In the Storm

our homeschool curriculum 2013-2014 | it's final

It's final.

We have solidified our homeschool curriculum for the 2013-2014 school year. John and Jarrod's 10th grade year. I am hyper-excited about this coming year and the curriculum we've choose and the homeschool co-op classes they are taking.

The List.

American History

American Literature

Bible

Biology

World Geography (Part II)

Latin I

Art 3-D

Algebra II

The Curriculum.

American History - Exploring America: History, Literature, and Faith--Curriculum Package, Second Edition by Ray Notgrass

This is a homeschool cooperative class. They'll meet with their teacher, who is a government and history fanatic, on Friday's and work through the lessons they accomplished through the rest of the week.

We will be supplementing this curriculum with History Speaks: Declaration of Independence, Signers: Stories behind the Declaration of Independence, Scholastic Encyclopedia of Presidents and their times, and Drive Thru American History

American Literature - Exploring America: History, Literature, and Faith--Curriculum Package, Second Edition

We'll be using the same curriculum for American Literature as we are for American History. The difference is we will be doing American Literature at home only. Because the classics and novels we'll be reading for American Literature are intertwined within their American History lessons John and Jarrod will be doubly rewarded. We will read all of the books aloud because the boys have been learning best and retaining what I've read this way, from the beginning. We will be reading:

• The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
• Calico Bush (Rachel Field)
• Narrative of the Life of David Crockett (David Crockett)
• Possibly a James Fenimore Cooper novel
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Frederick Douglass)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
• Co. Aytch (Sam Watkins)
• Across Five Aprils (Irene Hunt)
• Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
• Humorous Stories and Sketches (Mark Twain)
• In His Steps (Charles Sheldon)
• Up From Slavery (Booker T. Washington)
• Mama's Bank Account (Kathryn Forbes)
• Christy (Catherine Marshall)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mildred Taylor)
• The Giver (Lois Lowry)

At this time I know they will complete a full study guide for The Scarlet Letter and To Kill a Mockingbird but otherwise I haven't developed the class syllabus and assignments yet. I'll be working on that over the coming months. But, will probably use most of the suggestions from the curriculum.

Bible - This is another homeschool co-op class that I've signed the boys up. While it is a co-op class my plan is to learn along with them. This is the excerpt from our homeschool's course description about the class: Students will dive into Scripture and study God's Word manifested in three very different, yet very relatable persons: David, John, and Paul. We will learn about the cultures as well as the context surrounding the Scripture God inspired through these individuals and how it applies to our lives today. Students will come out of this class with a greater understanding of the books of Psalms, John, and Paul's many letters in the New Testament. Students will have various creative writing assignments as well as Bible-study like reading comprehension homework. They will also be responsible for memorizing the book of James throughout the term of the class.

My favorite part is the last part: They'll be memorizing the book of James throughout the year. Yep! the entire book of James.

Biology - Exploring Creation with Biology by Apologia

We absolutely love Apologia sciences curriculum. As far as I'm concerned, and probably ever homeschool family I've met over the last couple years, there is no substitute. We will, however, diverge from Apologia next year so the boys' can take my Meteorology class.

World Geography (Part II) - Around the World in 180 Days As I've mentioned in other posts we are continuing our World Geography tour for a second year and should be able to complete our study of the remaining continents. We'll have completed Africa, Australia, and Antarctica (at the very least) by the end of 9th Grade and then would only have the remaining 4 continents.By the end of 10th Grade they will have completed Bible/World History, American History, and World Geography. We will probably do a U.S. Geography and a Government class before they finish out high school.

Latin I - Technically, the boys have completed their high school requirements for languages with their Spanish I and Spanish II classes, but we've decided to give them some Latin background as well. This will benefit them in their science classes as well as learning vocabulary. It is not an overwhelming curriculum but I am planning daily exercises in Latin. We will be using Latina Christiana 1 & 2: Intro to Christian Latin, Student Bk, 3rd Ed.

