What's Been Going On in the Schoolroom

My intentions were to write about what happened during the previous week in school. I am lagging behind. :)

So I am going to play catch up tonight.

Our first two weeks we learned about the Creation. Sweetie made a chart depicting the seven days of creation, and a "Creation Book" illustrating the seven days of creation. I have "good intentions" on having it professionally spiral bound at Office D*epot. I am hoping that it will be a keepsake for her.

From there we learned about the Sun. I went to the library and checked out many books on the sun.

There is *SO* much we learned about the sun. I need to have Sweetie dictate to me in her own words what she learned, and then I will post it on here.

Some of the things we learned about the sun is where it is in relation to the earth, what it's made out of, how the earth revolves around it, how to tell time with the sun, how big it is, how day and night work, that plants use it for food, etc. Those are just some of the things we learned about the sun.

For our spiritual aspect of the learning about the Sun, we learned that Jesus *is* the light, the true light of the World.

Here are some pictures from our week of learning about the sun :

We did an experiment on these grapes. We set them out in the sun to see what the sun would do to them. We made up a chart and drew the changes in the grapes with each new day. We worked on our chart for four days.We also learned that the earth is spinning on it's axis, making day and evening. We made our own sun dial out of clay, a folder and a pencil. Sweetie got to see that the shadow of the pencil moved as the earth spun and turned away from the sun. She really enjoyed this experiment. :)

So that was what our third week in homeschooling was like in a nut shell. Of course there were the "regular subjects" such as math, reading, and writing. Sweetie painted a Monet type of painting of the sun. It turned out beautiful and we will be entering it in our county fair which will be happening next month. :)

Books in the Home

My friend Esther Ruth posted this on her My Space page. I thought it was interesting enough to share myself. :)

I am not sure where she read it though.

"Books in the home, even if they aren't necessarily read by the parents,
promote better scores not only in English, but also in science and math. The NEA
study indicated that shelves of books are more important than income or parental
educational background.Homes with 10 or fewer books yield the lowest test
scores, and the scores increase steadily with more books in the home, in
history, civics, math and science. The issue is not income, according to the
study, or even whether the parents have a college education. "Students of
high-school-educated parents living in homes with more than 100 books outscored
students with college-educated parents and 0-10 books in the home", the study
notes."A poor family, with books in the house, will produce a child, on the
average, who will do better in those subjects than a rich kid with no books in
the house...the data just shows the power of the home environment."

This is one of the first things you see when you walk in the front door. It's no wonder my kids are so smart, huh? ;-)

A New Name

Well, I thought and thought of a new name for this blog yesterday. This is what I came up with. I hope it embodies the Charlotte Mason Philosophy. What do you think?

Ooops! Correction in Order!

Today, I opened up a very surprising email. It was both flattering, and also one that made me want to slap my hand on my forehead!

Due to my foggy mommy brain, and reading alot of materials on homeschooling, I mistakenly thought that Charlotte Mason coined the phrase "The Gentle Art of Learning"

I was deeply mistaken. It was Karen Andreola, author of "The Charlotte Mason Companion" that coined the phrase.

Her husband sent me a kind email informing me of this error, and asks that I rename the blog; Which I gladly will do.

I ask my sincerest apologies to anyone I may of misled regarding this phrase. And my deepest apologies to the Andreola family!

More On Charlotte Mason

Since this blog is anything "homeschooling", then whatever is on my mind at the moment about this subject will likely find it's way here. :)

This is my first year of homeschooling, and I am still forming my "style". It will probably change and evolve over the years as I gain better understanding, wisdom, and experience.

Charlotte Mason is a lady that I deeply respect and admire. There are few things in her ideas that seem a bit "off" to me. But that's ok. It isn't a huge deal; just something I won't eat. ;-)

My friend sent a link to me of a great article as an overview of the Charlotte Mason Philosophy of learning.

Please CLICK HERE to read. :) Have a wonderful day! :)

A Homeschool Compliment

At times, the responsibility of homeschooling can overwhelm me. But I know that I am doing what is best for Sweetie.

Yesterday, I had to visit our local target, which just happens to have a Starbucks inside of it. And they just happened to have pumpkin spice frappechinos. ;-)

While we were waiting in line, a friend from church walked into Target. I stopped to talk with her. Sweetie joined in on the conversation with me.

Lady: Hubby is out of town. I *Hate* it when he goes out of town!

Sweetie: You know what? Daddy went to work one day, and worked *all* night! He didn't even sleep! And when he got home, he took a nap until SUPPER TIME!

(She said this with much drama, and animation as she could)

By this time my coffee was ready, and there was a lady there waiting for her coffee. This lady asked me what grade Sweetie was in, and I told her kindergarten. She asked where she went to school, and I informed her that she is home schooled.

This lady then says, "I can tell! She is very smart. I am a first grade teacher, and schools love to have children like her. Her use of words, and willingness to participate is what they want."

I thanked her politely. Encouraged that someone in edcuation was impressed with Sweeties skills.

But, today I realized something. Schools wouldn't like Sweetie, I don't think. Now, why would I say that, after that nice lady gave me a genuine compliment?

Well, even though Sweetie is *very* smart, they would probably classify her as ADD.

She has a hard time staying on task. They wouldn't appreciate her creativity then.

She is a very hands on and a visual learner. She wouldn't fit in well with their curriculum of staying at a desk for hours doing seat work.

She tends to hum while she works. They would want her to be quiet so as to not disturb the other students.

Nope. I don't think they would love to have Sweetie after all. I know I am doing the right thing homeschooling her where she can learn in an enviroment that can tolerate her. I think I'll keep her here with me. ;-)

Nature Walks

One of the "big" things in Charlotte Mason's philosophy is nature study.

Three days, last week, I took the kids for a walk around our neighborhood. Hoping, to find something new and different, that we have never seen before, or unique and that usually misses our eye, because we are "busy".

Every time, before we walk out the door, we have asked the Lord to help us spot these things. And every time, we pleasantly discover something new and unique that we've never seen.

On the first day, we saw horses on neighboring properties. We, ourselves don't live on property, but,our neighborhood backs up to an area that has a few "mini" farms. This provides ample opportunity to find interesting things.

I am so grateful to live in an area like that. We are not totally "in the country" but it is close enough for us to enjoy some of the benefits. :)

One day I brought the camera along. I would like to share some pictures of what we "discovered" that day.

And we found this guy in our front yard as we came home from a walk. We had tons of fun playing with him, and using him as a subject for our turtle photo shoot. :)