4. Next I duplicate each slide and then duplicate the whole presentation.  So in essence they review each subject twice and then it repeats. 
5. I saved it to a video format and uploaded the video to a private YouTube channel(I do this because the TV/Computer I plan on having the boys use for viewing is a Mac and cannot play Powerpoint slides or apparently *.wmv files).

Here's what Week 1 looked like when it was done.

Its my plan to have the boys watch the videos while eating breakfast and possibly lunch.  Each video is only about 10 minutes long.  I'd share all the weeks I've created but apparently there's a potential copyright issue.  However, once you start I think you'll find it goes pretty fast.

For timeline review, I've found two Youtube videos I'll be using.  The videos contain all 20 weeks, but since this is the boys third year in CC I'm not worried about them working on them all at once and spoiling the surprise per say.

The first has zoom-ins of all the timeline pictures and pauses to allow the student to repeat.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPhyqZaKdW8

The second is simply a Smart Mama signing all 160 points in the timeline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1qQ3Ay0qXo&playnext=1&list=PL61160765D8C147A9 

The Question of Language

One of the biggest questions I find many homeschoolers, including myself, struggle with is; when, if and what foreign language to teach.  I find those of us who are not fluent in a second language see this task as even more daunting.  However, the benefits of learning a second language of any kind early in life are clear; from increased math skills, to ease of learning a third or fourth language.

We start by teaching our children Sign Language.  I have found all the hype to be true.  For instance, it does help with early communication, and motor dexterity.  By the time they turn one year old all my boys have been able to sign many words, long before they were able to talk physically.  As a result, I think Signing has dramatically decreased frustration in the early years, on both our parts.  I also find it useful in correcting my children from a distance without having to yell and embarrass them.  I teach my children children using two ASL DVD series.  The first I use when they are just babies, though they don't start signing till about 9 months I find exposing them around 6 months is helpful.  The series is called  "Teaching Signs with Baby Minds".  The series is taught by a deaf mother with her young daughter signing too.  There are three DVDs with Flashcards in the collection.

From about Age 2 on, I use "Signing Time".  What's really nice about this series is that its carried in many libraries, so check before you buy.  This series is taught by a mother of a deaf girl whom also stars in the show with her cousin.  My boys have found it very engaging.  We incorporate watching these DVDs with eating lunch.  They think they're entertaining and I think they're educational.

Another upside to signing is its use as an aid in memorizing lists, bible verses, etc.  The only downside I've found to signing is more a reflection of my inconsistency in teaching them, as they get older and more verbal we use it less and less.  It is upon this realization that I once again began thinking about teaching a traditional foreign language.

I have formally taken Spanish and Japanese in high school plus German in college but I am certainly not fluent in any of them.  Out of the languages I've dabbled in,  I found Japanese the easiest to learn.  However, living in Florida, Spanish seems the most practical.  I started looking for Elementary Level Spanish programs a while back and couldn't find any that really impressed me, especially for the price.  I am of the personal belief that until children understand the grammar of their own language, teaching the grammar of another language should be avoided.  Since I couldn't find a vocabulary program that impressed me, I created my own program.  It's simply a series of apx. 15min slide shows put on PowerPoint slides that I converted into a YouTube video.  Here's the link to the first video I created:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDh0rzKuxHw

Recently, I've also found a couple of DVDs at the library that seem to follow the same idea and were entertaining for the boys:

"Hola Amigos:  A gentle introduction to the Spanish Language"

"First Fun with Spanish (Usborne)"

As we progress with Spanish vocabulary, I find myself wondering again if we are on the right path.  Therefore, I found this post on the Pioneer Woman "Community Question:  Spanish vs. Latin?" rather timely.  Until my boys started Classical Conversations (CC) a few years ago, I had never been exposed to Latin.  Frankly, I find Latin a bit intimidating.  However, the more I've research teaching it, the more value I see.  Here's what I took away from the responses to PWs Community Question: 

"Living languages mutate, and have malleable usage such as slang and figures of speech, while Latin is more like a puzzle (I would almost compare to algebra, as word order doesn’t matter)."  Teaching Latin first makes learning any other language easy, it aids in understanding your own vocabulary, plus its helpful with the sciences.

