My School Monday: Sabbath Week

"He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul;"-- Psalm 23:2

Happy Monday! This week is our first "Sabbath week" so we have the week off! What's great is that Kait will still learn but may not realize it.

This week, she'll have the chance to learn to enjoy the changing seasons, to take time for the things and people that matter, to slow down and soak up life. That's my hope and plan anyway. She does still have theater class, horseback riding lesson, and choir this week as well. Somehow I don't think she'll mind ;) (as long as there's no math or history or science! lol)

This week is also my time to take a breath, examine what is and isn't working in our learning plan, and get some other things done. I'm so grateful for discovering this concept of Sabbath weeks. I can't wait!

So... it's time to decorate the house for fall. I've got my garland up, and the scarecrow will soon come down from the rafters to stand in greeting by the door. I'll also continue working on my cabinets, and crocheting scarves. I already got to sit down and watch Seven Brides For Seven Brothers on Saturday with four special people and that was a wonderful afternoon. Great kick-off to this week of rest.

I hope you all have as fabulous a week ahead as I am anticipating. What are you up to?


"For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy." -- Exodus 20:11 NASB (emphasis mine)

My School Monday: Lifeguard!

Do you ever feel like you are drowning when it comes to teaching your children? Whether it's homeschooling per se, or training them up, do you ever feel in over your head, or question whether you've accidentally drifted into a rip tide?

Yeah, that'd be me.

Sometimes I feel like I'm swirling down the drain and I'm not sure whether I should paddle against the current or empty the tub and draw a new bath.

My carefully-chosen curriculum isn't working well for us.

Our Language Arts is frustrating and built upon a system the educators begin in kindergarten which we aren't familiar with. (Mainly, sentence diagramming.) We're both frustrated and there is a lot of red ink on every worksheet. I bought the year's worth of workbooks. Do I swim against the current and push through, or let it (and the money I spent) run down the drain and try something else? I think I'm going to try something else (Progeny Press). This isn't too difficult to do because I didn't spend too much money on CLE. But I feel like I've wasted our time the last 6 weeks.

History. One of the MOST important subjects I want to teach. The Abeka is fine, but for added depth I purchased two TruthQuest guides at $25 a pop. I love, love, loved the idea of them, the approach, the worldview, everything. But it isn't fitting in with our schedule. I haven't used them much at all. I tried, but it just ain't happening. That's $50 I wasted and I'm loathe to admit it.

I also find myself missing the My Father's World curriculum we did last year. I'd felt it moved too slowly but that was a cheap price for all the wonderful things we did together. Daily Bible reading as our main history text, Jewish feasts, memory verses we did together.

But do you know how much I'd have to spend to buy the next volume?  A lot. Especially when adding in the wasted $$ on TruthQuest and CLE. So do I ignore the ache in my heart and press on with the dry and purely independent Abeka alone? This is the biggest burden on me right now.

Math. I failed her with math last year. She did alright in Algebra 1 as we went along, but didn't learn with full understanding. She wasn't ready for Geometry this year and I feel bad. So we ordered Math U See Algebra 1. I didn't pay for this at least. But it still hasn't arrived. So I feel like a slacker, lol.

Bible with SoS. She's doing just "okay" with it. It's NOT as good as the daily Bible reading and studying we did together last year. Even if it is tracked and graded and all "officialish", I don't think it's as heart-penetrating. She still remembers the very first memory verse from last year, but is struggling with her official Bible curriculum this year. Again, another indicator that MFW was a better fit.

But the money! Oh, the money! And the time, the wasted time! I feel like I'd be resetting the clock on 8th grade. We'd be living in an alternate reality where it's still labor day for us when the rest of the country is gearing up for pumpkins and scarecrows!

What would you do? Should I drain the tub?

I kinda think so, but I'm afraid of admitting the waste and afraid of making more mistakes.

It's all kind of poopy, really. I could use some been-there-done-that stories for sure. Here's to seeking wisdom, and making it a great week despite it all!

