Curriculum Roundup: Wordly Wise 3000

I have to say I am pretty impressed with myself (polishes fingernails) with the curriculum that I chose this year.  Of course, I have had most of it nailed down, but I couldn't quite find a really good literature that I liked.  As I was plotting out my week, I thought I would share some of what I have pieced together.

 I was specifically looking for a really good vocabulary program because I remember from my own experience about the testing that will be coming our way very soon (PSAT and SAT).

I remember way back when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth  when I was in high school, my tenth grade English teacher told us all if we made a certain score (above his own score) on the English portion of the SATs, then he would automatically give us an A in his class.  He proceeded to gruelingly test our vocabulary skills every week.

Wordly Wise 3000, while certainly not as snazzy a dresser as Mr. Scott, it does churn out a good word list!  I can really tell that it is building on my child's vocabulary because in conversation on numerous occasions, she will point out that I used one of her vocabulary words.  

It comes with only 20 lessons, so doing one lesson a week, does not quite stretch out to an entire year. I realized a little late (but I guess that's better than never, huh?) that I could marry her vocabulary with cursive writing practice.

As most homeschoolers are aware, cursive writing has become almost non-existent in public schools. Charlotte had a cursory introduction to it while she was still in public schools, and I have not worked it in as much as I would have liked.  In addition, there was one thing one of my college professors taught me that stuck with me:  when you write something down, you remember!  That particular professor actually taught me how to study for a test, and it involved rewriting my notes. Every time I have tried to pass this along to Charlotte, she sees it as some form of archaic punishment.

However, cursive practice doesn't count as punishment, I guess.  (so I can sneak it in, shhh!)

There is this awesome website where you can type in what you want them to practice, and print out an example of the text in cursive along with lined paper to practice.  

It is awesome!  I have used this time and again.  At first, I printed off Bible verses, but I have also used this for my four year old.  You can turn the paper landscape and do print writing practice.  You can also just print out blank lined pages which I did for a while when I could not find a Kindergarten writing tablet in stores.

(She's still a little iffy on the lines,and on Ws for that matter.)

I know, I know, you are all waiting to see if I got that easy A!  While Mr. Scott was really impressed with the score I got prior to even entering his class, I had to earn my A the hard way by acing most of those grueling tests!

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My Two Cents on Homeschool Curriculum: Sensory Buckets

You can find Sensory Buckets or Sensory Bins all over Pinterest.  I was particularly interested in the pirate themed ones, so I ordered some water beads, and I was on my way!  We don't really have any pirates, but we do have an assortment of action figures (mainly Daniel Tiger) that worked just fine. The purpose is to drive imaginative play, which is particularly useful when you have other students who require your attention.

We made one "water" sensory bin.  I just took the beads and put them in water so that they could expand.  These beads are actually made for floral arrangements, so I suppose you could recycle them after you are done with your sensory bin.  Anyhoo, the next day we were all set with the addition of an assortment of action figures.  

After a few weeks of the water bin, I decided to change it out.  For this one, I got a couple of bags of dry beans.  I added to it some magnetic letters and numbers and gave Emma a dry erase board with the letters and numbers on it.  She could then pick out letters with a set of big plastic tweezers I got out of her Playdoh sets and match them up with the letter board.

• The Good:  These are very simple to make, there are endless possibilities, and they do provide hours of entertainment.
• The Bad:  This is very messy.  Maybe this is just my personality, but the beads, in particular, can be squished and let's not kid ourselves, they do NOT stay in the bucket, unless you put these in a kiddy pool outside, in which case, you would need a ton of beads!
• The Ugly:  Seriously, I was vacuuming up beans 6 months later.  If you are even a little bit of a neat freak, skip this exercise in insanity.  I saved bags of these beads and beans to take out later and see if I warmed up to them, and let me tell you, there will never be a time when I will hate them less!

Here is an alternative, that I found kept my three year old just as busy:

You may remember when we set up the classroom and made a good old-fashioned blackboard.  If you happen to have a chalkboard at home and a little one who likes to paint, set them loose with a paint brush and a bucket of water.  They can "paint" to their heart's content, and clean your board at the same time.  And if you don't happen to have a chalkboard, I have also seen this done with construction paper.  ;-)

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Photo-Scavenger Hunt at the Zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday with our local home school group.  If you live in NC, the zoo offers a free trip to the students in your home school family (this excludes preschool age children) and one adult once a year.  Our home school group came up with a little list of pics to take, and I thought, "What a neat idea!"  It's kind of like a scavenger hunt, but what you are looking for is opportunities to snap some funny photos.  We got some good ones too!

