History Plans, Term One

I'm designing my own history plans this year, pulling from several different resources.  I'm trying an experiment this year of reading through all of world history during the first half of the year.  We are using A Child's History of the World for our overview, and reading a few short chapters every day (we started this last week). While we are doing that, we will do a narrower study of two specific times/places. I asked Clavier to choose, and he picked Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece.


During the second half of the year we will read an overview of American History, and study Native Americans and New World Explorers.


I use OneNote to plan, and here is what we're doing the first term of the school year for Ancient Egypt. Many of the activities come from History Odyssey: Ancients and History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations. Some of the reading choices are from Classical House of Learning, Veritas Press, and our own shelves.


Read Aloud: History


• Child's History of the World- Start 08/05/13


Week 1: 9/3
• Time Traveler: Pharaohs and Pyramids
Week 2: 9/9
• Story of the World, Vol. 1 Chap. 2-3
• The 5,000-Year-Old Puzzle (library)
Week 3: 9/16
• Egyptian Cinderella
• The Temple Cat
• Seeker of Knowledge (library)
Week 4: 9/23
• Story of the World, Vol. 1 Chap. 4
• You Wouldn't Want to Be Tutankhamen
Week 5: 9/30
• Story of the World, Vol. 1 Chap. 12-13
• You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pyramid Builder
Week 6: 10/7
• Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt
• Science in Ancient Egypt (library)
Week 7: 10/14
• Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt
•  Ancient Science
• You Wouldn't Want to Be Cleopatra
Week 8: 10/21
• Ancient Science
• You Wouldn't Want to Be an Egyptian Mummy!
• If I Were a Kid in Ancient Egypt: Children of the Ancient World (library)
Week 9: 10/28
• Tut's Mummy Lost and Found
• Hieroglyphs

History: Assignments (I'm not sharing all the details, so as not to violate copyright.)

• Week 1
• Finish "What is History" Pocket (we started this at the end of last year)
• Copy work/dictionary: papyrus

• Week 2
• Mapping
• Start Pocket 3, “Ancient Egypt.” Complete the Pocket Label, Words to Know, and Student Booklet. 

• Week 3
• Copy work/dictionary "gods" and "pyramids."
•  Pocket 3, Life Along the Nile.
• Week 4
• Continue Pocket 3, Postcard from Ancient Egypt and The Great Pyramid.
• Week 5
• Copy work/dictionary "temple."
• Mapping
• Week 6
• Finish Pocket 3, if needed.
• Timeline 
• Week 7
• Ancient Science project
• Notebooking pages
• Week 8
• Ancient Science project
• Notebooking pages
• Week 9
• Hieroglyphic Note

Kindergarten 2013-2014

Here are most of Capricio's kindergarten plans for the year! I want to stress that K5 is completely optional in our house.  Capricio is chomping at the bit to improve his reading and work on writing, but he is free to come and go as he wishes.

Phonics/Reading

• Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading

We started this toward the end of last school year at his request, and he's doing very well.  Clavier used OPGTR very successfully, but I wasn't sure it would suit Capricio. Clavier started reading at five and a half and we didn't do lessons daily until he was six. In contrast Capricio just turned five a week ago!

I'm adding some Explode the Code here and there too as he enjoys workbooks (unlike Clavier at that age!).

Handwriting

• Handwriting Without Tears K & 1

Capricio is in the middle of the kindergarten book, and I expect him to move on to the next soon.  Once he does I'll add in some other copywork.

Math

• RightStart Math A

Math for Capricio has caused some debate.  I love RightStart Math, but Capricio has followed along with Clavier as he completed levels A & B. He is a very math inclined child, and is just about at the same level as his older brother.  We are going to buzz through RightStart anyway though, since he is so young.  If he balks, I'll bump him up as appropriate.

Geography

• Evan-Moor Beginning Geography

One of my favorite resources!

History and Science

• Following along with his brother in my history mash-up (details soon)
• Animal and Their Worlds with his brother

Literature

• Great books from our home collection and library. I'll share these as we go along!

Daily Learning Notebook

• Details coming! I'm still finalizing plans.

Second grade plans here. 

