Category Archives: Homeschooling

Homeschool Curriculum Sale

Too many books, games, teacher’s guides, puzzles, manipulatives, workbooks, novels, toys, magazines, computer games, books, books, books, and too little money.

Rachel and I went to a used curriculum sale this morning. She didn’t find as many treasures as I did but she was a lovely companion and good sport (especially as the hours dragged on and I continued shopping).

We ended up staying until the bitter (or sweet depending on how you look at things) end of the sale. At this point I definitely scored!! Almost all of the tables dropped their prices in half and several people started giving away their books for free. I think I got almost as many things free as I did at cost. Delightful!

I meant to spread everything out and take a picture but didn’t get around to it. Here are just a few of the things I found.

books

Of course, all of the homeschooling moms out there know that most/half (?) of these treasures will end up unused on my shelf. Sigh.

That doesn’t stop the glee of a good bargain and the roving eye of a curriculum junkie. Until next year!! :)

Kathy
Project 365 – Day 160

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Get this girl some math manipulatives

Sarah is obviously starved for some math study time. Look at what she pulled out and played with (for a good 30 minutes) this evening.

easter eggs

Perhaps other mothers wouldn’t immediately leap to the math manipulative conclusion. They might just think it sweet that their little girl has found some new toys. Some might even be grateful that the Easter decorations were out of storage and ready for use. I, however, am a homeschooling mother and my mind instantly translates these moments into school applications. In this case, preschool and kindergarten math.

Sigh, I am NOT a good kindergarten teacher. I am terrible at crafts and hands on activities. I do NOT have buckets and containers full of cool manipulatives. This site has literally 10 pages of items for sale under the math manipulatives category. I have deep envy for other homeschoolers who are gifted in this area.

looking closely

My math manipulative sense is heightened because this afternoon I was talking about math with another homeschooling mom and she mentioned how much her children are enjoying their new program (I believe it was Right Start Math) and all the creative ways it approaches math. Homeschooling moms have a perverse desire to talk about curriculum with other moms – it usually leads to some online shopping and, if you aren’t careful, a serious inferiority complex as the ‘curriculum is always more engaging on the other side of the homeschooling fence.’

Thankfully I stumbled across an article on creative (i.e. CHEAP) math manipulatives. It’s already late (I do my blogging in the evening when the distractions are in bed) but I immediately wanted to do further searching for other handmade manipulatives. I think I just like typing out the word manipulatives. It has such a great ring to it.

I have to be careful or I spend all my time reading and researching about interesting, creative curriculum choices but never actually do any teaching.

sarah

It doesn’t exactly look as if Sarah is suffering with her Easter egg manipulatives but I still might start praying for some good spring garage sales or a used curriculum sale (perfect places to pick up these type of things).

sarah pie

Kathy

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Friday’s Story in Pictures

All of this blogging is seriously cutting down on my internet surfing time. Ha! Tim set up an easier, faster way for me to upload pictures. Yay! Thanks, Tim! He also fixed it so I can create thumbnails for all the pictures I’ve uploaded at one time, to the size parameters I prefer. So wonderful to have a computer guru husband! Here he is working at his desk upstairs.

tim's desk

He has to rotate his desk throughout the day as the sun comes through the windows. Telecommuting is awesome!! We like having Tim at home.

Daniel, Rachel and I worked hard finishing up our workbook pages for Korea. After a LONG (read several years) emphasis on American history, we have moved on to Sonlight Level 5, Eastern Hemisphere this year. We LOVE Sonlight and have been using it since Joshua was in kindergarten. The history spine for SL5 is World Book Encyclopedia’s on CD. Joshua does his reading and Exploration Guide Book independently. I help Rachel and Daniel on their log books. We take turns (try not to fight) using Joshua’s laptop.

Rachel's logdaniel korea

I have to be careful that we don’t end up skimming the articles,
trying to find the answers to the questions in the log book, instead of reading each of the sections carefully. Hmmm. Joshua is more interested in the different countries than Daniel and Rachel and reads each of the chapters in depth. The encyclopedia tends to be a bit dry which is harder for Daniel, in particular, to understand.

I try to make sure we find supplemental books at the library on each country. We read picture books written by native authors or look at illustrated guides to the different countries. The Sonlight forums have an excellent resource section on the different levels and people are very willing to share titles they have discovered. The extra books, I’ve found, add to the richness of our lessons and allow the children to put pictures to the people and places we are studying.

rachel writes

Here we are doing some school reading on ‘big blue’ (our beloved recliner loveseat that is comfy, cozy and roomy enough for three or four).

rachel and mom

It continues to be COLD here in WA!! Brrr. This is NOT typical winter weather. Look at this ice!

ice

The kids were all very impressed with Tim’s new, wide-screen monitor. David was excited to try out a game on the “new computer.” We had to explain to him that the computer was the same, it was only the monitor that was different. Hard to understand how it could be the same, old, boring computer with such a fancy new monitor. Ha!

david's computer time

David tries out the new monitor.

Rachel and I went to the library this evening. I begged Tim to go along and drive us–the roads are mostly clear except for our neighborhood which continues to have streets of solid ice. He agreed and the three of us set off. Raise your hand if you LOVE the library!!!

rachel librarysearching

Searching for a good book.

got it

Found something. Looks like a new Patrick McManus.

getting bookslots of books

I managed to find a few picture books for the kiddos. I like to have a good collection of library books on hand, ready for Joshua, Rachel, and Daniel to read to David and Sarah. They are excellent helpers!

boys

My three boys!! I love them all.