Art - 3D Design - This is another homeschool cooperative class. I have to allow the boys a class that they really enjoy and art is one of those avenues. The classes description is: create 3D projects using polymer clay, wood, wire, foam and found objects. Projects will include character models and sculptures.

and last but not least,

Algebra II - Saxon Algebra II. We are continuing with the Saxon curriculum and finally have figured out the best way the boys are learning - we divide each lesson into two lessons. Because there are always more than 30 problems for every lesson we have divided each lesson up and the boys are getting along with Algebra I so much the better. So, our plan is to continue that with Algebra II. This means it will take from August - June to complete but we hold homeschool pretty much year round (except for 1 month in July and holiday breaks). We have also purchased the DIVE DVD associated with Algebra II which goes over the lesson each day - a must for Algebra, a necessity for Algebra II.

And that is as they say is that!

Whew! I'm exhausted. And 10th Grade hasn't even begun yet.

four degrees of randomness.

1) My knee hurt really bad today at co-op; to the point that I was in tears from the pain. I was limping and the Naproxn I took wasn't touching the swelling. We have a nurse practitioner that is a homeschool mom and she set me up with an ice pack. And she was gentle, and kind, and it really touched my heart.

2) There really are people in this world who are just kind people. They love Christ so much and want to reflect Him that they truly act as he would act. I gravitate to these people. I want to be around them. I want their kindness to rub off on me so I will be an example too. These people act like you are an amazing person and they build you up without even knowing it.

3) I have a scrapbook studio that is a mess (see previous post). I have a weekend of no plans but church and bible study and cleaning my studio.

4) Just like last year I am already excited for this coming homeschool year. I am excited because I will be learning some great stuff along with John and Jarrod. I will be reading some amazing books along with John and Jarrod. We will be learning about our American History together. I truly believe my sons have learned so much more since we've been homeschooling than they ever would have otherwise. I think it is partly my investment into their learning. When you are responsible for your childrens education your time and energies and willingness to give grows exponentially. 10th Grade is going to be a great year.

around here.

around here. A messy studio that desperately needs cleaning and organizing. I really can't create anything traditional with my studio as is. Any creating is on the computer and right now I'm in the mood to create with my hands.

I made a new recipe this past week (recipe coming!) - Stromboli's!!! So simple; but man, they were good.

Last night we had to hit the drive thru window at Sonic's. Busy all day with studying for exams today, packing for campout this weekend with the Boy Scouts and then both boys had to go to Food Lion and purchase food for their Troop for the weekend. It is really funny, the mind of young boys when it comes to food shopping.

This week I've been organizing, labeling, and planning all surrounding Literature. Their current binders got labeled more specifically which I mimicked for next years American History. I've planned out the remaining books for this year and made files for next years books; labeled and aligned in the order we'll cover them. I'm extremely pleased with how American Literature is coming along. I will continue to find Study Guides and Lesson Plans for each of the books we'll read next year and I hope to have the entire year planned. 

The boys always lay out their camping gear on the living room floor so they can see if they are forgetting anything. They will have to ride up tonight with the remainder of the troop and Jeff is going to have to head up in the morning because of work issues.

Our curriculum for the 2013-2014 year is almost all here. We got their American History/Literature in the mail this week. We're waiting on some supplemental materials for History and then we should be done purchasing curriculum.

It's been a busy week! My goal this weekend is to tackle that studio. Jeff is building a set of bookshelves for books really because we have a bunch of books in the attic that need to be accessible to John and Jarrod for school. The shelves aren't for my studio but I really need to organize, purge, and clean so I can create. I'm in a slump! I need out of the slump.

52gratitudes | 12

The picture associated with my gratitude is the homeschool curriculum Around the World in 180 Days, a World Geography curriculum by Apologia.  We began using this wonderful curriculum at the beginning of the boys' 9th Grade year with the expressed plan of making this a two-year instead of a one-year course. Before the end of the year I we'll have completed the continents of Africa, Australia, and Antarctica at a minimum.

With most things the down-side to this curriculum is that I had to develop a syllabus, or lesson plans. These have worked out beautifully! If we take a week off Geography I just begin where we left off. We have checked out books from the library that I have added to their studies as well. For instance, recently I checked out two books on Australia, at two different times and each time I developed chapter study questions. Besides, this curriculum these in-depth studies offered even more knowledge of Australia, its interworkings and even alliances with other countries and why.

