Story of the World Notebook

Recently I have received several questions about the history notebook I make for princess. So I thought that I would explain it in a post here as I hope that it will help many of you.


I prefer to make up our notebook ahead of time. I usually print out half a year at a time and bind it together because the whole year at once gets pretty thick :). Princess always makes her own cover as she likes to do that.
This year we bound our notebook at the top by punching two holes and inserting brad fastners, which I recommend that you tape in the back or they will pull out.


As for what's inside, I start with the notebook pages that I create.
I print one template for each chapter. Then as we read a section we add to our chapter notebook page. Sometimes princess will draw a picutre, sometimes not. Somedays I will have her copy her narration onto the page herself, sometimes I will write it for her depending on how much writing she has already done that day.



Next I add the coloring pages and the maps from the activity guide. I purchased the activity sheets as a pdf from Peace Hill Press halfway through the year, so it's been really easy to print them up and add them to the notebook. Next year, I will just copy them from the activity guide.


Then I add her copywork sheets.
I absolutely love Zane-Blouser website because you can make customized copywork sheets for free (just click on the get started button). So I take the list of copywork sentences I have, enter them in and print them out. I then put these sheets in her notebook.


Finally I add the project pages that I have created.
I count up the number of projects we have planned and print out that number of pages. Then put them in the back of her notebook.


For me I find it easier to have sections for each catagory (ie. notebook pages, maps and so on), but you could certainly arrange your notebook by SOTW chapter. It take quite a bit of effort on my part, but it makes our days go so much smoother. Princess really loves looking back at what we have studied and I'm grateful that I don't have to constantly keep track of papers to hole punch and put in her notebook. So there you have it, our SOTW notebooks.


ETA: All the pages (with the exception of the AG pages) and my plans are available for free here and at my yahoo group (link in the side bar).

Next Year Plans

I know, you're thinking, ALREADY???? One of the benefits (or downsides depending on how you look at it) of living overseas is that it costs alot to ship books, so if someone is coming to visit and they are willing to bring books, you jump on the opportunity! Our friends are coming in January, so that means that get a whole six months with my new stuff before I actually get to use it! It also means that I will have lots of time to become familiar with the material and have time to plan out next year before the baby comes. Because of the holiday mailing season I decided to order now to make sure they receive it before they leave. So, since the orders have been made I thought I'd share what we plan on doing.

Language Arts:

• Writing: Classical Writing Aesop A-I am so excited about this one because I have been drooling over this the last year and a half, hope it doesn't disappoint!
• Grammar: We'll just use what's in Classical Writing and from our Latin program
• Spelling: Spelling Workout B & C-I'm learning that princess needs a more systematic workbook style approach to spelling, so we're going to try this one out.
• Reading: Books that tie into history (mostly) for both readers and read-alouds.

Math:

• Singapore Math: Don't fix what ain't broke! This program works for us, so we are sticking with it.

Science:

• Chemistry for the Grammar Stage: This one was easy to figure out :)!

History:

• Story of the World 3 with the Activity Guide: Another if it ain't broke, don't fix it. SOTW just really work here! We are going back to having the activity guide, not sure why I didn't order it this year as I really missed having it. I'll post my plans after I finish them.
• 50 State Notebook Study: I'm working on putting this together. I plan on doing this over the next two years. I'll post what I have when I'm done.

Electives:

• Latin using Prima Latina: I'm also excited to start this, but alittle nervous about adding another language to princesses studies.
• Chinese with our tutor: Not a choice, she's got to learn to communicate.
• Art with Art Adventures at Home: I've got it so I'm going to use it.
• Artist/Composer Studies: We'll be studying famous artist and composers from the Late Renaissance. I'll post our plans when I get a chance.
• Music: Recorder-I'm going to better about this next year!
• Shakespeare: This is just a continuation of what we have been doing for the last two years.

It looks like alot all laid out, but it is her third grade year and we've been gradually stepping up.

Story of the World 2 Plans

I have already put my plans up over at my yahoo group, but I thought that I would post alittle something about them here. This year we decided to use Sonlight books to suplement Story of the World rather than going with Core 2. I know myself and I know that if I don't have a plan it will stress me out. So I set out to write a "Sonlight" style plan for Story of the World 2. What I ended up with was plans that include read-alouds, copywork, timeline figures, scheduled maps and some readers. I'm pleased with the finished product, now I just have to wait to use them, that's always the hard part!