So if you agree, as I do, the question still remains; How do I teach Latin to my children?

Brandy from "Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood" has found a number of Free online sites:

http://halfahundredacrewood.blogspot.com/2011/07/free-latin-resources.html

In a later post Brandy mentions that out of these resources she is going to start with:

"Just a little bit of Latin's Not so Tough, along with Ellen J McHenry's homemade Latin board games"

My friend, who has taught college Latin and is currently homeschooling her six year old, suggested using "The Bridge to The Latin Road to English Grammar" by the makers of the "Phonics Road".  Here's the summary:

"Everything is taught on 6 DVDs which both you and your student(s) can view together. The teacher’s reference notebook is completed for ease in teaching and guiding the student in the building of his notebook. I can guarantee that 95% of parents/teachers using The BRIDGE to the Latin Road will learn details about English grammar and vocabulary that they may never have known before. But it is presented in such a way that 3rd-6th grade students can learn and prepare for The LATIN Road to English Grammar. This study is also invaluable to students of any age whose English grammar is weak, even if they do not plan on pursuing further Latin study."

A suggestion for a simpler alternative, that follows my theory of vocabulary first, is to just use the Flashcards from "English from the Roots Up".  I bought these about a year ago but haven't really given them much of a chance yet.

Another resource I've seriously considered using is "Word Roots Beginning" and their new flashcard system.  I suggested a friend use it to increase her son's scores on standardized tests, so I've seen the books but I'm waiting on the results.

 

Finally, if your children do get into mastering Latin, here are two organizations the PW followers suggested joining: 

http://www.nle.org/

http://www.njcl.org/

I hope to commit to a plan regarding language some time this year.  We've dabbled quite a bit so far, on this question of language.  If we ever get into a real rhythm and find a plan that works, I promise to let you know :-)  Oh, and if you have a plan that works please share!

Two Must-Have Books!

I mentioned in my previous post on Science that I would be supplementing our science curriculum this year with other books.  In that pursuit I found two incredible gems.

The first is called "The Quest to Digest" by Mary K. Corcoran.
(A great CC Cycle 3 - Week 6 resource)

The Amazon link above will give you a peak inside.  The book is both informative and engaging.  The author doesn't over-simplify things (i.e. limit information to the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and intestines and call it done), she uses the proper terms and explains most of the working parts along the path.  The gem part comes in how she does that, with a little kindly green monster who rides through the system, making humorous side comments along the way.  My boys absolutely adore it. In fact, they now say, when questioned if they farted, "it wasn't me, it was the bacteria in my large intestine".  How she presents the information actually works!  I see the results when they do their curricula worksheets about digestion.

Here's a more complete review:  http://curledupkids.com/questdig.htm

Here's a quick discussion guide too:  http://www.charlesbridge.com/client/client_pdfs/downloadables/QuestToDigestDiscussGuide.pdf

The second book is "The Circulatory Story" by (guess who....) Mary K. Corcoran :-)
(A great CC Cycle 3 - Week 8 resource)

After reading her first book, I was hoping she had written more and I was pleased to find this one too.  When it arrived in the mail this weekend, my oldest son pounced on it.  He was so excited, he started reading it aloud to his brothers. I hadn't planned to use it until this week, however it ended up being a great introduction to our study of the Circulatory System.

Here's an example of how she uses the proper terms and yet simplifies it for the kids:  "See the red thing that looks like an inner tube without the hole?  It's an erythrocyte....An erythrocyte is also known as a red blood cell, and it's your ride."  The only thing it's lacking is a pronunciation guide with the glossary in the back. :-)

Here's a lyrical review of the book:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob2vjV6V4o0

Now if she would only get-on-the-ball and write books about all the different Human Body systems, I think she would end up creating the best Human Body curricula I've ever seen. :-)

False Idol of Control

This week, in my women's bible study, we were challenged to identify the false idols in our lives that were keeping us from an intimate relationship with God.  Upon meditation it became clear my biggest false idol is "Control".