The big excitement of the evening was a phone call from Thailand!!! Hooray, a call from the Burts. We managed to figure out how to use the Skype program and enjoyed a FREE phone call. Sykpe runs through the internet. It requires high speed access and a headset that plugs into your computer. The software is free and, as long as you are using your computer and calling another person on Skype, the entire phone call is free. Whee! Daniel and Rachel talked and talked to the Burt children before passing the phone back to me. All in all we were on the phone/computer for 2 hours. That would be one expensive phone call!! I’m so delighted the Burts were able to hook their computer up as well. The children miss their friends and having the luxury of a LONG conversation was wonderful. Nothing brings a loved one close like hearing their voice.

daniel's headset

We love the Burts!

burts and edgrens

Tomorrow we are having friends over to play Settlers of Catan. Should be fun. I have a LOT to do beforehand–laundry, cleaning, school scheduling, etc–so I hope it is a good, productive day.

Kathy

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Homeschool Schedule

Here is the infamous School Schedule that I’ve been using for Joshua (5th grade). I have similar charts for Rachel and Daniel (3rd and 2nd grades). Rachel and Daniel share many of the same subjects although they have their own math and language arts programs.

I update the schedules each week (Sunday night) and print them out on cardstock. Each child has their own clipboard that holds their handwriting sheets (using the Start Write computer program) and current chart.

Click this link to view it: Joshua’s Schedule

Hooray for Homeschooling!

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KaraGraduation1-thumb

Graduated with honors

I was recently privileged to attend the High School Graduation ceremony for one of my neighbors. It was unique in my experience for two reasons:

1)It is the first time I’ve witnessed a homeschooling graduation ceremony
2)It is the only graduation ceremony I have attended in which no one suffered from heat exhaustion.

KaraGraduation1.jpg

Mind you, I’m not an expert in these matters. I nearly missed my own High School graduation over the trivial matter of a bounced check. I’m ashamed to admit that I skipped my favorite brother’s graduation from the College of Knowledge so I could pack up my dorm room, less than a quarter-mile from the stadium. My own subsequent graduation from that same College was marred by the lack of a single P.E. credit … they mailed me my diploma in the Fall, after I corrected that deficiency — who knew that 3 years in the Army didn’t count as physical exercise!

The young Lady who was honored last Sunday is a woman of considerable faith and purpose; she is widely admired throughout the area (I can safely use that particular phraseology because she is far from wide). Arriving late, as is our inimitable style, we were forced to stand (although ultimately we took refuge in the ‘crying room’ where we could view the ceremony through a large window and occasionally overhear it on an internal speaker). Many others had to stand, which proved to me once again that there is no great advantage in arriving on-time to such affairs. One of my friends from the Duckabush remarked to me later, “I knew I was late when I saw you going in ahead of me.” This is just one of the many benchmarking services our family provides, along with thresholds for behavior in Church, amount of food consumed at potluck dinners, and other important social boundaries. As my uncle Steve (no stranger to circular logic) always says at buffet-style meals, “We’d better get some food before the greedy people do!”

There were perhaps 130 people attending the event, which is a very good turnout considering that it was in celebration of a single graduate, not to mention our remote rural setting. Having watched the graduate grow into a young woman over the past 5 years, I was very pleased to see our community heaping honors on her family and joining with her in commemorating this first important transition to adulthood.

There being no lack of speakers at the event, I didn’t feel called to stand up and say a few words (especially inside the crying room); but here on this blog I enjoy the heady opportunity to freely declaim with no regard for the sensitivities (or interest) of my reader(s).

Although I intended to keep this blog entry anonymous, I am finding it awkward to refer to my subject as “my neighbor”, “the graduate”, “this young Lady”, etc. So (to preserve her from undue scrutiny) we will make up a pseudonym for her … let’s call her “Kara”.

KaraGraduation2.jpg

Once in a long while you meet someone who is truly exceptional, not in a single skill or characteristic, but across the board. Kara, due in no small part to the godliness and care of her parents, abounds in graciousness, kindness, integrity, joyfulness, patience, self-control, and above all, a servant heart. Her willingness to help and serve others is in some ways the defining mark of her character … she seems to really view herself as a “servant of God”.

Many teenagers are consumed with the desire to win the approval of their peers or flirt with sin … but Kara has been steadfast in her desire to win the approval of her God. She has consistently chosen to be pure in spite of considerable pressure to conform to the pattern of the world.

People like Kara are sometimes hard to understand for the rest of us, so I’ve compiled a list of ways to relate to them:

  • If you want to spend time with her, be needy. She can’t even begin to resist someone who requires help, and you can happily bask in her presence as long as you can maintain at least the appearance of your need. Be warned, however: people like Kara are in high demand, and others will greedily seek to poach her away.
  • If you need to talk about yourself, seek her out. She has time, interest and compassion for other people; indeed, getting her to talk about herself can be a major challenge.
  • If you want to hold her interest, talk about God. Kara is passionate about her Lord and will talk with you for hours about Him.
  • If you want to know the right thing to do, watch Kara. She has tremendous insight about the best way to please God and consistently makes good choices and models godly conduct.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m sure Kara has many of the same struggles with sin that plague the rest of us. She can probably be cranky and maybe even mean (although it is hard to imagine). But she seems to have reached a level of spiritual maturity far beyond her years, and she deserves to be honored if for no other reason that she freely acknowledges everything as a gift from God and gives glory to Him at every opportunity.

I’m really excited about what the future holds for Kara. As she herself said, “Many 18-year-olds have little idea what they will do next week, let alone next year.” (Some paraphrasing may have occurred.) But it is not hard to imagine her choosing a path to medical missions and becoming a loving wife and mother to some fortunate young man. As we drove home, I had a sudden vision of another ceremony, perhaps 70 or 80 years in the future, where crowds of people touched by her life gather to honor the home-going of a godly woman. I doubt I’ll still be around, but maybe one of my children can take pictures and write a blog entry or two commemorating a long life of service to our Lord.

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