Unveiling of the Plans...

Ok, the plans are set, the principal says no more changes! Have I mentioned that I have really agonized over these decisions? This is what we are doing...

Language Arts:
Writing with Ease
Word Attack
Readers and Read-Alouds mostly from Sonlight

Math:
Singapore Math

History:
Story of the World 2: Middle Ages (I will try to post my plans for this over at my yahoo group next month)

Science:(this is the one thing that I never had a question about)
Earth Science and Astronomy for the Grammar Stage by Elemental Science

Others: (I'll try to post these plans also as they get done)
Artist/Composer Study I put together using AO's schedule
Poetry using AO's schedule
Shakespeare using Lamb's Tales and BBC videos
Art Adventures at Home

I think that's it! It was hard for me to decided not to use Sonlight next year, but I realized that I was going to butcher the schedule so much that it was better for our family to go with Story of the World and use Sonlight books to fill in. I'm looking forward to next year, now let's just hope the books actually get here :)!

Studied Dictation for Spelling

I've been looking into spelling programs for next year and I thought I'd share some of what direction we are going to take in case others find it useful (and so I can find it later on!). We are planning on starting Word Attack in a few weeks after we finish ETC. The reason we chose this was because I wanted dictation to be a part of my spelling program and I think Hannah does a great job at giving you the tools to do this. After we finish that we will begin studied dictation, which I anticipate will begin about halfway through next year. I'm not sure what program we will use to help us do that or whether I will just put it together on my own. I thought I would share what Charlotte Mason has written about this subject as I found it interesting...

"Of all the troublesome subjects that students spend hours on, dictation is probably the most troublesome, at least the way it's usually taught. People don't realize that every school subject rests on some kind of philosophic principle.
A Major Cause of Bad Spelling
Generally, the teacher dictates a passage phrase by phrase. She repeats each one three or four times because the students ask questions and ask her to say it again. Every line of the students' work has one to three spelling errors. The teacher, trying to be conscientious, marks the errors with red ink. The students use various methods to correct their mistakes. They might exchange work and grade each other's paper, correcting errors by copying the correct spelling from the blackboard. A few unenlightened teachers still make students copy their errors, with the correction written three or four times to learn it, and then spelled out loud to the teacher. The teacher is surprised that, with all her painstaking effort, students continue to make the same mistakes again and again.
The Logic of Spelling
But the truth is, the ability to spell depends on the person's ability to see the word and stamp a photographic image of it on their mind. This is a skill and habit that must be developed in children from the beginning. When they read the word 'cat,' they must be taught to try and see the word with their eyes closed. This same technique works equally well with big words like 'Thermopylae.' Imprinting words on the retina seems to be the only sure way to become a good speller. Once an error is made and corrected, there will always be doubt as to which image is the right spelling, and which is the wrong one. Most of us are never quite sure whether 'balance' has one l or two, and that's because we saw both spellings when we corrected it. Once the eye sees a misspelled word, the image is imprinted for good. If there is also an image of the word spelled correctly, we will never be totally confident about which image is the correct one. That's why the common way of doing dictation almost guarantees bad spellers. Every misspelled word makes an image in the mind that even the correct spelling can't obliterate. Therefore, it's the teacher's duty to prevent wrong spelling in the first place. And if an error is made, she must cover it quickly before the image gets fixed in the student's memory.
Steps of a Dictation Lesson
Dictation lessons done the following way usually result in good spelling. A child of eight or nine studies a paragraph; older students study one page, or two or three pages. The students prepares for the lesson by himself. He looks at any word he isn't sure of and tries to see it with his eyes closed. Before the dictation begins, the teacher asks him which words he thinks might give him trouble. He usually knows, and she can write them on the blackboard. She asks him to look until he has a picture of the word in his mind. Then she erases each word one by one. If he still isn't sure about a particular word, she should have him attempt to write it on the blackboard from memory. She must watch closely so that, as soon as he begins to add the wrong letter, she can erase it before it lodges in his memory. When the word is on the board correctly, the student again tries to make a mental picture. Then the teacher dictates the passage, a phrase at a time, and only repeating once. She reads expressively enough to make punctuation evident, and students are expected to include correct punctuation. But she should not say, 'comma,' or 'semi-colon.' After students have spent maybe ten minutes preparing for the dictation as outlined, there are rarely any spelling mistakes. If there are any, the teacher would be wise to cover them with adhesive paper or white-out to erase the wrong spellings from the student's mind as much as possible. At the end of the lesson, the child should study that word from his book until he's sure he knows it. Then he should write the correctly spelled word on the adhesive paper, or over the white-out.
Children cooperate enthusiastically with this kind of lesson because they feel like they have a part in it. It also prepares them for the second thing necessary to be a good speller, which is lots of reading with a trained habit of making a mental image of words as they are read.
Bad spelling is usually a sign of not much reading, or, sometimes, reading so fast that words are skimmed over instead of really seeing each word.
Spelling must not be overlooked and lost in the rest of the curriculum, but children also shouldn't be nagged to spell. It's good to write long, difficult names on the blackboard as they come up during history or geography lessons. When the children say they've made a mental image of the word, it can be erased. The secret to good spelling is visualizing words from memory, and students must learn how to do that by visualizing words as they read their other lessons. Children do enjoy learning to spell this way."