For their 10th Grade year, besides their Amercian History they will work on World Geography and the remaining continents. If for some reason their homeschool co-op workload is particularly heavy, we may need to spread World Geography into their 11th Grade year. And, surprisingly, I do not even have a problem with that. I know they are being awarded with exceptional knowledge of the continents and peoples of this world.

I hope to share all of my Sons of Thunder Academy curriculum for their 10th Grade year soon. And I thank God for the resources he provides to allow us to homeschool.

march | currents

currently...

wearing my purple pajama set

drinking coffee with french vanilla creamer

reading J.D. Robb's Stranger in Death for the umpteenth time; and the Hobbit outloud to John and Jarrod

working on Meteorology LAB #12 Analyzing Weather Fronts for my Meteorology class

simplifying my digital scrapbooking folders

seeing another family camping trip in our future

looking ahead to a weekend of just me

studying No Other Gods by Kelly Minter with two awesome ladies; we are going to tackle Made to Crave next.

needing to go for a walk

wishing my knee pains would miraculously go away

eating Mojo Fajitas for dinner - yum!

listening to John and Jarrod chat about Algebra 1, amidst discussions about LEGO wars and the like

getting excited for the new book shelf Jeff has begun building for the den

planning on heading for the attic and searching out books for the boys' homeschool shelf to fill it; making accessibility easy.

watching the end of the fifth season of Stargate SG-1 - again. We love Stargate and Stargate Atlantis enought that at any given time we are probably watching one of them amidst other things - like Emergency Season 1 and 2 that we checked out from the library. Remember Emergency from the early 70's.

solidifying the boys' 10th Grade homeschool classes and curriculum.

organizing my studio/den.

purging as I go.

thinking I'd like to get my hair cut but absolutely don't want to spend the money.

creating a two-page layout for my High Falls State Park album

loving all the amazing inspiration that I find on blogs from Project Lifers, and scrapbookers.

 

 

 

 

52lists | week 10

Week 10 of my 52 Lists project led by Moorea-Seal and I still love this so. It is an amazing exercise into my world, into me - who I am.

Spring is on its way. With some bumps of winter still holding on for dear life, I guess I am looking forward to spring - all but the heat that comes with the season. But, the 'throwing open the windows' and enjoying the cool breeze kind of days are my kind of spring. And the colors that begin to turn from dingy gray to bright yellows and oranges and reads. Unfortunately, we'll lose the blue, blue skies that winter shares after a cold front passes through and dries out the skies. Instead, thunderstorms with color the skies. Ok. you got me there. I'll take the thunderstorms that bring the spring rains and nourish the drying earth back to life along with newly planted gardens.

So I joined in to celebrate spring with a much-needed cleansing, to welcome spring. And to meet a challenge which won't be easy - the cleaning my scraproom part.

project life | week 11

Week 11 of Project Life and I absolutely love this project. I am recording our life - one week at a time. (Please note I fixed the left side of the page; see below)

In a recent post, 10 scrapbooking techniques that have caught my eye, I mentioned how much I loved this advertisement from Big Picture Scrapbooking, or something to that effect, and thought it would be a great layout for Project Life.

I think I'm still going to plan to do a brighter page at some point but I found a set of freebie journal cards by Kimberly Kalil in the muted tones of gold, orange, pink, and brown and thought they'd serve nicely for this weeks Project Life and then at a later time I'd go bold.

Using a Cathy Zielske' Tiny Template No.1 I created a bunch of individual photo + story 3 x4 cards of our week and inserted them into Project Life Template F. And I absolutely love how they turned out!

I was very purposeful about taking lots of photos this week and we had a bunch of individual stories to tell so I went with it! I even took pictures of most of our meals for the week.

I wouldn't go so far as to say this is my most favorite week of Project Life so far, but it is definitely in the top 5. I am sure I will use this technique again. It took some time picking out the pictures I needed - key here was that I had alot to choose from; Then it took the most time creating the individual 3x4 cards using Cathy Z's templates. Once I had the system down it was ok - but still took a couple of hours.