Second Grade 2013-2014

I sent my Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) off to the school district today! It isn't detailed, but provides a rough overview of the year to come. (Yes, all these subjects are required by the state.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Arithmetic

Cotter, Joan A. RightStart Mathematics Level C. Hazelton, ND:
     Activities for Learning, Inc., 2001. Print.
Singapore Math. Challenging Word Problems 1. Singapore:
     Marshall Cavendish Education, 2011. Print.

Reading
  
Holzmann, John & Sarita. Grade Three Readers Schedule and Study
     Guide. Littleton, CO: Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd., 2012. Print.
Norris, Jill. Read and Understand with Leveled Texts 2.
     Monterey, CA: Evan-Moor Educational Publishers, 2010. Print.

Spelling
  
Rippel, Marie. All About Spelling Level 2. Eagle River WI: All
     About Learning Press, 2012. Print.

Writing
  
Retzer, Carol Ann and Eva Hoshino. A Reason for Handwriting:
     Transition. Siloam Springs, AR: The Concerned Group, Inc.,
     2010. Print.
Verstegen, Lori. Bible Heroes: Writing Lessons in Structure and
     Style. Locust Grove, OK: Institute for Excellence in Writing,
     2013. Print.

English Language
  
Shurley, Brenda. Shurley English Level 1. Cabot AR: Shurley
     Instructional Materials, 2001. Print.

Geography
  
 Johnson, Sandi. Daily Geography Practice Grade 2. Monterey, CA:
     Evan-Moor Educational Publishers, 2013. Print.

United States History
  
Brooks, Kaeryn. The American Story 1. Grand Rapids, MI:
     WinterPromise Publishing, 2013. Print.
Hillyer, Virgil M. A Child’s First History of the World. Hunt Valley,
     MD: Calvert Educational Services, 1997. Print.
Miers, Earl Schenck. A Child’s First Book of American History. San
     Luis Obispo, CA: Beautiful Feet Books, 2013. Print.

Science
  
Brooks, Kaeryn. Animals and Their Worlds. Grand Rapids, MI:
     WinterPromise Publishing, 2012. Print.
Larson, Nancy. Science 1. Old Lyme, CT: Nancy Larson Publishers,
     Inc., 2007. Print.

Health Education
  
Bunting, Fleming, et al. Harcourt Health and Fitness 2. Orlando,
     FL: Harcourt School Publishers, 2007. Print.

Music
  
Clavier will participate in weekly piano lessons and regularly perform in concerts throughout the year.

Visual Arts
  
Clavier’s visual art instruction this year will come from projects related to topics studied in geography, history, and science. He will also participate in a twice monthly cooperative group for art instruction.

Physical Education
  
 Clavier will participate in weekly swim lessons, as well as other activities such as bike rides, hikes, sledding, and baseball with family and friends.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I plan to share more details about how our day will break down soon. One important piece of our day that isn't listed here is our Daily Notebook.  Last year I created a daily calendar notebook, but this year I've expanded that for Clavier. Capricio has one as well.  Kindergarten plans here!

Pinning it Down ~ Me on the Map

Sarah and Pam are hosting a new Tuesday link-up, Pinning it Down, both to encourage Pinterest users to make their pinboards come to life, and as a way to share all the neat stuff we've all found over the past few months.

I love this idea and truth be told, it's probably part of what motivated to get back to this blog!

Here's our project this week. I originally pinned this months ago as an idea for summer geography studies, but we're starting an overview of early American history this week, and I thought it was the perfect way to help place us on the map. Big Brother has been a little fuzzy about the difference between a state, country, and continent.

He cut out seven circles representing our home, street, city, state, country, continent, and planet.



Then he drew or pasted an image on each circle and labeled them.


We hole-punched (the best part!) then added a ring. Easy-peasy, and he's an expert now!


Although the best part has been showing off his knowledge to Dad and Meema!

Follow me on Pinterest here and for more Pinning it Down go here.

Kiwi Crate

For Christmas, my sister gave the older boys a three-month subscription to Kiwi Crate. Kiwi Crate is a fairly new service; each month subscribers receive a box with all the materials needed for several projects that center around a theme. While these crates are designed for use by one child, we are finding that sharing between two is no problem.

The first crate came in time for the boys to open it on Christmas, and they were immediately ready to jump right in!

The December theme was space-- Big Brother's passion!


First up: a mobile!