My School Monday: History

Last week we hit a good groove with history. I pulled out My Father's World from last year which we hadn't quite finished up, and realized how much I miss it. I miss the assigned Bible readings, the art, the Jewish feasts, and even the classical composers. I miss it so much I'm considering purchasing the next one (Rome to Reformation) even though I'm already implementing history lessons with all of the following:

A Beka
Mystery of History
TruthQuest

I just can't help it. I love it all. And I think there's time to cover it if we're reading together and I'm doing most of the reading. A Beka provides a Boom Boom Bam with quizzes and tests and the traditional textbook feel. It's at a fast pace and could bring us all the way to modern times within one school year (if that were all I was doing.) Mystery of History is more overview with interesting bits of info brought to attention, timelines, and written to the student in an informal "isn't this so cool" style. And Truthquest... ah, Truthquest is my heart. A Living Books approach with introductions to each era or country topic specifically designed to help students view history as His Story. All of the activities of mankind--every rise and fall of a nation, every war, every advancement--is seen through biblical glasses, teaching students to ask how people's beliefs about God affected their activities. Reminding them that it is God who has set this world in motion and He has always been in control.

I love all these things so much I'm tempted to teach two history courses simultaneously instead of trying to move quickly from ancient world history to modern times. I may begin a US History alongside our continuing World History so that we can spend all year on both. I'll give us a few more weeks to decide that though. Our schedule isn't down pat yet and I do need to make sure we don't get overloaded. Especially since she'll soon be starting a theater class once a week and next month, hopefully, a ceramics class.

This week we are looking forward to finishing up with Greece and diving into Rome. I can't wait to examine the landscape that Christ was born into and pop in our Drive Thru History video, Rome If You Want To. There is just so much good stuff out there.

I miss Amy during the day and wish she could go through these things with us, but we've also watched some good, solid videos on the Origin Of Humans and on Dragon Legends with her--things to give her food for thought as she sits through hours of teaching on how "early man" evolved and did this-or-that, or how humans sprang up long after dinosaurs died out. The great part is, she gets extra credit for it. *grin* Interested in these yourself? Here's a link to the free streaming videos: the Origin of Humans , Dinosaurs & Dragon Legends. There are a lot of good free resources on the AIG site so look around and be inspired!

I think Trevor's color of the week is going to be GREEN. I'll be posting some more pictures of him and his "school" projects on my facebook page so if you're a FB friend, come see my cutie! We made a school bus, some leafy crayon rubs, and lots of construction paper projects over the last 2.5 weeks. =)

Oh yeah, don't forget to visit my other haunt--Clash of the Titles. We just put up a new vote: Snappy Dialogue. Fun!

My School Monday: In The Beginning

Good afternoon! Are you ready for a new week? I heard from our ES (Education Specialist) a few days ago and our first meeting is Thursday. I'm excited to get set up and get Kait some fun classes like pottery and horseback riding perhaps. The math curriculum I wanted was unavailable from the lending library so I'll have to purchase it but hopefully it will be worth it. Math is our biggest challenge this year and I'm not fully convinced she should be tackling so high a level. I'll have to monitor that and if a change is needed, pray for strength because she won't want to get "bumped back" no matter how advanced the math she's attempting is.

Trevor's color this week is yellow. In the car this morning, we looked for yellow things out the window. We saw plenty of fire hydrants, busses, signs, and Trevor spotted yellow cable coverings all by himself. Back home, we glued yellow strips of construction paper onto a black paper bee, added wings, stinger, face, and antennaes and viola!

Kaitlyn is having trouble with diagramming sentences. I suppose if you learn how to do this from the beginning, it's very helpful. But even for me, learning how to do this now is frustrating and feels like a waste of time to me. Maybe not for her since she's still young. But if it continues to be a source of stress I may have to change curriculums to one that doesn't use diagramming at all.

Amy came home today having begun learning history in class. They are starting with the Ice Age and unfortunately I am unprepared with very much material for her on that. I might try to order a couple DVDs but they may not arrive in time. However, there are some free streaming videos like this and this at AIG's website that we can watch. I think we'll do that this evening. She can even get extra credit for it!  Awesomeness. =)

My School Monday: A Good Start

 

Last Wednesday was our first day of homeschool, as well as Brandon's first day of his Junior year at the public high school. I still had Amy home so I had her join in and do a few lessons too. We're using SOS 8th grade Bible and I had both girls do lessons in that. I also had Amy do a few lessons from our MFW history, focusing on the Dispersion and Ice Age. My goal is to get her ready for her public classroom where they'll be talking about "early man". Gag.