If you want to try this out, here is our list and some examples (tee hee):

1.  Picture trying to lick the inside of your nose with a giraffe in the background.

2.  Giraffe licking the inside of his nose.

3.  Three animals together

4.  Someone with a crying kid

5.  Kid doing something crazy at the playground or on a statue.

6.  White Bengal Tiger

7.  A REALLY Ugly Animal

8.  Close up of a snake

9.  Looking like an animal is chasing you

10.  Looking like one of the animals (real or statue) ate one of your body parts

11.  Imitating a chimpanzee

12.  Picture with volunteer

13.  Bird sitting on you or near you

14.  Picture with animal hats or puppets in the gift shop

15.  On the train

16.  Picture with polar bear swimming behind you

17.  You in the photo in front of a monkey

18.  Making fishy faces by the fish tank

Considering that my kids couldn't scavenge their collective way out of a paper bag, I would have to say this scavenger hunt was pretty awesome!

My Two Cents on Homeschool Curriculum: Bible Roadtrip

It is that time of year again.  We are nearing the end of our school year.  EOGs have been taken and my curriculum choices for this year have been fleshed out and made to work, but some have decidedly not made the cut for next year.  I thought that it would be a good time to share how we did with some of my choices as well as how we did with some pleasant surprises.

First stop, one very pleasant surprise, Bible Roadtrip!  Halfway through the year, as I was just figuring out what was working and what was not, I came across Bible Roadtrip on Pinterest.  It is a daily study, organized by week, that takes three years to complete, and it is very well thought out.

This is the link for the first year. 

I pinned this link, so that I could easily retrieve it.  When you visit this page, you will find it organized by week.  You have a link to an outline for that week with reading, review questions, activities, and bonus corresponding resources.  Then, you also have a weeks worth of notebooking pages.  All of these are organized by grade level, so you can choose which one you need to print out for your child's age level.

One of the first activities we did was to make a chart to record our roadtrip.  With a poster board, a paper bag and some scrapbook paper, we are cataloging the books that we have read in our bible library:

I like unit studies or basically, anything that kills two birds with one stone.  We also like making posters as you may remember from this post, so we took up the early challenge to make a Days of Creation poster:

So mostly, so far, this resource is free.  I was so happy with how comprehensive this study was on its own, I began to order the additional recommended resources.  They are different per grade level, but here is what you can expect.

Buck Denver:

The creator of Veggietales also created "What's in the Bible? with Buck Denver."  These are a little pricey.  I only ordered volume one at first, so you can probably tell my two cents on this one.  I don't usually like muppets at all, but even I liked these.  They are very informational, and both my twelve year old and my three year old enjoy them.  You can also rent them on Amazon, but I thought that the better deal was actually to buy them because I could tell that we would watch them again and again--and we have.  

God's Special Tent:

When we were nearing the end of our Days of Creation poster, I realized that in the upcoming weeks the Tabernacle would be a good art focus, but it seemed very overwhelming.  Though we have not started a model Tabernacle yet, this book seems to really break it down and even comes with some pages to make a paper model.  However, it is probably for a younger age group than my 6th grader who is about to graduate to the next level in Bible Roadtrip.

What the Bible Is All About: for Young Explorers and What the Bible Is All About: Reproducible Maps, Charts, Timelines & Illustrations:

These are somewhat interchangeable.  I would only buy one and probably the maps, charts, etc.  At first, I tried to photocopy the pages, but I couldn't get a good copy.  The pages are actually perforated, though, so you can take them out of the book, which is what I ended up doing.  For each week of reading, there is a synopsis.  In What the Bible is All About: for Young Explorers, there are illustrations almost like a comic strip to tell you what happens, which may be why I prefer the other. (Comic strips aren't my favorite.)  Reproducible Maps, Charts, Timelines & Illustrations has (as you can imagine) maps that I think are pretty helpful and charts, in addition to the synopsis.  For example, one chart outlines Jacob's wives and the children he had by each, including the two sons he adopted from Joseph that would become the twelve tribes of Israel.  These are great, great resources, but you really only need one.  In fact, the pictures look alarmingly similar and I think they are put out by the same people.

Window on the World:

Window on the World is where Bible Roadtrip takes another side excursion (unit study) to geography. One of my big realizations this year has been how little geography is taught in public schools.  In trying to get Charlotte up to speed, this has been really helpful.  There is a different focus every week. You learn about a different culture through a personal story, facts about the region, and the predominant religion there, and it gives you suggestions on how you can pray for the different people groups there.  There is a specific notebook page that corresponds with this book throughout all the grade levels, but if you did not want to bring this in to your study, you could just omit that one notebook page.

Tirzah:

Lastly, there are a number of historical fiction titles that are recommended reading.  I look forward to reading this one with Charlotte.  It is the story of the exodus told through the eyes of a preteen.  I thought how perfect this will be for getting us thinking about what it was like.  I guess I will just have to let you know...

Bible Roadtrip was hands down my success story from this school year.  In the coming weeks, I will review some of the other curriculum we used that passed and some that failed.