It took the better part of a day: working on and off and waiting for paint to dry, but by bedtime the mobile was in place!

The older boys have a space themed room, and so our new "system" is right at home!

The other project in the box was making a rocket-- also perfect for these two. We can't wait for the January crate to arrive!

Candlemaking

Tuesday is craft day in our house!

Big Brother has been asking to make candles since last spring when he saw the homesteading class at co-op make them. Yesterday, we finally did it!

All you need is beeswax, small wax-lined paper cups, a wick, and a way to melt the wax (we used our double boiler). We also added a little apple spice to our candles...perfect for fall! The beeswax is wonderful on its own too, however.

This is a very quick project, and great for gift giving. We'll be doing this a lot this season!

Our new mealtime blessing candle!

Magnatiles

The new addition to our schoolroom this summer is Magnatiles.

Please excuse the photo quality! I snapped this with my phone on the fly.

The boys are completely enamored with the possibilities, and Big Brother and Little Brother have made some incredible creations, from "Wegmans" to trucks and they're learning quite a bit along the way!

Intro to Science

I've had my eye on Elemental Science's early years programs this spring, and a friend recently gave me her copies of the teacher guide and student pages for Intro to Science.

This program is a very gentle introdcution to science for preschool and early elementary students. It uses THe Handbook of Nature Study as well as More Mudpies to Magnets (both of which I already owned) and library books. A little push to actually get going with science play and nature study was what I needed and so far, I'm loving it!

The boys are having so much fun, and the concepts are illustrated in such a way that Little Brother can easily follow along (and he wants his own student pages to complete).

We just completed week one: solids and liquids. We read several books on matter and also completed these fun activities:

Making popsicles to demonstrate changing a liquid into a solid (and noticing that if we didn't eat fast, they became liquid again!).

(Note: these are pureed watermelon and splash of pomegranate juice. Delicious!)

A solid became a liquid when heated and then a solid again when cooled when we made crayon cookies:


A solid (baking soda) and a liquid (vinegar) combined to create a gas (carbon dioxide) and blow up a balloon!

We also melted ice in a saucepan and watched it change into water then water vapor.

Next week we'll be learning about solution and dilution and making lemonade (among other things)!

Around the World Introduction

We started our summer study with two weeks (not working every day) with an introduction to maps and mapping.

The "spine" for the first part of our study was Evan-Moor's Beginning Geography. Big Brother is still essentially a pre-writer, but we completed the first 16 pages of map skills as it's mostly coloring, drawing lines, arrows, etc. Little Brother was very interested too and "helped" with some of the pages.

After we had learned a little bit about the four directions, we labeled them on our wall map then went outside to try out our compass.

We walked around our backyard and mapped the four directions. We learned that there's a tree in the north corner, the swing set to the south, the porch to the east, and the sandbox to the west. After that we took a walk around the block and took note of the direction we walk.

Another day we labeled continents and oceans on our map. A bit later I plan to return to Beginning Geography to do more with continents and oceans. I also printed the World Map Kit from Montessori for Everyone and we're going to color and label continents, oceans, and directions on those.

We read parts of Maps & Globes and Geography from A to Z. We'll revisit these as we continue. I also pulled out one of our favorites- Katy and the Big Snow- as it also provides a fun introduction to directions and maps. The boys love to examine the city map in it and trace Katy's path through the city.

I have two more activities planned for this week before we move on to our first country: we are going to draw a map of our backyard highlighting the landmarks mentioned above and create passports for our trip around the world. Then it's on to China!

Around the World!

In addition to continuing work on the 3Rs this summer, I thought it might be fun to do a geography/culture study. Big Brother has developed quite an interest in history and "other places."

My plan is to do this every summer and visit different countries each year. My original idea was to hit every continent once a year, focusing on a different country each time, but I'm having so much trouble narrowing down my ideas, that we're going to spend a few weeks in each place and stick to three continents/countries. This summer we are heading to China, France, and Australia!

I'm pulling ideas from several sources. I'll share our plans, and perhaps you'd like to come along!

Here are the core materials we're using (this list is subject to change):

• Galloping the Globe
• Beginning Geography
• Beginning Geography: How to Use a Map
• Confessions of a Homeschooler: Expedition Earth
• Maps and Globes
• Geography from A to Z
• Children Just Like Me
• Wee Sing Around the World
• Stories from Around the World
  

Introductory plans coming this weekend!

