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Category Archives: Classical Conversations

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

04 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by thewholedeel in Classical Conversations, Homeschooling Classically, Projects

≈ Leave a comment

Today was a Snow Day here in Ohio for the local schools.  Which meant a snow day for our Classical Conversations community as well.  It was bittersweet to miss our extended family of friends – but we had an unexpectedly fun day in our home school instead!

Our Math lesson today covered how to visualize what 1/4 looks like.  We had four, equally sized, clear, empty containers.  I filled one whole jar to the brim with liquid and asked my daughter to fill the other jar halfway (which would cause her original jar to be half).  The lesson brought home how 1/4 is simply half of a half and that all four quarters come together to create a whole.  We are just about finished with this RightStart Mathematics Level B course.  It will take a whole other post to sing my praise about it.  Let me just emphasize, for now, that it is a recurring theme throughout the book that numbers are related.  We do not just add numbers for the sake of adding.  All numbers have a relationship of which are either part or whole.  The way they repeatedly drive this home, visually and kinesthetically, empowers me with the tools I need to teach my daughter, who cried during math last year with a different curriculum.  She can now mentally add double digit numbers plus double digit numbers in her head.

After Math and lunch, a quick browsing of my e-mails reminded me that March 2nd was Theodore Geisel’s birthday.  Who’s that you ask?  The one, the only – Dr. Seuss!  So I continued the day in his honor.  We looked at Pinterest for ways to celebrate.  We found out my almost two-year-old son recognized the Cat in the Hat, and referred to him as the “Go-Guy” (made sense to us after the PBS song the Cat in the Hat sings about “go go go – on an adventure!)  So, we printed coloring pages for him of the “Go-Guy.”

My 7-year-old daughter found images of the famous oobleck and begged to make it.  So we got to it.  Here is a recipe for oobleck if you’ve never heard of it, from Dr. Seuss’ famous story:  Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  This was my son’s first experience with gooey stuff.  At first he was horrified, but you can see his delight below.  My daughter was also curious as to the science behind the mixture.  How did it feel so solid and then turn so liquid the next instant?  Preschool Powol Packets defined the reason is “Oobelck is a suspension (a liquid mixture that has particles large enough to eventually settle out of the mixture).”  This means it operates like quicksand.  The long starch polymers press together when thrown or rolled on the table.  My daughter had fun slapping it on the counter as a ball and then watching it ooze back to its liquid state.  This happens because the polymers in the oobleck easily trap the water when pressed together and then behave like a solid.  But when you let it go, no force, causes it to relax.  The water then flows within the mixture and it behaves like a liquid.  I was impressed she actually repeated this back to me after I explained it to her.  Thank you Preschool Powol Packets!

nik_1968 _oobleck 03.04.2014.jpg

nik_1966 avelyn 03.04.2014

A Dr. Seuss birthday didn’t seem quite complete without including the Lorax.  So, while  I was boiling an egg for the Lorax creation she wanted to replicate, she drew her own version of Mr. Lorax.

lorax drawing 03.04.2014

Here is the finished hard-boiled egg version of The Lorax.  Isn’t he loveable? So easy to make.  We used a blank sticker page for the eyes and stuck them on.  Pipe cleaners for the arms.  And we used cotton balls for his eyebrows and bushy mustache.  We tried using yellow food coloring to color the cotton.  That did not work at all.  So she ended up coloring with a marker.  And no, this was not my idea.  It turned out just like what I found on Pinterest.

nik_1972 lorax seated 03.04.2014

nik_1973 lorax in carton 03.04.2014

This was so fun, we are gonna be celebrating all week long.  I found a great site on pinterest that brought creative writing and copywork into the mixture.  Inallyou.com posted GREAT FREE printables for both younger and higher elemetary grades.  We finished the day with great prompts to get our own story juices flowing!
//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js

Did you celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday?  Join us this week and tell us what you did.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to

get better. It’s not.” ~Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

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Easing into It (08/12/13) Week 1, Day 1

13 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by thewholedeel in Books, Classical Conversations, Deel$, Homeschooling Classically, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

classical conversations, curriculum

avelyn-desk-color-pop_09.13.2013

Whether you are just starting your first week of homeschool this week or this is your child’s third week of school, I’m sure you are as blown away as I am at how the summer feels suddenly behind you.  It is weird.  It is still so hot out, yet today as I write this in September looking back at our first week of school in August, I am floored at how quickly the night is coming again and I can finally put my kids to bed at an appropriate time again!  The sun just gradually kept setting earlier, and so getting up earlier for school has just naturally begun to get better.