Hopefully my child will enjoy learning to spell this way!

Our schedule

As promised, here's the nitty gritty of our schedule. I have to have everything in one place, so each week I pull out all my teacher's guides and fill out my Weekly Assignment Sheet, seen here. I have included the bubbles for our memory work, here's what the sheet looks like...

Then, each month I put together a memory work sheet that has our verses, math, poetry, science, foreign language phrases and history phrases for that month. That way all our memory work is in one place. Here's what that looks like...

So, now that I'm all prepared, here's what we do daily.

• First I get up before her to get my thoughts in order, look over my plans and set out our books for the day. I also make my bed and get dressed. (princess does hers later).
• Princess gets up, we eat breakfast together and then we do our Bible plans for the day at the kitchen table (I hope to add hymn study from AO into this slot later this year)
• Next, on to math also at the table, I find this works best because princess is fresh. I usually try to start with a game, then teaching time and she does her workbook, while I do the dishes.
• Then we read our poem for the day(from AO) and move to the couch for reading, first she reads to me, then I read to her(read-aloud)
• After this we take a break-some days we take a walk, some days we go to the library, some days it's close to lunch so we eat before we start up again. (If it's time for lunch, I will have princess work on LA-either ETC or copywork while I prepare lunch and we will do FLL together before we eat. That way the three R's are always done before lunch.)
• When we come back we work on language arts--see above
• Then we do science and history, some days we do this before lunch, some days we do it after. If we are doing a big project with history, I try to save it for after lunch, it's just easier for us to work on a project with a full belly! Also if our science for the day is the Outdoor Hour Challenge we will save this for after lunch.
• We finish up with our electives, almost always after lunch. Mon-Artist/Composer Study, Tue-Tuesday Tea(we read our Sonlight poetry and Shakespeare or a fairy tale), Wed-handicraft/library day(hopefully!), Thur-Art Skills(Art Adv. @ Home), Fri-Friday Freewrite ideas from Bravewriter
• After we are done, princess take a rest time and I catch up on my work and cleaning for the day.

This is how our day works for us. Normally, we are done school by 1pm, 2 at the latest. The basic idea of our schedule is to get the necessary basics done first, that way if something unexpected does happen, we can handle it without losing out on the important parts of school. Hope that this post helps you as you seek to plan out your day.

How we get it all done...

Recently I have seen on the forums I visit that several people are asking, how do you fit it all in? As a homeschooler and stay at home mom, it's hard to find that balance between overloading and underloading, but it's also difficult to figure out how to schedule your week so that you get done what you need to and don't get side tracked. So I thought that I would share some tips that I have gathered from other vetern homeschooling moms that have helped me to get it all done.

Tips to help you get it all in...

1. Plan, plan, plan~I plan my meals, plan when I clean certain parts of the house and plan what we are going to do each day in homeschooling. If I don't plan, it either doesn't get done or I am left frustrated because I feel rushed and disorganized. Can you tell that I don't function well with chaos? Here's a look at my meal planner/cleaning schedule...

I leave the bottom blank so that I can write up my shopping list at the same time, then just tear it off and take it with me.