Trinity Sunday

In preparation for Trinity Sunday, we spent some time talking and reading about the Trinity yesterday.

It's a difficult idea to explain and understand (three Persons, one God), but Big Brother assured me that he did understand! When I shared this story with his godmother, she said that it's her belief that kids do understand these mysteries better than adults due to their innocence and pureness of heart.

Whatever the reason-- innocence or immaturity-- it warmed my heart that such a big idea was so readily accepted and embraced!

We made these simple mobiles as the final part of the discussion:

When we played outside, we found many clovers in the yard. The boys seemed to find a great deal of pleasure from such a simple plant representing a BIG person-- God!

This morning we made rolls in the shape of clovers as well.

I wanted to note that the mobile pattern came from the Who Am I? series at Catholic Heritage Curricula. We are picking and choosing from several resources for religion this year (with an emphasis on living the liturgical year), and what I like about this program is that the same content is adapted for a span of ages.

Book Cooks, Week Six

For our final week of Book Cooks, we read The Doorbell Rang and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and made cookie bars in a heart-shaped pan.

Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Beat until creamy:

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 t vanilla
1 egg

Mix in:

1 cup all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 cup oats
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt

Stir in:

6 oz chocolate chips

Cookies:

Drop by rounded tablespoons two inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350. Cool one minute before moving to cooling rack.

Cookie bars:

Spread dough in a greased 8x8x2 pan. Bake 25-30 minutes. Cut into 2x1 inch bars. Makes 36.

Book Cooks, Week Five

This week we read Thunder Cake and made thunder cupcakes with chocolate butter frosting.

Recipe from Patricia Polacco's website (with several variations):

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together one at a time:

1 cup shortening
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs (you do not need to separate the eggs)
1 cup cold water
1/3 cup pureed tomatoes

Sift together:

21/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup dry cocoa
11/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Mix dry mixture into creamy mixture.

Bake in two greased and floured 8 1/2 inch pans at 350 degree for
35 to 40 minutes. (We made two dozen cupcakes and baked for 20-25 minutes.)

Frost with chocolate butter frosting. Top with
strawberries.

Book Cooks, Week Four

Our co-op was canceled several weeks ago due to a bug that made its way through the group, affecting students and teachers alike. The following week, we read Jamberry and Bread and Jam for Frances and made butter and no-cook strawberry jam.

No-Cook Strawberry Jam

Ingredients

2 quarts strawberries
¼ cup lemon juice
1 cup light corn syrup
1 ¾ to 2 oz. package dry pectin
4 ½ cups sugar

Directions

1. Crush strawberries using either a potato masher or food processor. Place in a large bowl.
2. Add lemon juice and pectin and mix thoroughly. Continue mixing every five minutes for ½ hour in order to allow pectin to completely dissolve.
3. Add corn syrup and mix again.
4. Slowly add sugar and continue stirring well.
5. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Butter

Ingredients/Equipment

Heavy cream
Jar with a lid

Directions

1. Fill jar half full of cream and screw the lids on tightly.

2. Shake the jar. After about several minutes, the cream will be whipped and after another minute or so, lumps of yellow butter will form.

3. Rinse off the liquid whey and add a little salt, if desired.

4. Spread on bread or biscuits and top with jam. Will keep in the fridge.

Creative Cousins: Montessori

Last week my sister and niece, "Birdie", came over for another session of "Creative Cousins." My sister has recently been reading about the Montessori method, so I set up a selection of practical life activities for the kids.

Water transfer with a baster was very popular,

as was transferring ice cubes with tongs,

but I think polishing pennies stole the show!

It takes lots of concentration!

Little Brother slept through the work session, but he woke up in time for a pizza lunch!

Book Cooks, Week Two

It was fairy tale week! We made Cinderella's Pumpkin Tartlets and Snow White's Applesauce. I didn't get any pictures again (the class is far too short and chaotic), but here are the recipes:

Cinderella’s Pumpkin Tartlets (from Fairy Tale Feasts)

Ingredients

Filling:

2 cups pumpkin

½ cup evaporated milk

2 eggs

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ginger

¼ tsp. ground cloves

¼ tsp. nutmeg

Topping:

¼ cup ground walnuts

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tbsp. cold butter

4 pie crusts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425.

