A Homeschool Update: Fall 2013

We've officially completed term one and moved on to term two.

I am both loving Ambleside and feeling absolutely overwhelmed by it.

These first 12 weeks have been a learning curve for both Piper and I.

There have been days that have been rich and beautiful and exactly what I want our homeschool to be.

There have been other days where I've wanted to throw in the towel and switch curriculum.

Thankfully, I am far too frugal to do that so we have plugged away day in and day out.

And I really think it will be worth it.

I should also add that we have continued to love Handwriting Without Tears.

Piper is printing things left, right and center and feeling very confident.

Using the Treadwell Primer for reading has turned out wonderfully despite my panic attacks over not having a full reading curriculum with all the bells and whistles this year.

I did add The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading to our schedule.

Although we do deal with phonics as we came upon various words in the primer, I felt following something systematically would help me feel confident we were staying on track.

MEP math has been amazing!

I still cannot believe it is free!

Piper has totally taken off with this program and LOVES doing math.

(Until we start a new concept. Then she despises it until that concept clicks. Then she loves it again...)

Home Art Studio has been such a blessing.

It is welcomed every other Monday with much excitement!

I love seeing the end product especially since I have nothing to do with it! 

Piper follows the instructions herself and has created some really sweet art!

We have stayed pretty faithful to our artist and composer studies.

All of us really enjoy our tea times together listening to classical music and discussing a piece of art.

I am stunned by how involved the girls are in these discussions.

On the other hand, I have been less consistent with nature study and French lessons. 

Considering how many other things we do in a week, I try not to be too hard on myself for slacking off in a couple of areas but I'm determined to improve.

I think it will help to schedule specific studies for our nature study day and to keep our French cd in the van.

They memorize oodles of songs that we play while driving around so I'm certain French songs will be no different!

My other goals are to pre-read everything and to be better at encouraging narration as well as interesting and thoughtful conversation afterwards.

I also plan to get our timeline going this term.

It's up!

Now I just need to get on the ball with adding to it as we read various history selections!

Both Piper and Taitum have been doing swimming lessons this fall.

They have loved it so much that I decided to allow them to do a second round of lessons.

Taitum completed her fall term dance class.

As usual, we were able to watch her on the last day of class.

It is so sweet to watch her move around, twirling and skipping and dancing to her heart's content!

Piper has been attending piano lessons.

We are looking forward to her first recital in a few weeks.

We have faithfully been attending our homeschool co-op every Friday.

This is the excitement of the week!

Taitum and Renly take part in a littles group where they sing songs, learn colors and play with other little ones.

Piper has enjoyed learning wilderness survival (the girl was building shelters, starting fires and using a compass!) and is now doing an art block where she has had a chance to try felting and chalk pastels, among other things!

I had intended to use the book Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready with Tait.

However, it just didn't work very well for us.

I need more of a daily schedule to stay on track so instead I started using God's Little Explorers Preschool curriculum.

It provides a 4 day schedule which includes simple yet enjoyable suggestions that are perfect for a preschooler and do-able for me!

Taitum loves having her own school time and is learning so much!

Piper and Renly often join us as well and so it becomes a family affair!

It is so nice to see them learning together!

Now we are looking forward to Christmas and all the preparation that goes with it!

We will continue with our usual school schedule but I am hoping to do a few extra Christmas related things each week.

I am debating doing Jesse Tree ornaments this year (as opposed to the paper ones they have colored in the past).

However I'm afraid it will be too much of a commitment since it would involve making 25 different ornaments!

I am really good at biting off more than I can chew!

So we may just stick with our usual Jesse Tree and do a few crafts as part of Truth in the Tinsel

Also, our homeschool group is doing a couple Christmas Around the World days which I am really looking forward to!

I know this was a long post!

But if you've made it this far thank you for taking the time to see what we've up to!

As I'm sure you can see, our days are busy and full and as a result my blogging has been at a minimum!

I hope a little update here and there will suffice!

I truly appreciate all your prayers, kind words and encouragement!

So to conclude, I'll leave you with a poem by Piper:

Fall

Taitum and Piper jump in the leaves

Inside for cocoa

Back outside to rake the leaves

Go for a walk

Sit by the fire

The End

Friday Favorite Things {14}

It's Friday!

And I have a whole week of favorites to share with you!

(I think this is how it's probably going to happen on the blog this year since I'm finding it harder to find time for individual posts for everything! So if you see something you want to know more about, please - ask away!)

Our days were very full but we got so much accomplished!

One day was rather difficult.