She started today. My heart is torn in this decision to let her finish out her elementary career at our public school. I often wonder if it's weakness on my part. I am basically inviting an anti-Christian teacher to influence and instruct her from his worldview. And I am giving him six full hours a day to do it. But that's not the biggest concern. Because I can stay on top of the curriculum and we can read the corresponding material from a Christian perspective and all that. The bigger concern is that I am also inviting 30 immature, inexperienced and untrained age-mates to influence her socially. How will my little girl change over the course of this year in her attitudes and heart? Sigh. I'm committed to keeping on top of everything that goes on in her life at school and preparing myself to pull  her out and bring her home at the first sign of trouble.

So as I said, I did some light schooling with her for a few days last week. She was here for Kaitlyn's first science experiment (see what fun homeschool can be?) and asked to help as we taped copper wire to a 9V battery and put the other ends into a glass of baking soda water. I laminated a pullout from an AIG magazine on fossil layers, we watched a video on the origins of humans, we prayed and did daily morning devotions. Last night and this morning I prayed over her that she would go out in her spiritual armor, protected from anything in that classroom trying to lure her away from the Lord. I hope that hearing me pray that aloud will make an impact.

I also have done some "school" with Trevor. He's only 2 so it's very informal, but it's just to give him something to do and keep him stimulated. He was very excited about his "school"--the Cars notebook I purchased at Staples. He loves to scribble in it as he sits in his little desk. We spent three days learning about the color blue and doing various art projects in that color. (This week we are moving on to red.)  The first day, we used several shades of blue crayons to color a blank white paper. The next day, we tore up construction paper in both light and dark blue and glued them to a piece of black construction paper on which I'd drawn a basic cloud shape. Friday, we used blue water color paint on white printer paper. He got to use some other colors that day too since he just couldn't resist. It was a lot of fun for all of us and I think it inspires Kait as well. She likes the privelege of being home to help teach her brother.

Kait is falling right in and doing very well. She thrives on workbook style material which is a bit surprising to me. She tends to do the minimum she can get away with, so workbooks with specific Q/A's keep her on top of her material better than essays alone. Therefore, the Abeka history is looking like a real good fit and I may look at their Health curriculum as well.

So there you have it. Our first (short) week. Now it's time for me to get back to the kiddos in the other room and get the Bob & Larry fruit snacks out of Trevor's reach!  I hope you all have a blessed week.

Share one good thing that happened to you last week.

My School Monday: the countdown has begun

Today I am over at K. Dawn's blog talking about COTT Champ Shellie Neumeier's YA title, Driven. I hope you'll stop by and say "hi" to me there!

In our house, school starts for the high-schoolers this Wednesday. I'm starting Kaitlyn that day, too. So we are really down to the wire with whatever prep we still need.

We picked up some paper and notebooks for everyone, and new colored pencils and construction paper. There wasn't a whole lot since I gave my giant binder to my son to use. The big thing though, is my son needs a graphing calculator and we can't afford one. They're so expensive! If they could use an ipod there are free apps we could use. I really wish they'd let him do that. It's not a phone.

Aside from that, I've been setting up SoS (Switched On Schoolhouse) with my "custom curriculum" for Kaitlyn. A time-consuming process, but sooo fun for me. I LOVE seeing the calendar populate with daily lessons for the whole year! I'm a nerd, what can I say? We also went to the Open House for the new Corona learning center of River Springs. Several approved venders were there and I'm so excited to get Kait into a couple of these classes. Check it out:  horse-back riding, ceramics, photography, theater, and piano lessons. The tough part will be choosing because I don't think we can do more than two per semester. But I'm excited about this homeschooling year, and praying that it bears a huge harvest of fruit in Kaitlyn's heart, her walk with God, and our relationship. Not to mention academics, but that should go without saying.