I had not planned to “ease” into my homeschooling as much as I ended up doing.  But am I ever glad that I accidentally did!  This year has been so enjoyable!  Previously, I wrote how “enjoying” is my theme for the year.  My goals began simply for us to understand that we wake early so that we can enjoy the day rather than rushing.  That we need to understand math is not an enemy, but is a cool way to make life easier.

So, on our first day of school, this is how our day unfolded:

*Scavenger Hunt
*Devotions
*History – Charlemagne
*Cursive – Letters A-F
*History Sentence Week 1 Copywork
*Go to Library

For me, the most exciting part of the day was to see how much quality time was spent on such few things and how great an impact it made rather than rushing through review.

For my daughter, she was thrilled about having the scavenger hunt and that we went to the library and found a book about rocks and inside was a picture of rocks forming the word “JOY” (Yes!  She totally saw my theme about enjoying!  Double Bonus:  I didn’t see it as a coincidence that we just learned about glorifying God and here, normally silent rocks, are in a book shouting “joy” to us just like in Luke 19:40 when Jesus spoke, “I tell you, if these [people] be silent, the stones will cry out!”)

Also cool, is that we will be learning about birds this year.  And in another book she found at the library,  she found a book about a thrasher bird and we were able to go right to our materials and find out more about the bird right then and there.

But let’s be real here.  All of the day was awesome., but ice cream always seals the deal for a back-to-school celebration!  I had energy and was not stressed out.  So much so, we all went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and then had Graeter’s ice cream for dessert.  It was y-u-m-m-y and a day I will never forget. mammo_09.13.2013

The most common question I get asked is, what curriculum am I using at home and what am I doing that can be done to supplement a child who already attends school.  While I don’t know how to answer the second question just yet, I have listed below a condensed version of my books for the year. Have something you’re thrilled with that helps your kids learn? Leave a comment and let me know!

Language Arts:

Grammar School Grammar – An Analytical Approach to English Grammar
PreScripts Cursive Words and Drawing
PreScripts Cursive Sentences and Art Lessons
The Original McGuffey’s Eclectic First and Second Readers
The Original McGuffey’s Eclectic Progressive Spelling Book
The Writing Road to Reading and Thinking by Myrna McCulloch
Rod and Staff Bible Nurture and Reader Series, Grade 2 and Reading Workbooks
McCall-Crabbs: Standard Test Lessons in Reading, A & B

Age and skill appropriate readers

Geography:

Classical Conversations Geography
Geography Songs Sing Around the World by Kathy Troxel
 

History:

Story of the World, The Middle Ages, Volume II
Classical Conversations History
RightsofthePeople.com:  Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids

Related readers and projects aka “living” books

Government:

Age appropriate library books including How the US Government Works by Syl Sobel

Mathematics:

RightStart™ Mathematics Level B
Math-U-See Alpha
Singapore Math
Spectrum Math

Related activities and math games

Science:

God’s Design for Life science curriculum World of Plants and World of Animals Classical Conversations science curriculum including science experiments
Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology

Health:

Age appropriate books and activities related to nutrition and self care. Cooking projects.

Physical Ed.:

Tennis
Running
Dance
Swimming
Cycling
Geopalz Fitness Tracking

Other formal and informal sports and games

Fine Arts:

Classical Conversations fine arts curriculum which includes famous artist study, art
projects, basic music theory, and basic music appreciation.
Discovering Great Artists: Hands-on Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters
The Art Chest Teacher’s Manual.  Televised Art and Craft Lessons by Dan Mihuta.
Piano Lessons
Violin Lessons

 
First Aid, Safety, Fire Prevention:!