A certain little girl just didn't want to do her lessons and it kind of threw me into a panic that I had chosen all the wrong curriculum or something!

Alas, it was simply a bad day.

My girl went on to conquer a story she had been working on, finally grasped a math concept she'd found difficult and printed the alphabet and numbers 1- 10 like a pro!

In the end, these words from my friend Heather's blog greatly encouraged me and helped me to focus on what we are aiming for: 

 "I don't want learning to be fun. I want it to be interesting and satisfying, and at times it will be exhausting, but completing difficult work is rewarding and it stretches our minds in good ways. A well written narration, a carefully drawn map, a successful Latin translation, a verse or poem recalled from memory, all of these take effort but give so much satisfaction when completed."

I have so much to learn myself when it comes to this whole homeschooling gig!

But I can honestly say that despite the struggles and difficult days, teaching my kids is so rewarding and such a blessing!

Here is a peek at the week gone by:

This is my very favorite picture from our nature walk!

Taitum yelled, "Mom, look what I found! Can I bring it home?!"

Pure excitement over a stick!

The path we took was a little rugged and full of puddles so Ren travelled in my arms - delighted to have a whole apple to munch on!

Nature walks are not always as peaceful as they sound!

Poor Piper was well loved by the mosquitos and she made sure we all knew about her misery.

Note to self: ALWAYS bring bug spray!

Our findings in a jam jar!

Golden rod and cow vetch really brighten up the kitchen!

We had leftover cake batter and icing from the girls' birthday party last Saturday so I used it to make mini cupcakes for our tea time.

(You know what they say -Waste not, want not!)

Their task was to learn how to pipe icing onto the tops.

They loved doing this!

And insisted on sprinkles to make them extra pretty.

Tea time and artist study.

This week we looked at another painting by Copley - Watson and the Shark.

This one is very captivating and a little eerie if you ask me!

It did, however, capture the girls' attention and imagination.

Piper's take on it - "Maybe the man was a mermaid but then he got turned into a person with legs and so he couldn't swim and so got attacked by the shark!"

Hmmm, remind you of anything? A particular Disney princess perhaps?

It gave me a good chuckle anyway!

Piper's art project for this week was this smiling sun!

She was pretty proud of the final product and is seriously obsessed with the Home Art Studio lessons!

 We finished our week with our co-op group at a trail that encircles a beaver pond.

(We've been there before and love it! Worth checking out if you're in the area!)

The kids had an opportunity to go 'critter dipping'!

They were provided with nets that they used to dip into the pond and haul up all kinds of different critters!

In the first picture Piper is observing a leech that the guide is showing to her.

Those things can move fast and are huge! 

We even got to see one attach to a minnow and fill its belly.

Pretty interesting stuff (but I kept my distance! Yuck!)

Piper caught some minnows herself as well as a snail and other critters.

 The guide led the group in some games to learn about the wetlands and the importance of each element found there.

A selfie of Ren and I having a grand ol' time.

I'm pretty sure her favorite part was snack!

This is my favorite picture of the trip.

Piper was so into this activity.

She would have stayed there all day, catching critters!

When we got home I had to wring the water out of their socks and turn on the heat so I could dry their boots out!

If those aren't signs of a successful field trip, I don't know what is!

A First Attempt At Artist Study

There have been several elements of the Ambleside Online curriculum that sounded unrealistic to me.

One of those components was artist study.

The nice thing about AO is that you can follow it as closely or loosely as you want.

However, I figured that since it was created by people who have been doing this homeschooling gig much longer than me, I would follow it as closely as possible and then start picking and choosing what did and did not work for us.

Today was our first stab at artist study.

The girls made skinny chunky monkey cookies.

We had a tea party.

And talked about 'Paul Revere', a painting by John Singleton Copely.

Um, it was delightful!

I even found our discussion intriguing.

I purposely didn't read anything about the painting so that this week it would be all our own thoughts and speculations.

Piper thought he was holding a teapot he had found and thinking about whose it might be.

She asked why he was in the dark which led to a discussion about where the light was in the room and what time of day it was.

I pointed out the tools that are on the table and Piper thought that maybe he was fixing the teapot.

Tait gave her two cents every now and again (mainly echoing what Piper would say!).

In the end, they were over the moon about drinking real tea at their artsy tea party and even happier when I explained that this would be a weekly occurrence this school year!

So we are drinking tea and talking about paintings by famous artists, listening to classical music in the van, weaving potholders and reading more books than I ever thought possible.

Either I've gone off the deep end or we're officially Amblesiders!

:)