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Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen

With graduation time soon to be upon us, it dawned on me that the lyrics to the now "retro" and "old-school" Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen are just as meaningful today as they were when the song was originally released . . . in the 1990's.

As a refresher for those of you who are struggling to recall this gem, the Sunscreen Song as it came to be known was concocted by Baz Luhrmann and features the text of an essay written by Mary Schmich. That same text is often erroneously attributed to Kurt Vonnegut. (Just ask Ryan Barrett Walkush who wrote the lyrics to the Sunscreen Song!)

So, if you have an soon to be graduate in your life, perhaps you should consider hooking him or her up with this advice straight 1990's style or maybe even dust off the YouTube video (linked below). It's still solid advice today (just look at all the Harris Sisters posts I was able to link to the lyrics!):

Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99:

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be 

it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by 

scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable 

than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not 

understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. 

But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and 

recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before 

you and how fabulous you really looked….You are not as fat as you 

imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as 

effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing 

bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that 

never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm 

on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts; don’t put up with 

people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes 

you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with 

yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive; forget the insults. If you 

succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters; throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your 

life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they 

wanted to do with their lives; some of the most interesting 40-year-olds
I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe 

you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky 

chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…whatever you do, don’t 

congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your 

choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. 

Enjoy your body; use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people 

think of it; it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the 

people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you 

should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and 

lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you 

knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live 

in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will rise, politicians will 

philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize 

that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were 

noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, 

maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one 

might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will 

look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who 

supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of 

fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the 

ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen…

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English

Wait . . . what? Isn't that subjective? I suppose it is. 

THIS list, however, was compiled by Robert Beard, who has been making dictionaries, creating word lists, and writing poetry for more than 40 years. 

For five years, he wrote the Word of the Day at yourDictionary.com. Since 2004, he has written 1,500 words in the series. 

Below is a list of his favorite words and their definitions—and now that you have them, you can use them every day (they're very schmancy you know).

Please note, there's not a YOLO or an epic in the bunch . . . or fetch (stop trying to make fetch happen - it's not going to happen).


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Double Duty Fridge

Not too long ago, I discovered that one of Emma's favorite books had been the unfortunate recipient of some renegade rainwater.  It had such wonderful illustrations, we couldn't bare to part with it, so I carefully cut out what I could salvage and adhered them to magnets also cut to size.

Now Emma can put the story in order right on the refrigerator.  That was, after all, one of my favorite preschool past times.

I actually got the idea over Christmas when I had some nativity cutouts in the Christmas curriculum we used, so I went ahead and made those too!

Then, today I came across this awesome little article over on For the Family.  There were some really good ideas on how to incorporate prayer into a busy busy life.  The one that I was immediately drawn to was a prayer board.  They found the idea on Pinterest which I do use every now and then. However, I have taken note that some people feel this way about the Pinterest:

and I completely understand the sentiment.  The prayer board from Pinterest was beautiful and even the lady endorsing it said that she had not constructed hers yet, so I give to you my prayer board:

Note:  this is the side of my fridge.  (the one without the storyboard and nativity magnets)  I simply raided Emma's letter magnets, (and thankfully found the right ones) moved my calendar and weekly DG coupon over, and Voila!  (and, yes, that is binoculars hanging by my front door--you never know when you may need to scout something out!)  So, the general idea is to add prayer requests as you get them, and then, whenever you pray together as a family, say before meals, you have them handy.

Pinterest is a great tool.  I think people get sucked in to the "Keeping up with the Jones'" complex.  I see it, rather, as a jumping off point.  I usually just visit if I am already scouting something out, and while I do love a good craft project, I am also continuously on a minimizing mission in my house, so great ideas are always welcome, extra "stuff"-- not so much.

A Better Chalkboard and a Toy "Box"

Here are some of my latest "craft projects."  When I was making my big chalkboard for the schoolroom, I had this picture frame that is kind of an odd shape, so I decided that it, too, would make a good chalkboard to post little stuff--the date, reminders, menus, etc.  (As you can see, crafts aren't the only thing going on at my house: soup + jello= sicky!)

The first coat of chalkboard paint was the same as what I used for the biggin'.  I rolled it directly onto the glass, but I didn't have quite enough.  A few weeks passed, and I finally, made it to the store to get some spray paint to finish the job.  I spritzed on another couple of coats and let it dry for probably a day.  I conditioned it by rubbing the entire surface with the side of a piece of chalk and then, wiped it with a wet rag.  I gotta say, this one seems like it did better than the other.  As you can see, it remains a little chalky, but the color of this one stayed black whereas the other one faded pretty fast.  