Age appropriate library books including Fireboy to the Rescue! by Edward Miller and Home Safety by Lucia Raatma
Fire station field trip

graeters-smoulder_09.13.2013

kids-40-graeters_09.13.2013

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In Your Presence, There is Fullness of Joy! / Second Homeschool Year, Second Grade

22 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by thewholedeel in Classical Conversations, Homeschooling Classically, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

classical conversations, God, homeschooling, joy, planning

August 12, 2013

Update: Please note changes providing a better glimpse of how our school days actually come about.  🙂

first-day-of-homeschool-08.12_08.22.2013.jpgOur second year of homeschool has begun! I give all the Glory to God for every part of the day, because, had I actually enforced all the work I had planned in my mind, my children (almost 7 and 16 months), would have had a major fit. (Not to mention, I would have been exhausted beyond belief to survive AFTER school!)

Last year, the lesson that I learned was to stop comparing myself to the overflowing bin of projects and work that my daughter brought home from preschool and kindergarten and to realize that quality, not quantity was better. And on that note, I realized at the end of our year while preparing for the end-of-the year portfolio assessment, that our 1st grade bin WAS pretty full with a lot of great things. Not only that… but it was a bin that naturally happened by God’s grace.  He gave me all of my plans and gave me the clarity of mind to line up a wonderful curriculum with a three month old baby.  And on those days that I *thought* I planned something wonderful… it ended up even better things were orchestrated than I could plan.  It was a great learning curve how to teach while managing a household with a growing baby boy and being a part of our Classical Conversations community.  An added bonus was that even in amidst this unchartered territory, my daughter tried for Memory Master for her Timeline from Creation to the present day, History, Science, Latin, Math, Geography, and Presidents.  She did not earn the complete title.. but nailed Timeline, U.S. Presidents, History, and Science… and that was good enough for us!  My hope of a great education has been blessed!

I literally even now look back with goosebumps and thankfulness that God provided. I was even surprised that the teacher who performed our assessment could see how God arranged teachable moments that I did not plan. I mean, who can plan a week on fire safety and then lightning strikes a neighbor’s house and the whole roof and interior is burned up? How was it that I had a blood work appointment and our science lesson for the day ended up being on all the components of what makes up blood? This teacher was so encouraging and I realized that relaxing made a better mom and teacher for us all and kids who were better students (except for Math, which is another story in progress). She explained to me that school outside the home cannot be fully compared to school within the home. Her analogy was that outside school has so many demands made on teachers that it has become like microwave cooking – so much done quickly, but not the same freedom to explore different topics like when home cooking. A home cooked meal takes much more work and careful adding of ingredients… but the outcome is wonderful and ingredients can be changed to enhance a “dish” anytime. I loved this metaphor.

The truth is, though, that I went through mountains and valleys my first year. I am so thankful for the enormous other classical homeschool moms who came around me to encourage me and spur me on.

As we entered summer, I realized that even with all that I learned as a teacher and how much growth I saw in our daughter, I had no clue what teaching the Second Grade would look like with a toddler into everything while running my health and wellness business from home.  I simply could not imagine what my life would be like.  Then I remember one day, I just realized that feeling like this was okay.  It hit me like a ton of bricks, that if God had made our year so wonderful last year, I could jump out into uncharted territory just the same again.

Even still, I planned.  Slowly but surely, I carefully arranged our curriculum for the year.  There was just one problem.  What would our schedule look like for each day?  I thought and I thought.  Weeks I went over different scenarios in my head.  Even after all of this pondering, I STILL could not figure it out!

Suddenly, August 12th, the day I had picked for so long to start our first day of Second Grade, was tomorrow.  I worked feverishly ’till 2 a.m. trying to comprehend my material and what I would teach and exactly how it would look.  You may be thinking how I could be such a procrastinator to wait until the day before… but truly I did not wait… the mass weight of the school year just crept up on my mind!  I was looking for that theme, that glue, that would catapult us into a positive mindset for a great year.  Last year I had done a scavenger hunt for our daughter to search the house high and low for a gold coin.  And we learned about how searching for Wisdom is worth far more than gold.  She loved it!  Our theme was Wisdom for the entire year.  I knew I had to do some sort of hunt again, but for what?