I'm praying about how to handle Amy's being in public school for 6th after all. Although this doesn't do anything for the social concerns, I am planning to sort of co-teach her. Bring some lessons alongside what they do in class, but of my choosing and from Christian worldview. Mostly this applies to history since I know they'll cover "early man," and later dive into Greek gods. I'm going to attempt to have her work through the Bible curriculum I got for Kaitlyn, working on it twice a week in the afternoons. Have you done anything like this? Please share!

So what have you been doing to get ready? New haircuts, shoes, pencil boxes?
Also, share your favorite sack lunches for school days!

My School Monday: Schedules

Happy Monday! Today I'm writing about schedules. Scheduling is the most difficult part of homeschooling my family. The other two "big kids" go to two different public schools on two different schedules. They get different breaks, too. Brandon starts on the 10th. But Amy doesn't go back until the 15th. Later, Amy will have the whole month of November, and then March, off-track. And Brandon will have a longer break in December than she will. Kaitlyn can't take both kids' vacation schedules, so that means having to do school while one of her siblings is lounging around playing video games. And it usually rains on their parade because they can't come out and use the TV while I'm teaching Kait. Can you hear my weary sigh? It's no fun for mom to make one kid watch another enjoy something they can't.

If I didn't have these concerns, I think I'd try the Sabbath Week schedule. The Sabbath Week schedule basically has 6 weeks of school, then 1 week of rest, then you spread out your other weeks off however you want them. So perhaps 4 full weeks in December to really enjoy the holidays, a 2 week vacation with the family in there somewhere, and of course the usual week off at Easter, and a few weeks to use as "summer". I think the average school year is 36 weeks, so after the four annual Sabbath weeks you have 12 weeks to play with for vacationing! I love the idea of the 6 weeks at a time, but I'm not so sure how that would line up with the other kids' schedules. I may still give it a try but I expect some bumps in that road for my situation.

The micro scheduling is also on my mind this week. Our day-to-day. I want/need to fit so much in and I'm not sure how best to arrange our day. I would like to try blocking our time and doing certain subjects on certain days, but I"m not sure how much each subject needs. This is an area I'd love to hear from friends and readers about. I'm expecting we might have to do math every day. But if I could give her even one day off and fit our math into 4 days per week, I think she'd really respond to that. But here are the other subjects I want to cover (warning: it's a lot!)

Math
History
Science
Language Arts
Bible
P.E.
Typing
Health
Reading (actual time to read/discuss the books I'll assign)
French
Life Skills
*2 hr. classes 2x weekly through charter school. We're not signed up yet but classes usually offered are things like Art and Photography and I love to get her in on that. I include this as a time constraint on the above curriculum. Not to mention the very active toddler we contend with during school hours, too. Is it hopeless?

So what do you think? How long do you spend on each subject per day (or per week)? If you don't homeschool but still juggle several different tasks requiring time organization, I'd love a peek at your schedule too.

Have a blessed week--see ya Wednesday!

My School Monday: Reading List

Last year we did very little reading, I must confess. I forced Kait to struggle through Swiss Family Robinson even though she hated it, and she also read Homer for history. But it was awful, and when we finally got through those I gave up and focused on other areas.

So we'll have some catching up to do, and I've been compiling a list of books I'd like her to read this year. I tried to remember what I read back in Jr High, and I want to give her a variety because she hates books from "the olden days" (i.e. anything earlier than the 1950's.) I doubt we'll get through all the books on my list (which will probably continue to grow) but I have thought of some great books I'd like to have on hand. Here they are, in no particular order:

• Where the Red Fern Grows
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Pride and Prejudice
• Little Women
• Adventures of Huck Finn
• Diary of Anne Frank
• Black Beauty
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• Pilgrims Progress

The red ones are those I hope will actually awaken a fondness for reading. In addition to the above narratives, I also want to have her read How To Win Friends And Influence People. By the title, that sounds like such a manipulative book. But anyone who has read it knows it's really a peek into the human heart and mind, and helps us understand how to relate to people and how to express our needs effectively. It's a fascinating book that I believe should be required reading in every school across the nation.