2. Mix all the filling ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

3. Grind walnuts in a food processor. Add the brown sugar and butter cut into small pieces. Grind until crumbly.

4. If your muffin pan is not non-stick, butter the insides or spray with cooking spray.

5. Lay out the pie crusts and cut them into rounds.

6. Gently press the rounds into the muffin tin.

7. Put 1 tablespoon of filling in each shell.

8. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the topping.

9. Bake for 10 minutes.

10. With the tartlets still in the oven, lower the temperature to 350 and cooking for 12-15 minutes more, until a toothpick comes out clean.

11. Cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the tin.

Snow White’s Applesauce

Ingredients

4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped

3/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

In a saucepan, combine apples, water, and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher.

Back to Co-op!

After a hiatus of a few months due to the birth of the baby and our move, we were back at our homeschool co-op Friday. The group is made up of around 60 families and offers a variety of classes from preschool to high school. We love it! This session, I am teaching "Book Cooks," a cooking class that draws inspiration and recipes from favorite books. Big Brother is also taking chorus and and arts and crafts class. During this session, I'm planning to share the plans and recipes from my class for your enjoyment and inspiration as well. (The picture shows everything I had to bring with me! The kitchen is fairly well stocked for equipment, but I still needed a hand mixer, blender, two saucepans, containers for the kids to take food home, not to mention all the food!)

Since March 2 is Dr. Suess's birthday, this week was of course devoted to Seuss! I wanted to do something different than the standard green eggs and ham and since Fox in Socks is the current favorite in our house, I looked there for inspiration. What did I find?

BLUE GOO!

It took me a bit of time to figure out how to translate blue goo to my class, but I settled on goo you can eat and goo you can play with.

Blue Goo (to Eat)

Ingredients
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold blueberry juice
3 cups blueberry juice, heated to boiling
Blueberries

Directions
1. Sprinkle gelatin over cold juice in a large bowl; let stand one minute.
2. Add hot juice and stir until gelatin completely dissolves.
3. Pour into 9 x 13 pan or individual serving cups.
4. Once the juice feels cool to the touch, add the blueberries.
5. Refrigerate until firm, about three hours.
6. Enjoy with whipped cream or plain!

Blue Goo (to Play)

Ingredients
2 cups cold water
1 packet of blue drink mix (such as Kool-Aid)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar

Directions
1. Mix together the water, the drink mix, and the vegetable oil.
2. In a sauce pan, mix together the flour, salt, and cream of tartar.
3. Slowly add the liquid to the sauce pan and stir.
4. Cook the mixture over medium heat until it looks like mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and cool.
5. When the dough is cool, knead it until it’s smooth. This will last a long time if you store it in a covered container.
Noodles from the tweetle beetle battle may have been easier, but this was much more fun!

I also adapted a recipe from Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook for Cat in the Hat Comes Back tub cakes. Enjoy!

Creative Cousins

Now that we have moved to our new house and are much closer to family, my sister and I have decided to start a bi-monthly craft/project time with our kiddos. Her daughter is two, and when the cousins get together it is sure to be a fun (and crazy!) time.

On Sunday, we had our first session and decided to try a project from Art for the Very Young. I love this book; it has so many creative ideas for art with young children. The project we chose was a "mono-print collage" in the style of Monet. We each had a copy of A Picnic with Monet
to share with the artists and my sister brought our old copy of Linnea in Monet's Gardenas well.

The project took a bit of time to set up. We had to cut lily pads from tissue paper and mix small amounts of tempera paint with water and honey, all the while trying to keep the kids from sampling the honey (mine), spilling the water (hers), and grabbing paint brushes (everyone).

Finally, everyone was smocked and ready to go!

The first step was to paint the back of cookie sheets with the paints.

Then they gently smoothed a piece of construction paper over the paint, flipped it over, and pressed several lily pads onto their ponds.

The kids enjoyed the project, but we were astonished to see how well the project captured the spirit of Monet's work.

My oldest's had the colors down exactly, which made us laugh since we had been encouraging him to use more paint to more thoroughly cover his cookie sheet. In the end, though, his method worked perfectly and we dubbed him the day's artistic genius!