Craft project numero dos didn't really require a lot of craftiness, just a Howard that would hang this for me. This is an old coke crate that I recently acquired from a flea market in Nashville.  They are pretty popular now, so you can probably find them pretty easily.  I scouted this one out specifically for this little project. Emma Lola loves her some tiny toys, and I thought this would be a unique way to show them off.  You could also paint the interior, if you are feeling particularly crafty, but I like the rustic look, too.

You could do this for any number of collectibles.  I could even house perfume bottles in it, if I had enough wall space in my bathroom.  Since I have so much room on this particular wall, I may just add a few more boxes and see if I have enough tiny toys to go around.  

We actually placed it at her height, too, so she can still get to them.  We just made sure that we secured it really well.

And, here is the operations center to our home school (and home too, for that matter).  I got these cool vintage maps that double as shades in our sunroom with Charlotte in mind, and I finally broke down and bought a printer.  I'm not the biggest fan of technology (and printers are the devil), but this puppy really has come in handy, and it has a copier on it too, so I guess you could call it a necessary evil.

Reading List: Oldies but Goodies

When Charlotte inspected the school room, she was all too happy to find these gems:

These were books that I remembered reading when I was a kid.  I find that those are the best to recommend for your own children.  The Ghosts of Departure Point was one that Deanna had that I always longingly eyeballed, so I easily remembered this one.  Then my memory got a little foggy until I discovered this radical website that lists a ton of 80s chapter books.  Most of them were a part of a series.  I distinctly remember The Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley High books, but they even had Bad News Ballet which was the one on the tip of my brain that I couldn't quite remember. Needless to say, I was stoked!

And here are some that I happened upon at a flea market.  Remember those covers--so iconic!

Though I did fall in love with Magic Treehouse books and anything Mary Downing Hahn. They weren't around back in the 80s, but still Totally Awesome.

 

I also always loved Choose Your Own Adventure Books growing up.  This was the copy we retained in the Harris library.

You see, that cool androgynous character on the front is you!  As you read through the book, you (the reader) are faced with certain decisions that change the outcome of the story, so there are all kinds of endings in one book.

Lastly, I have to say one of my all time favorites, even now, is The Tales of Mr. Pengachoosa.  This one is not a chapter book, but a collection of  clever short stories, each one with a twist.

Needless to say my Amazon wishlist is filling up quickly!  

I signed us up a little while back for the Pizza Hut Book It Program.

Remember these? I think schools are geared more toward AR now, but if you are a Homeschool, you can still sign up for the Book It Program through September. I look forward to snuggling up with Charlotte and taking a few trips down memory lane this year and getting some pizza while we're at it!

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Homeschool: Organization and Printables

Welcome to our school room!

This week, I added the final touches to our school room. I went to Lowes in search of peg board and found some large sheets for $17!!! That was too much for me, as I only needed a small size to fit in my little space. Then, just as I was about to leave, I spotted this one. It is 4 ft and only 6 bucks. Perfecto!

In the section for organizing garages at the Lowes, they have these hooks that fit into peg board which I bought to hang my clipboards. (I actually found those first, and almost put them back before I spied the smaller pegboard that I wanted.) They are not very long, and they are sold in a pack of 4. I also got that cool little basket under my Welcome sign in the same place.

Because we have absolutely no studs in our walls at all, Howard first attached a 2x4 behind the pegboard on both ends and then attached the pegboard to it. This is a good solution anyway. Otherwise, the board would be too close to the wall to put hooks into it.

I  bought the clipboards at Walmart. Note, for this project you must use the old school clipboards with the metal clips, if you use the hooks from Lowes. I had to look on the school aisle at Walmart--not the back to school aisle--because the clipboards there only have a tiny pull out hole to hang it by.

I thought clipboards would be ideal for keeping up with all the daily stuff we need to keep track of.  Here are the majorly important stuff on mine (so far):

1. Attendance--Here is the link for the one I have.  You have to have a record of attendance here in NC, and this is the recommended one. 
2. Daily Planner--It would be a shame not to buy any school supplies at all. I bought mine at Walmart.
3. Phys. Ed. Planner--This is a nifty little free printable I came across.  Exercise is not my strong suit, so I will take all the help I can get. I also found this website with some pretty cool PE ideas and free printables like coloring sheets and word finds.
4. 31 Days of Praying Over Your Homeschool--I found this awesome printable over at Bible Based Homeschooling, and now, I can keep it at my fingertips.

I only started out with the four clipboards, but I have plenty of room to add more.  For example, I know I will be needing a reading log as we are already signed up for Bookit.  For now, on the other end of my board, I covered it with a solid color wrapping paper and a border from none other than the DG!

Not bad for the DG.  In fact, they have a whole little section for school room set ups. I also got this dry erase Daily Activity Poster:

I hung every Carson Dellosa poster I had (Thank you, Donna) at Emma Lola height:

And created a reading nook with a bean bag chair and a well-place poster: