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Showing posts from April, 2014

Playing With PicMonkey

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A little out of the homeschool realm, and more in the blogging/birthday fun - I've been playing with PicMonkey the last couple of days and thought I'd throw in a share of some of Bug's birthday pictures from her party a week and a half ago. I can't believe how fast she is growing!

Update on Work Journals in the Homeschool Environment

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Well, I don't have a picture-packed post of the kiddos this time. In fact, I don't know that I have more than a small handful of pictures of what they have done. We have been very busy, though. It has been almost 2 months since I wrote my first post about using work journals in our home . In the last few weeks, we have seen the results of sticking with it and consistently keeping up with our new system. My little class of five - well, the three of them who are using the journals - are really blossoming under this system of accountability combined with work journals. So, although I didn't get to capture all the work we've been doing (because I have been so busy with them!), we have our journals as proof! I thought I would share a few progression pictures with you, to show the journey so far and where we have come from where we started. When we began, I gave them a few days just to write down what they were doing, and left them open-ended opportunities to choose wh

School Days Highlights

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I haven't taken as many pictures as I'd like the last couple of weeks, but here are a few that I managed to get during our work time.  Bug was intrigued by cleaning the brown stair one day, and decided she would clean each piece while putting it together.  She enjoyed it a little more than I expected. Here she is, checking her work a final time before putting it away. This is the history that LM is divulging herself in lately. I had the CD's, but they weren't captivating enough for our children for some reason. The books, though, are LM's current favorites to read. As of right now, she's made it through this one entirely, and is working on Volume 1 (kind of taking a step backwards, I guess :) ). Hoss is even enjoying reading more than he used to, which is good to see. He does still have a 'shut down' mode, however. When he *shuts down* he can read the words, have no comprehension whatsoever, and quickly gets frustrated. I have

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding

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We are headed a new direction with Science as of late. I will admit here - this is not a strong subject for me. It never was, and I was really unsure of where I wanted to go with it. I have tried several things, even going so far as to scour books, trying to make it interesting and exciting - I just don't have a brain geared for a love of Science. Nor a way to make it fun! I know how Montessori teaches Science, but don't have the manuals to do so. I was at a loss, but decided to look again in to a book recommended by MBT at What Did We Do All Day? - Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (henceforth known as BFSU), written by Bernard J Nebel. An excerpt from the Introduction: "In summary, this text is designed to: provide a steppingstone-like sequence of lessons that facilitates systematic building of concepts; maintain interest by centering lessons on what children regularly experience; engage children’s own thinking in reaching rational conclusio

Contemplating Art in our Montessori(ish) Path

I have been contemplating the addition of Art in our routine. I will admit this has not been a strong point. I love crafty things, and I am always amazed by those who have an artistic bent, I do not [insert long sigh]. My original plan this year was to rotate composers to give a little music appreciation - that fell through within a couple months. Now that the kids are finished with their state-mandated standardized testing, I am trying to get that out of my head for a little while, renew my thinking for the next few months, and working on *continually* adding to the education of my children.  I thought I would throw out some ideas, in hopes that maybe I could get some interesting input from any homeschooling (or even non-homeschooling) friends who might be keeping up with this blog.  I wanted to give a broader scope of 'art' than just the go-to painting that is so often seen. Considering the definition of art (especially def #4a), there is so much more to it than tha