And then… I found it!  I opened up the book to our first day of our devotions and the word literally jumped out at me.  The question of the week was, “What is man’s primary purpose?”

Answer:  “Man’s primary purpose is to glorify God and to ENJOY Him forever!

ENJOY!  I could hear it in my heart at 2 a.m. that this is God’s will for our year!  Why did He even create us?  To glorify HIM, which brings us to ENJOY him!  How much better is it to be around our friends when we edify them?  As a result of thinking highly of them, we begin to see all of their wonderful qualities even more and we ENJOY THEM!

At 2 a.m. in the morning, it became clear to me that in giving Him the Glory for our year before it even began, He would come near to us and bring JOY to our year!  How did I know this?  Our memory work for our first day of school “coincidentally” was:

“You make known to me the path of life; In Your presence there is FULLNESS OF JOY In Your Right Hand, there are pleasures forever.” ~ Psalm 16:11

Wow!  I quickly realized, He would be faithful to make each school day KNOWN to me!  I am merely a translator.  I don’t need to know everything.  He knows it all and will make it known to me!!  He might guide a whole year’s worth my planning, but He always has surprises that show us all who is actually The Teacher in our house.  It all goes back to Him.  Which is the Classical Conversations mission statement.  Why do we homeschool?  To know Him and to make Him known.  At CC orientation last night, even the pastor commented that we, as homeschoolers, have an awesome opportunity.  We can go out into our communities and bring joy to others.

Pondering more about what “enjoying” meant for our homeschool meant for me that I did not need to stay up past 2 a.m. anymore and could trust that a wonderful first day of school would take place. I could use the theme in every part of our day.  We are gonna throw bad attitudes out (like when Math begins) and learn to enjoy it.  We can go outside and enjoy the day.  It is God’s will for us to enjoy each other.  So just like that, my theme for the first day’s scavenger hunt and the year was made:  ENJOY.

You might be wondering how our day went.  I can tell you easing into the day made it enjoyable to the utmost and I will share the details in my next post.

Below are pics of her discovering the fun and what I wrote on each scavenger card she had to find.  Reading it will not make total sense until I share the meaning next time… so stay tuned!  For now, I will go enjoy my bed!  🙂

                                              enjoy_08.22.2013

I’m not sure if you can see that each card has a letter on it.  After she got them all, she had to scramble to find our word for the year, “ENJOY.”

1st card (Blank on Back):

Welcome to the 2nd grade!  Can you guess and find the prize and solve the word that cuts our thoughts and heart like a blade?  (Hint: Check the mail!) (Note: She was looking for an “e”nvelope.  Words, you find in a letter, was the word I was looking for that cuts like a blade.)

E:

E is for early.  Waking up early gets us ready for the day so we can do anything and be prepared to go anywhere!

Follow the noise to where you hear the sound to find the letter N! (Hint: It is round and silver!) ( Note: Inside was a nickel hidden by the TV making the sound to lure her.)

N:

scavenger_08.22.2013 N is for Nickel.  We use it to buy thing.  We can’t pay unless we can add and subtract.  We only have fun after it is bought!

See if you can find the next clue in the spinning cupboard next to the dishwasher

(Hint: It is something you eat!)  (Note: The clue was found on top of the “J”elly in our lazy susan)

J:

J is for Jelly.  It comes from fruit.  We can’t do our work without it.  It’s something God gave to us.  The come from His Spirit.  One of the yummiest ones also starts with J.  Do you know what it is? (I was getting her to think of “Joy”)

Where is the next clue?  It starts with “O”!  Put on your shoes and go! (Note: “O” is for “o”utside.)

O:

O is for outside.  We will be out here a lot.  Loving God’s creatures and exploring His earth!

The next clue is a color.  Look up in Heaven with your eyes.  I’ll give you a hint, the color starts with “Y.” (Note:  The color was Yellow.)

Y:

Y is for yellow.  It is the color of the sun.  In second grade we will learn all about the heavens, the stars, the sun, and the moons.  Did you know it was all made to give praise to God’s Son?

