Formal Lessons

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Teacher Work Day

The kids had Friday off because I had to get some work done.  Things accomplished include:

1. Preparing bunches of language arts and math games. 
2. Putting together two new Books of Centuries
3. Typing out handwriting sheets using their poetry memorization and catechism lessons

I also bought a new rolling storage box to use in daily school.  We have four different rooms where we have lessons on a daily basis, and I'm always running around getting books from here and supplies from there.  This new handy piece of equipment will allow me to have it with me always.

Wonderful Art Field Trip

Friday we visited the High Museum of Art in Atlanta to view the Cecilia Beaux exhibit.  I was so inspired and entertained by her paintings, and was especially thrilled by the way the boys picked up on nuances  in the paintings. 

Through our Charlotte Mason homeschooliing group, we will be studying this artist for the 10 weeks, and we are really thrilled to be doing so.  The portraits we are studying, one per week, can be found in this album.

A Great Advantage of Homeschooling

Dropping things that don't work and trying new things can easily be done in the homeschool.  When I realized that the kids just weren't learning how to spell at the pace I preferred, I decided to do just that.

The concept of Spelling Wisdom is great.  Teaching spelling through the use of wonderful quotes and exerpts from speeches, books, poems, etc.  So I invested $50 in the entire set of e-books published by Simply Charlotte Mason.  But after a year of its use as our primary spelling program, I decided to dump it in favor of Spelling Power.

It's ok, because no money was lost.  We already had Spelling Power, and it had worked well for Jacob in 5th Grade, so I just pulled it out and tried it with the other boys.  And they loved it!  It was a challenge for them to see if they could remember how to spell words.  The Spelling Wisdom books will be put to good use also in grammar and/or copy work lessons also.

I'm currently reading about Multi-Level and Small Group instruction and making plans for the coming weeks.  It will allow the incorporation of dictionary skills in with spelling lessons also, and I'm excited about that as well.

The First Day of School

I'm so pleased to have begun the first official day of school today!  Oh, we have been having lessons since July, including field trips and miscellaneous educational days.  Jacob has done Math for 2 weeks already and Alex has done it for 1 week.  But nonetheless, I'm calling today the first day of school.

As planned, we began with a decade of the Rosary - the First Joyful Mystery - The Annunciation.  We discussed this event and then prayed.

Then we read about the saints of the day, which were St. Pontian (former pope) and Saint Hippolytus (anti-pope) who were both martyred.

Next we moved into the the kitchen and began learning about Latin.  We learned Salve and Salvete and discussed Latin vowel sounds.   Then we learned about the vocabulary words  for this week.

Then, Jacob moved in front of the TV to watch the Math-U-See DVD for Lesson 3, while Alex and Nicholas worked on their spelling.  We're using Spelling Wisdom this year, so they copied their exercise onto index cards.  Alex is doing Book 1, Exercise 23 and Nicholas is doing Book 1, Exercise 1.  After finishing Math, Jacob did Book 2, Exercise 25 (which is a quote from Charles Dickens).  After this, Alex did math, followed by Nicholas.

Then the boys took a little break to play with Knex, while we listened to Dvorak's Humoresque in G-Flat major.

When the break was over, we watched a DVD called "Hot Rocks - Civilization's Battle With Water" from the Science Channel" - we're starting science and  history easy.

Before we knew it, it was lunch time.  And my friend Melanie and her kids are coming over to enjoy PE with us - a dip in the neighborhood pool.

Later in the day, I plan to slip in a Science Lesson for Jacob, from The Universe in My Hands, and a piano practice.  It should fit in because we're having a simple supper tonight.

 

Our Prayer/Religion Study Area

Today I bought a plastic 8 x 10 frame to hold our beautiful photographs of the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary.  And now I have placed the Mystery of the Day in the frame in our new Prayer/Religion area. 

This year we will begin each school day with one decade of the rosary.  We will meditate on the type of mystery which is recommended for the day of the week.  For example, today is Wednesday, so I have placed the Resurrection of Jesus photo in the frame.  Tomorrow I will insert The Baptism of Our Lord, a Luminous Mystery, and Friday it will be the Annunciation. 

We will also study the saints using Saint for Young Readers.  I have placed these and our Bible and our Rosary bowl in the same area.

Our Science Plans

Our middle school student will be studying science alone ths year for the first time.  Last year we did everything together, only I assigned him some more complicated work to perform.  But this year, I have purchased an interesting little program from CHC called The Universe in My Hands.  According to its description, it classifies items in the universe by structure and size, and is to science what the Book of Centuries is for history.

For our elementary students, we will be using a little book called Elementary Physical Science by Calvert School (I actually found this book in a fellow-homeschooler's free box).  This will mainly be our spine, as it is composed of 32 chapters, each covering a different area of physical science, and we will supplement with living books from the library.  Topics range from Atoms and Molecules to Circuits, Telephones and Light.  We're all excited about learning more about God's non-living Creation.

The topic list can be found here: Download elementary_physical_science.doc .

Music Plans

In the past, I would put on CDs during meal time and read books by Mike Venezia  about famous composers, and that would be the extent of our Music Appreciation classes.  But this year we're going to get serious about our music studies.  I'm putting together a list of the composers we will study this year in the here:  Download music_lesson_plans.doc.  We're currently studying George Frideric Handel, and we plan to study Dvorak, Chopin, Strauss and Tchaikovsky.

Some of our favorite classical music resources are the these CDs.  You can buy them as a set of 6 for about $25 or individually for $2.98 at Amazon!  I just placed an order to complete our collection for the 2007-08 school year.  The CDs include a detailed description of the composer's life as well as uninterrupted selections of his music.

We listened to the Handel CD repeatedly on our recent vacation, and we even had several requests for it.   

At this time, Alex is the only one who currently plays an instrument - the piano, but we're contemplating doing more.  Jacob took guitar last year, but stopped to play baseball.  Perhaps we'll resume again if he would like.

Poetry Memorization

The table in our upstairs balcony is now the memorization area and will house our memorization subjects this year including Religion and Poetry.  We will be using The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura M. Berquist for poetry.  The selection I have chosen are as follows:  Download poetry_memorization.doc .

Religion plans for the school year

As usual, we will study religion this year in a variety of ways.  Aside from incorporating God as a theme throughout, we will be memorizing The Baltimore Catechism.  We have found this book to be very helpful in the past, but will be starting at the beginning as a refresher because we didn't use it last year.  Each child will be expected to study 5 questions per week and will be tested orally each Friday. 

Nicholas will be preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and 1st Eucharist this year, so we will be using this instead.  I still need to talk with Father about PSR classes.  The DRE told me that we would have to enroll him in the class at the church this year, but I am hoping to do this at home.

In addition, we will read about saints everyday and will attend at least one daily Mass per week. 

I still have work to do on Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter work, but I'm hoping to find at least one activity for each of these seasons as well.  Any suggestions?