Then, I loaded them all up into the Project Life template in a semi-uniform order, but not really perfect either. And, you know what? I just realized I've got one picture of one of my boys. But, at least there are a few stories of them intermingleded within the pages.

Just a really fun Project Life week.

****Edited Post**** I just realized I have two of the same picture!!! Gasp! Gonna' have to fix that! Fixed

hello monday | and busy week

last week I blew up at my son (he yelled at me) and I threatened to send him back to public school; and spoke harshly; and we made each other cry with our very nasty attitudes. my other son wanted peace in our home. thus, the chalkboard drawing. he made one for john too. it made me smile. john and i apologized to each other and we shared peace in our home the rest of the day.

hello monday.

hello to a busy week of homeschool - and looking forward to spring break the next week.

hello to another boy scout campout and girl-home-alone

hello to cleaning my scraproom

hello to bringing in fresh flowers

hello to repotting, planting basil and thyme, and dill, and maybe a tomato plant

hello to moving more

hello to mojo fajitas, baked pesto chicken, and homemade chicken noodle soup which I haven't made in probably a year, and stromboli's.

hello to re-visiting old blog posts and shedding tears

hello to planning blog posts, creating my meteorology book, de-cluttering small spaces

hello to an empty bill basket (I purged and filed and organized yesterday) and tax preparation complete

hello monday. I love beginnings, new weeks - such opportunity, such anticipation.

 

linking with lisa.

today.

today we slept in until 8 am. I was amazing sleeping weather.

today there is a cool breeze blowing through the house. So, we threw open all the windows and while we have clear skies and the temperature is creeping up nicely, there's a cool breeze to off set the heat.

today we went to Red Wing and bought Hoosier Man a pair of much-needed work boots. In the past years we've bought Birkenstocks boots but the specific boot we've gotten him they no longer carry - or make for that matter so last year he had to settle for a pair from Bass Pro and was never really happen with them and they never really held up well either. So this year we decided on Red Wing because we've always had longevity with their products - just very well-made, high quality footwear. Score! Hoosier Man is really happy with his steel-toed, water resistant, water proof, super comfortable, and nice-looking work boot.

today we went to the commissary for this weeks groceries and was able to stock up on somethings we often use that were on super-sale, and/or coupons. We did good!

today we made two - count 'em - two dutch oven's full of sausage, vegetable, noodle soup. One to eat for dinner tonight and one to take to a friend who is laid up with back pains and husband is deployed and has three kids.

today we made two loves of homemade bread. One to eat for dinner and one to share.

today the boys and Jeff are outside putting up the tent and laying out the tarps from our recent campout and getting them all cleaned up for our next campout.

today I will lead a bible study at church for ladies. And, Jeff will serve in the children's ministry (K-5) as a sheriff. And, John and Jarrod will walk the churches lake perimeter and enjoy each other.

today we will all attend church service together at Savannah Christian Church

today my knee is throbbing.

today we are washing clothes and putting them away.

today we spent $120+ on filling our van with gas. Yikes!

today God provided the funds for the gas, the boots, and the groceries.

today John and Jarrod walked their fastest time so far and set the standard for a new and improved - moving more regimen - they just don't know it yet (hee hee)

today in my Bible study lesson I was reminded that God is incomparable. He is the Great I AM. He is unchangeable. He is my Strength and Sustainer.

right now.

right now...

It's 12:15 a.m. and I can't sleep. It just isn't good when that happens. I toss and turn, not necessarily thinking about anything, but just tossing and turning. I guess I do worry I'm going to wake Jeff with all my tossing and turning. I itch. And scratch. And then I itch some more because I scratch. By morning I'll have scratches on my legs, in particular, where I've scratched the skin raw.

So right now I'm awake. I decided to come into my studio to do some mindless game playing in the hopes of falling asleep. It hasn't happened yet. So I decided to finish a scrapbook page I began creating earlier today, but left it uninspired.

At least now I'm inspired. I'd planned on making this a two-page layout but then when I began adding photos and embellishments I decided enough was enough. I used some of the amazing washi tape - which I just can't see going out of style any time soon. Journaled. Photos. And called it good.

right now...I'm off to bed. Goodnight - or is it good morning?