A few years before my oldest son was born, I became the "Controller" of a publicly held company.  When I achieved that title, I remember Chris joking that I had finally gotten the title I deserved.  

Then six years ago my second son was born with a life threatening condition.  Nothing brings you closer to your own helplessness than having a child in such a situation.  Thankfully for us, it also brought us keenly aware that we were not in control but God was and we leaned on him hard.  That was the beginning of God helping me take down the strongholds of "Control" in my life.

Last year through some personal tragedy, God helped me step down from the board I was on and every other position of leadership.  Positions I had kept because of my need to control.  My background thought had been God isn't big enough or doesn't care enough about the small stuff, I must take control.  Wrong!

January 8th of this year, He did something only He could do.  Through unimaginable circumstances, he gave us no choice but to shut down our personal business in a short 24 hour period.

Then for fun He is giving us a baby girl in October.  You may wonder what that has to do with control, but you'd laugh at the things we tried to make sure our oldest was a boy.  We frequently laugh at ourselves now.  Then after three boys, statistically we should have been in the clear for another boy.  Ooops!  Go figure, statistics once again mean nothing in real life.  We were shocked a bit at first but couldn't be more excited now (By the way we have decided on a name "Amber Elizabeth" and we ironically expect her around Chris' birthday).  It's just another example of God's incredible love, and a reminder His plans are always better than our plans.

I realized this week the last big stronghold "Control" has in my life is in how I interact with my children.  I read or was told a while back to ask yourself this question:  "Are you disciplining for disobedience or inconvenience?".  The point being if the latter, you are out of line.  My devotion time this week conveniently covered the topic of manipulation (just another name for control in my book).  I was convicted that I am too often trying to manipulate my children, instead of directing and leading them.  Once again the hidden message is that I don't trust God.  This is going to be a struggle to change but I now understand the change doesn't have to come from more effort by me but more trust by me to let God change me.  Strange sometimes how God offers us an easier way to solve our issues but so often we'd rather just work harder on our own to no avail.

Saturday was a good first step.  Chris and I decided Friday night that if we woke up in time we would take the boys to the beach in the morning.  We did, so we did.  It was a perfect day, slightly overcast and only in the mid 80s.  I got Jared into his wetsuit without a fight, because I worked with him and smiled.  The trend of smiling continued through the day.  We gave them tips on improving their boogie board rides but let them do it their own way when the wanted and more importantly smiled (not frowned) when they did.  My heart is full at how often I found myself smiling and saw my boys smiling today.  We swam, built cone castles, Chris taught them about erosion, we had an awesome time and no corrections were made the whole time.  We even gave in to a rare treat in our house, a stop at Chick-Fil-A on the way home.

I know all days will not be like this.  There will be days I fall back into my controlling routine, or I let them push me there, but now I know what it can be like to be free.  To let God truly be in control for a day and rest is Him and I must say I really liked it.

Look its a Deere!

Oh dear. Doh! Or is it doe? Don't worry, I do know how to spell "deer",  its not a mis-spelling, I'm referring to John Deere.

When we first moved into our current home in 2004, Lance was 18 months old and we were among the first homes finished in our area.  I used to set Lance up with a chair and a smoothie by the front window.  He would be entertained for a long time watching them build the homes across the street.

I sort of felt bad when all the construction ended.  Boys love big construction vehicles of any kind. 

Then it started again.  This time it was the roads that were under construction.

First on the list was the main road next to our house.  It was shut down from April to November 2010.  It was pure bliss!  During working hours, it provided entertainment and education for the boys.  They had all kinds of questions for me and the workers; about what they were doing and what they were using.

