love to paint

Curriculum is a very interesting thing.  There are companies that market and publish materials solely for public schools, some that do the same for private schools, some that do the same for homeschoolers.  There are also publishers that try to market and publish for more than one of the groups.  Then, there are also companies who get noticed by homeschoolers, but do not avail themselves of that market. Harcourt/Houghton Mifflin publishes the Saxon phonics and Saxon math curriculums.  These are used by public, private, and home schools.  Teacher's guides can be purchased for these curriculums by homeschoolers.  Their public school materials on the other hand (which I use and buy used via Amazon) are generally more expensive than other homeschool alternatives.  As a certified teacher, you can order curriculum from Harcourt and get the school price for the materials which is discounted from the regular price.  The same goes for Macmillan/McGraw-Hi...

A friend of mine asked me about health curriculum for homeschooling last night, so I thought I'd write this post.   I think that a lot of homeschoolers find themselves in the same pickle I've been in at times.  In covering all of the essentials, the extras like Health and Art (which are required in our state) sometimes seem like extra burdens.  I know this is why I use a textbook--it holds me accountable to the material.  I'm not as diligent with unit studies at this point in my life as I wish I was.  It is my weakness.  If I planned the units ahead of time during summer or winter break, I might have greater success though.  We all know ourselves.  This is something I've known about myself.   I'm a textbook kind of person at this point in my life so it's been  easier for me to use a health textbook. I did find one that I like a lot (and that my kids enjoy reading).  It's Harcourt Health and Fitness (grades K-6).  The K curr...

Preschool is a fun, informal time for me and my kids in their schooling.  I was like a lot of parents when Autumn was little.  I was so anxious to get started with her education.  My husband was anxious that I would be consistent with her schooling.  So, of course I did far more than I needed and pushed too hard.  But, I learned my lessons and Sami and Eli have had an easier time of it. I started with two questions. 1) What does my child need to learn? 2) What curriculum should I use? To answer #1, I found several assessment tools and a scope and sequence that really helped me know what my children needed to learn.  I like the World Book Scope and Sequence's preschool list.   World Book Preschool Scope and Sequence . Assessments Twice a year, I go through the list and put a date by the skills my child has learned. By   the end of preschool, they should be able to do all of the things on the list and be ready  for kindergarten. ...

I was going through some of the papers I'd saved from my classroom teaching last week and came across a paper with this quote: How We Learn 10% of what we READ 20% of what we HEAR 30% of what we SEE 50% of what we SEE and HEAR 70% of what is DISCUSSED with OTHERS 80% of what is EXPERIENCED PERSONALLY 95% of what we TEACH TO SOMEONE ELSE ~William Glasser I often will say that it is good for children to both hear something and see the text at the same time.  This is why.  This quote also reminds me of how important it is that we engage with our students and children about their schooling.  They are far more likely to remember what they've learned if we do.  It was a good reminder for me about how important it really is to engage with my children!

It was an interesting week for me.  I walked into it apprehensive with certain ideas about testing.  I walked out of it with very different ideas and comfortable administering standardized tests. I have not had an overly positive perspective of testing because of my public school teaching background. In the public schools, such huge importance is placed on the results of standardized tests.  Teachers are judged by them.  Students are judged by them.  Teachers can lose their jobs by them.  The problem though is that we are not all created the same.  God didn't make us all equals.   Our strengths are not identical!  So, how can all children be judged by the same measure?  Okay, now I'll get off my soap box.  Knowing that I'll feel this way, you'll probably be surprised to hear how my adventure in testing turned out this week. As this year was beginning, I thought about what I could contribute to the homeschool umbrella (oversight...

I suppose that's a very strange question to ask myself, but I started reading a book this morning that made me think about it.  I'm reading the fourth and final collection of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's letters.  The editor, one of her sons, writes of how she made carbon copies of everything she wrote, as did her husband.  She was a diligent record keeper.  I puzzled about this when I read his descriptions of her writing habits. I have only just begun to read the book and I am hoping that my understanding of her habits will grow as I read more of it.  But, I am very struck by the value she placed on her own thoughts and writings--and the value she assumed others would place on these writings. The other thought that struck me was how she talks about God.  Her statements remind me of how my own grandmother viewed God.  I do not get the sense yet that she had a relationship with God.  She tells her children Bible stories, identifies that ability we h...

Periodically, I think about facebook and miss knowing how people are (it's been 2 or 3 months since I deleted my account).  The reason it came to mind last week is that I realized I haven't seen pictures of our nieces and nephews for a while and I miss seeing how they're doing.  But, it came to mind this morning in light of one of the effects I started to see on my thinking the longer I'd been on facebook. I had a thought provoking conversation with a friend today at church.  My friend explained to me the reason why her husband didn't want their kids to have digital cameras yet.  He desires for his children not to live their lives through a camera.  I came home and discussed this with my husband.  He and I discussed the effect that constant picture taking can potentially have on one's life.  I don't have a name for this effect, but my husband articulated it this way.  He said our desire to take pictures can have several purposes.  One of th...

I heard this song a few days ago on Pandora and loved it.  One of the downsides of living in a society that has so much is that discontentment runs rampant and is quite contagious in our society.  I find myself fighting it regularly.  Recently my husband and I rewatched Office Space (which I don't recommend).  As with many movies, it was a lot worse than we remembered.  (Our memories had become selective about what we remembered from the movie.)  The plot centers around a group of employees who complain about where they work and don't like it--which is admittedly crummy.  Anyways, I heard this song and loved it.   I actually do thank God for parking places!  I love to thank God for the little things.  Often life is not the way I want to be, but I trust Him and His plans.  I hope this song will encourage you too. PS I did purchase this album via Amazon's MP3 download store and I like it a lot!

Several years ago, I bought a book at a garage sale titled Corduroy Writes a Letter.  We've read it many times over the past few years.  The plot of the book centers on Corduroy who writes several letters to people.  They listen and fix the broken sign, add more sprinkles back to the cupcakes, etc.   I'm one of those people that's a little like Corduroy.  If there's something I'm concerned about, then I write a letter to the editor about it.  If I buy something at the store that is bad, then I call the customer service line and let them know--I don't want anyone to get sick from something.  If something doesn't work, I call the customer service for the company and let them know.  I will say that I also call if something works really well!  I compliment employees and am glad to give praise.   So, when Autumn discovered that Dove chocolates didn't put sayings in their Valentine's candies, she was quite disappointed.  I encouraged ...