Homeschooling

Nature Sketchbook

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“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
― Isaac Newton

Nature Sketching

There is truth and beauty surrounding us in nature if we only take the time to observe it. The pace of life often leaves us in a whirlwind of schedules, appointments, errands and meetings, leaving little room for scrutiny and delight of the magnificent world encircling us. Continue reading →

Finding North Carolina

~ Tonya ~ 12 Comments

The hilarity of homeschooling never ceases to tickle my funny bone and drive me to a deeper walk with the Lord. When we memorized our states and capitals earlier this year, I made some copywork and maps for the kids to practice on. My son’s assignment this particular morning was to color in the 5 states we were working on, and trace/write each state and capital on the lines below his unlabeled map.

He was doing fine until he arrived at North Carolina. He simply could not remember where it was. So, I told him to look for the state on our large (labeled) wall map and showed him the general area to focus his search.

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Five Looks On A Book

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Because of our constant and unquenchable thirst for the written word, I’m generally on the lookout for new and exciting ways to structure “book reports”. I want my children to be comfortable retelling a story in their own words in many different formats. A delightful recent find is called “Five Looks On A Book” from Teaching Resources. The idea was first thought up by a third grader from California, and then made into a printable by Laura. The worksheet requires students to come up with adjectives about their book and details to support those describing words – I think it’s quite genius. Continue reading →

Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area

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While my husband was training for his new job in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge, the kids and I took a jaunt to the Oregon Coast and spent 5 glorious days flying kites, observing nature, building sand castles, exploring miles of pristine beaches, discovering tide pool creatures and generally having a jolly good time.

At the Oregon Coast

The Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area was one of the highlights of our trip, and I thought I’d share a little for anyone in search of a ruggedly beautiful place to vacation this summer.

Yaquina Head & Lighthouse from Cape Foulweather

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How to Change Blue to White and White to Blue

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Otherwise known as sunprints! My kids and I enjoyed this fun science project last year. The beautiful weather this weekend reminded me of it, and thus you are the beneficiary of a great outdoor learning activity for you and your munchkins.

You’ll need sunprint paper, acrylic sheet, cardboard, a tub full of water, fun and interesting objects to print. You can purchase sunprint paper from Amazon (who now has free same day shipping to 14 metro areas with Prime Memberships!), they also sell sunprint kits which include an acrylic sheet, you’ll see from the pictures that I used a Pyrex casserole dish thinking it would be just as good…I was so wrong. I ended up with blurred fuzzy edges. Just say no to fuzzy edges!

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Rockets Review Game

~ Tonya ~ 1 Comment

My son played this review game with his tutor during our CC community day last year and loved it. It seems to have disappeared from CC Connected, so I attempted to recreate one for our own use. You can utilize it too…if you promise not to laugh at the slightly fuzzy around the edges version I created. My son thinks it’s great – that’s good enough for me. Continue reading →

Recent Reads

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Welcome to this month’s edition of Recent Reads!

Aloud Adventure

The Sign of the Beaver – Although he faces responsibility bravely, thirteen-year-old Matt is more than a little apprehensive when his father leaves him alone to guard their new cabin in the wilderness. When a renegade white stranger steals his gun, Matt realizes he has no way to shoot game or to protect himself. When Matt meets Attean, a boy in the Beaver clan, he begins to better understand their way of life and their growing problem in adapting to the white man and the changing frontier.
Note from me: My kids loved this book. Great adventure, a little danger and themes of understanding people different from ourselves.

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Science Experiment: Newton’s First Law of Motion

~ Tonya ~ 2 Comments

An object at rest tends to remain at rest, and an object in motion tends to continue moving in a straight line at constant speed unless an outside force acts upon it. So says Newton’s First Law of Motion. The question is…can you see this in action? You bet your sweet bippy you can. You only need a few simple materials for this crazy experiment.

A pie plate
An empty cardboard toilet paper tube
A raw egg (yes, raw)
Water
A large drinking glass or flower vase

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Science Observation: Bird’s Nest – Hydro Update

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Around these parts, one of the most eagerly anticipated portions of the day is late afternoon, when Hydro and Gazelle come to hunt for remnant seeds beneath our feeder. Hydro is so skittish, that until today I wasn’t able to get a good photo. As a side note, you’ll often hear that Seattlites don’t have an accent. Not true. I thought “skittish” was spelled “skiddish”, because that’s how people from the Pacific Northwest pronounce double “t” in the middle of a word. “Seattle” would never be spoken like it looks around here. It comes out “See-addle”. Now you know our secret. Listen for it next time you’re conversing with a Northwesterner. Back to Hydro.

Thankfully, the weather was incredibly warm today and our sliding glass door was open to let in a breeze. Usually the noise of it is what makes Hydro and his momma scurry away. Tonight I managed to noiselessly slide open the screen and get a couple of shots in before the dash from evil me and my clicking lens. Continue reading →

Squirrels, Biomes, Clauses and Consumers

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One of the most common questions I get regarding Classical Conversations is “You are just filling their head with rote memorization. They don’t  understand half of it. What good is that? All that stuff doesn’t even mean anything to them.”. While it is quite true that many of the facts we memorize mean virtually nothing to my children (what 5-year-old cares about Newton’s Laws of Motion?), there is a purpose and a path in our style of schooling that begins at the beginning. With young children who, like sponges, absorb every ounce of data around them. We all learn from infancy by rote memorization. How to speak by repeating the basic words our parents babble to us. The alphabet, the Pledge of Allegiance, The Lord’s Prayer. Kids can sing every song in their favorite movie. Recite entire books that are frequent bedtime stories. All these things are retained and recalled because of rote memorization. I’d like to share a little from Leigh Bortins book “The Core“, and then a story of my own to demonstrate these principles in action. Continue reading →