After hours it was peace and entertainment.  The road carries a large volume of cars when open, so to not have all that road noise was awesome and ironically the birds came back.  For the boys it meant their very own dirt biking track.  We were truly sad to see it re-open.

However, we recently had another opportunity to watch road construction for a week.  The alley across from our house swallowed up a Pest Control truck (well, just the front tires) and left a big hole about five feet deep.  It turns out the drainage under the road had never been joined properly, had been leaking for years, and finally gave way. Going to the front window to see what they were doing next was the boys favorite way to spend their breaks in school work.  Titus set up a regular vigil on the front couch watching while the boys worked at the back table.  Titus kindly and enthusiastically called out when their was any big change, i.e. the arrival of new equipment.

Its not the same as having a forest in my backyard with real deer running through, but living in the city you have to take what you can get. :-)

"The Plan" - Part 4: U.S. Geography

I have tried to make this subject as multi-sensory as possible.  I think it is important to know geography, so I am hitting it from a lot of different angles.  As a result, I may have gone a little overboard on this one.  The upside is you should have plenty of options to consider.

The information below is intended to help in the memorization of all 50 states and capitals of the United States.  For those in CC Cycle 3, this only covers the first 10 weeks.

Worksheets/Coloring Pages:

After searching for a while, I found the coloring sheets I preferred to use at this site:

http://www.nvo.com/ecnewletter/coloringpages/

On the site you will notice a list of websites for each state.  I used the NetState.com pages and copied the images with five states per page.

I have made two files full of worksheets.  They are linked below for your downloading pleasure.

The first file includes the states names, and copywork below each state regarding their capital and postal abbreviation.  Below each group of five states is also a little quiz which asks the children to identify the states postal abbreviation and draw a line to the appropriate capital. 

Here is the link to that file: States with Copywork

The second file is similar to the first but the state names are blocked out.  From memory the child must identify the state shape and write the capital and postal abbreviation below.  Again there is a quiz below each group of five.  I have reordered the quizzes for those kids that would remember a pattern in the previous day's matching exercise.

Here is the link to that file:  States without labels

As they complete "sections" of the United States (i.e. Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, etc.) I will interject these worksheets:

First is an unlabeled map of the "section", for labeling (they are at the bottom of the page below the states):

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/coloring-pages/usa/ 

Second, is a Word Search simply because my boys like them.  I'll start by having them label the small section map in the corner with Postal abbreviation and then let them have fun.

http://www.tlsbooks.com/geographyworksheets.htm

Books:

One treasure of a book I found last year is "A Child's Geography of the World" by V. M. Hillyer.  This is an old living book, the only living book I've found on geography.  It was published in 1929, which adds a neat perspective of the world.  For instance, Alaska and Hawaii aren't states yet and WWII has not occurred.  As a result, it requires a little discernment and explanation in the reading but we've found it fun.  The applicable chapters of U.S. Geography are 5 to 16.

In addition, to add some visuals to the study we go to the library.  We go to the J947 area and grab a book for each state.  The books are grouped by "section" not state, so it takes a little looking around in that area.  Then I just let the boys flip through them on their own at home and tell me what they found interesting.

Games:

I've had this puzzle from Melissa & Doug for years and the boys still have fun with it.  I like it because most of the states are individual puzzle pieces.  We set a timer and see how quickly they can complete two tasks.  The first task is to put the puzzle together, but before they put a piece down they must identify it.  The second task is to take the puzzle apart.  Trick here is that I call out the pieces to be removed and they have to find it quickly.  The goal is to complete both tasks in under 15 minutes.

Free online learning games can be found all over.  One that many people seem to like is this one:  http://sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm

Finally, if you have an iphone/ipad/ipod touch, "Stack the States" is a great app.  It teaches various facts about the states including:  name, postal abbreviation, capital, relative location and other geographic facts.  In addition, it adds a neat element of physics. In each level you have to stack the states up, literally, to achieve different heights and pass the level.  Great education and entertainment for only $0.99.