Y is also for you.  God made YOU so He could smile.  So we must thank Him by doing everything to praise Him!  🙂

E-N-J-O-Y

When she unscrambled them, she found the card with the word spelled out and on the other side, a picture of an ice cream cone.  Hooray!  Enjoying Ice Cream at the end of our first day!

Remember to enjoy your day!

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Tasting Ancient Africa – Classical Conversations Week 13

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by thewholedeel in Classical Conversations, Healthy Children, Homeschooling Classically, Projects, Recipes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

africa, bananas, classical conversations, dates, instant soy protein, math, timeline

avelyn-ancient-africa-2It’s an exciting time whenever a homeschool project brings together multiple subjects we are studying all into one and uses my daughter’s gift of creativity.  But when all of this happens by ACCIDENT?  Oh my word!  It is an absolute wonderful miracle that only God can be given the credit for!

It all started with a great week back at Classical Conversations as we entered Week 13 and the Age of Exploration.  Two moments in our timeline song include “Slave Trade in Africa” and “Songhai in Africa” – which are two of the most fun parts of the week to sing.  Naturally, then, I decided we would study about Africa in our Story of the World curriculum.  At the end of the lesson were two recipes using ingredients found in Africa – dates and plantains (we used bananas).  I thought to myself… “Do I really want to do this?”  “Will it be a good use of my time if they don’t turn out?”  I debated and debated.  Finally, I decided since we have been memorizing also in Classical Conversations, mathematical measurement conversions used in baking, that we would go ahead and try it.  Something inside me told me I wouldn’t regret it.

Wow!  Was I ever right!  Both recipes were not only delicious, but my daughter and I bonded SO well.  She was intently interested in how many teaspoons were in a tablespoon and in mixing thoroughly every ingredient.  We laughed, we talked about so many topics that we wouldn’t normally have.  It was WONDERFUL.  As we baked, I knew it was moments like these that are why I homeschool.  What time would I have with a baby to do extra baking if she were in school?  How would I ever know ahead of time what she was learning to coordinate our activities at home to reinforce her learning?  I just plain old wouldn’t.  banana-date-bars-avelyn-ancient-africaAn added element for me as a mom was being able to substitute a third of the flour with Instant Soy Protein so I knew both of these treats were not only healthy with fruits, but also that the carbohydrates were dramatically cut and I know my little sweetie will be growing while enjoying.

It was so nice to serve these to my ladies who gathered at my house later that evening.  Baking, math, Africa, memorizing our Timeline, Science, hearts connecting… does it get any better than this?  I treasure these years dearly.

Here are the Recipes:

banana-date-bars-africa

Date and Banana Protein Bars:

Ingredients:

*1/4 cup butter

*3/4 cup sugar

*1 egg

*1tsp. vanilla

*2 medium bananas

*2/3 c. flour

*1/3 c. Instant Soy Protein

*1/4 tsp. baking soda

*1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

*1/2 cup chopped dates

*(Optional:  1/4 cup almonds)

Icing:
*2 tablespoons butter

* 1 tablespoon lemon juice

*1/2 teaspoon vanilla

*3/4 c. powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar.

2. Add the egg and vanilla.

3. Stir in the bananas and dry ingredients

4. Add the dates and almonds.

5. Bake in an 8″ x 8″ pan at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until edges are turning brown.

L1040950

Date Protein Chewies:

Ingredients:

* 1 c. chopped dates

* 2 eggs

*1 c. sugar

*1/2 c. flour

*1/4 c. Instant Soy Protein

*1 tsp. baking powder

*1 c. pecans, ground

*1/4 c. powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a blender, blend eggs and dates together.  Set aside.

2. In mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and pecans.  Add in egg mixture.

3. Pour into ungreased cookie sheets.  Press the mixture down so it will be as thin as possible.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Remove from oven and cut into bars while hot.

5. Roll into balls and then roll in the powdered sugar as soon as the chewies are cool enough to handle.

I would love any comments on how you reduce the sugar.  Next time I will try agave syrup and see what happens!  Who knows what other great things will happen because of an accident?

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