And my homeschool planner, I have little bubbles to color in or check off for those pesky things that I always forget, such as math drill and poetry work.

2. Protect your school time~I heard this from many vetern homeschoolers when I started and I have learned the value of what they were saying. If you want to get school done, don't let other things interupt your school time. Don't answer then phone, my hubby has his own ring tone and I do answer his calls, but noone else, sorry guys, I'll call back when we take a break. Also try not to schedule appointments when you would normally do school.

3. Have breaks and rest time~I know this sounds counterproductive, but breaks help you, the teacher, to refocus and prepare for the next thing. We take a break after reading in the morning, I use this time to gather our books and supplies for the next several subjects. We also have rest time in the afternoon, I use this time to catch up on my work and emails, clean the house and get a head start on dinner.

4. Get up before your kids~I know it's hard, I'm not a morning person, but I've found that the early morning hours are a great time to get things done! I wake up with my hubby and make his lunch, then when he leaves, I have my quiet time. I follow that with some work, either for my classes or working on my next curriculum. Next I look over my schedule for the day and set out the books for our first block of work. Then I get on the internet and catch up with emails, forums and blogs. Pretty soon after princess gets up. Getting up early has been such a help because I'm able to get all my stuff done before she gets up and I'm not left frustrated about all the things that I need to be doing.

5. When things aren't working, re-evaluate~Sit down and think about why things aren't working. Will another program work better? Do you need to take some time and just work on habits? Does your schedule need rearranging? Are some of the things you are doing unnecessary? Are your expectations realistic?

I hope that these tips will help you as much as they have helped me. Check back here on Thursday, I'm going to share a bit more about our daily/weekly schedule.

Artist & Composer Studies

I have been researching artist and composer studies so that we can add art and music appreciation to our week. The more I study it, the easier it seems. At this age, 6yo, my goal is exposure to great artists and music. This year we will study three artists and three composers this way princess will have a chance to become familiar with their works. I am getting all of this off the internet for free, can't get better than that! I'll share what I have put together, with a great deal of help from AO Artist and Composer lists, in hopes that it will help someone. (Our terms are not all 12 weeks because we only had 30 weeks of school left when I put this together, next year it will be!)

Ok, so it wouldn't cut and paste well. I'll post pictures of the pages and you can click to enlarge. I may post this over on my yahoo group later on.

Update: These are now posted at the yahoo group in the files under other homeschooling helps.

Year at a Glance

I was inspired by Jennefer over at Smooth Stones Academy to write my own Year at a Glance Sheet. I always like to have the big picture in view and have and idea of what is next. In the past I have just flipped back and forth in my huge teacher's binder. This just seems sooooo much easier, why didn't I think of it earlier? Anyways, here what I put together...





I didn't put reading in it because it her pace frequently changes and it would be hard to plan out a whole year, rather I use the let's read the next book on the list process! Hope it inspires you too.

Revisiting the LA notebook...

So after reading The Three R's by Ruth Beechick and rereading the grammar stage section of The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer, I'm realizing that some things in the LA notebook are going to have to go. I was a bit ambitious and my desire is not to overload her this year. I'm working hard to find a balance between instructing and pushing.

So I have decided to take out the book review sheets. The main focus of our reading program will be fluency, but we will discuss the books orally so I can guage her comprehension. I will also be removing the vocabulary sheets. We will do vocabulary as it comes up in the read-alouds, but nothing formal. Finally I will not be expecting original works such as journal entries and alike. What remains is spelling, grammar, copywork, narrations and memory work.

I have also recieved a used Sonlight LA for easy readers (Thanks Audrey!). I'm not sure how we are going to incorporate this, but I really like what I see. I wish that Sonlight hadn't changed thier LA, I really like the older version, but I'm guessing that I am in the minority. I think that we will try using Sonlight's LA 4days(activity sheets and writing assignment) and FLL on the fifth day-doing 2-3 days at once. I think that we are just going to have to try it and see how it goes, if this is too much we will drop one of them.

The funny thing is that my handwriting hating princess saw one of the activity sheets from Sonlight's LA and asked me to explain it to her. After I did, she wanted to do it right then. She thought it would be so fun to copy sentences and then box, circle and underline. I guess we will wait and see.