What do you think of my list? Would you add a book? Scratch one? What have your kids read in Jr High?

Whatevah Wednesday: Homeschool Planning!

First, a disclaimer: If your kids are in public school, don't let the above cartoon offend you. Two of my kids are still in public school, too. But even so, I agree with the statement above! LOL

Next month begins my second year as a homeschooling mom. My family is spread out all over the place actually. I've got a Junior in public high school, a 6th grader in public elementary, an 8th grader at home, and a 2 year old who is learning and growing all the time. It's challenging--to say the least--teaching one child, while driving the other kids to and from school, and entertaining a toddler. But it's also a blessing.

Since Kait might be going to public high school, this may be our last year together, so I want to make sure we do all the things I dreamed of doing when we started our adventure. In addition to the three R's, I want her to be well-prepared for the world spiritually speaking.This means more discipline, less breaks, and a tighter schedule. And it means picking curriculum! Fun! (but arduous.)

After hours (and I mean HOURS) of research. . .

. . .I'm still not done with my list. :-)  

But, here's what I've picked so far:

* Typing: Mavis Beacon (covered by state funds)
* Math U See Geometry (covered by state funds)
* Apologia Physical Science (FREE from a friend!)
* gym: Wii Fit or similar (haven't confirmed coverage yet, crossing fingers!)
* A Beka History of the World ($10 on Craigslist)
(I also want to get several TruthQuest guides and merge those with A Beka)

Life Skills reading:

* How To Win Friends And Influence People (already own)
*Thinking Like A Christian (about $15 on Amazon for book and journal)

I still need to choose a Bible curriculum and Language Arts but those decisions will likely come quickly. History was the toughest--the one that took the hours of research and review to settle on. That and math are the toughest choices to make. We have a lot of history to cover this year, and a lot of extras I want to squeeze in, so next on my list is come up with some sort of schedule--though it will likely get tweaked many times.

For those of you who homeschool, have you picked out your curriculum? Are you excited? If you don't homeschool, what are you looking forward to the most about sending the kids back to school?

Last, let me leave you with a little humor to carry into the rest of your Wednesday!

What's Going On?

Hello, dear readers. My apologies on the lack of posts lately, but I've been very busy.

Last week I started homeschooling my 7th grade daughter for the first time. It's been quite an adventure! Things are going well so far, though we are still getting the scheduling down and hopefully can shave some time off our day soon. Science has been a blast with 3 experiments under our belts already! Algebra is going great- I'm thankful for our online course through yourteacher.com. History has begun with the creation account in Genesis (far cry from public school!), and the History of Art is a fun addition to our day.  It's very rewarding but keeps me quite busy as you can imagine.

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary!  Last night we attended a dinner cruise in Newport Beach with delicious filet mignon and salmon and a decadent chocolate mousse dessert.  We also danced and watched the sunset and took some pictures.  It was a lovely night, punctuated by the fact that our 14 month old behaved well for my parents (which had been a major concern).

I have begun fundraising efforts for the WFTS conference.  I need to raise about $800- I'd love your prayers in this area!  I'm having a fundraising party/event at my mom's house in a couple of weeks and just praying for a good turn out, lots of fun and love from friends, and of course hope to put a dent in my fundraising goal.  Anyone with fundraising experience want to give me tips?  I'm having a candle party, raffling off a centerpiece, and conducting a Ping Pong Tournament (fun!).  We may also wash cars.  Sound good?  I'll probably put some stuff up on Ebay this week as well.  Maui Jim sunglasses anyone?  All this is par for the course in publication efforts, unless you are wealthy, which I'm not. =)

In the meantime I have about 6 weeks to enter my book in the Operation First Novel contest, so I've been poring over my manuscript to make sure it's ready.  Some days I feel confident I stand a good chance, other days I think mine will be among the first stories cut.  But whatever happens, I'm doing my best and leaving it in God's hands.

So, these are but a few of the things going on in the Massaro household right now.  Real life is much busier than just this, if you can believe that.  (Check out my recent facebook post on my son's school schedule!) But God is so good, I am so blessed!  Can't wait to see what's in store over these next few months.  Stay tuned, my friends!

~ Michelle