The Mountain of Laundry Excuse

We've been away for two weeks, visiting sunny and warm Costa Rica, where we lived for a couple of years a few years back.  It was a great trip, but I was completely without internet for the entire trip; hence the long absence.  We got home yesterday after a very long wait for luggage.  I now have a two week high mountain of laundry to do so I may still be absent for a while. 

Photos of the trip to come...

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We Choose Virtues - a TOS review

 We Choose Virtues is a character development tool that was created by Heather McMillan when...

 "...she realized that she wanted to teach children how to change. Not just a momentary change of actions, but a more lasting change in their attitudes as well. Her observation is that children needed to be inspired by simple, positive and consistent instructions, and parents and teachers needed an effective language with which to communicate these instructions.

It was out of this necessity that Heather created the original list of virtues and their unforgettable catchphrases. She used them at home with their four children, taught them in her own Preschool classroom, introduced them to fellow teachers,  parents, and professional counselors."  - from website.

How it works is that you introduce the virtues, demonstrate them, memorize the catchphrases, then learn the antonyms, and capture teachable moments in which the virtue is or isn't being used.  The parent or teacher cards actually have teaching tips and such on them. (see photo)

   I haven't used those, but we did receive a Teacher's handbook PDF that gave us some tips. 

We received the brand new Virtue Clues from We Choose Virtues.  These are handy little cards in full color, which feature the Virtue Kids, their names, the Virtue catchphrase and antonyms, and on the back, a "You can do it" challenge.  The best part is that they come in a nice little plastic pouch, protecting them if you choose to carry them in your purse.  Bear and I both delight in that little pouch! It has a Velcro closure that she adores due the butterfly sticker that's there to hide the back of the Velcro.

Bear loves the Virtue Kids!  She has those cards out all the time to read them.  She loves their rhyming names because they are cute (Cake Jake, Stop Sign Madeline, Hockey Stick Nick...).  The names are cleverly thought up.  Each name starts with the first letter of the virtue.  Cake Jake = I am Content. Stop Sign Madeline = I am Self-controlled.  No two virtues start with the same letter so the Virtue Kids' names are meant to help the children remember the virtues better.  Worked for Bear.  I thought it was clever and it earned the whole program bonus points from me.  

Each card is a different color as well.  This also helps with keeping the virtues straight.  I love all the thought that has gone into this!

Another sound pedagogical component to the cards is that they not only define the virtue (I am Gentle. I speak quietly and touch softly.), but they provide antonyms or non-examples (I am NOT...rough, harsh, or loud, and I don't destroy things or hurt people!).  When I took my teacher training years ago, I distinctly remember our social studies professor telling us that abstract ideas need to be defined with both examples and non-examples and that is just what We Choose Virtues has done.  More bonus points!

We also received the Kids of VirtueVille Coloring Book. It is available on the We Choose Virtues website for $3.00 as a download only. In it are coloring pages of all the kids.  I haven't printed it out, but it would be a nice go-along and I know Bear would love it.

To help us with our experience with the Virtue Clues, Heather sent us PDFs of  2 freebies (a family character assessment and the Kids Memory verses, Bible Heroes and Truths) that are always available as downloads from the store and the Teacher's handbook ($4.95 for the PDF download or $15.00 for the print copy).  The Teacher's handbook made a huge difference in how we used the cards (before I came up with what we are doing now with the cards - see near the end of the post), but what I would most love to try are the parenting cards.  Those have the activities and teachings to do for each virtue.  I love the Virtue Clues for the reasons listed above, but while the Virtue Clues are fun, alone (without the rest of the We Choose Virtues products - specifically the teaching cards) they may not be enough to instill the virtues in my children.  Of course, the Virtue Clues are MEANT to be used IN CONJUNCTION with the rest of the We Choose Virtues curriculum.  Not having reviewed or used any of the other parts of the curriculum, I can't say whether the Virtue Clues are a necessary part of the curriculum, but we love them and have adapted them so they can be useful without the parenting cards.  Have they changed the behaviors in my children?  Not completely.  I didn't expect them too, not when I still struggle with some of those virtues! However, they have made Bear more aware of what some virtues are and how she should act, or not act, for each virtue.

I am saving up for a light table for the children, so although I really, really want the parenting cards (I wonder how good the teaching tips and activities are?) and may purchase them in the future, I can't right now.  Instead, I modified some resources I already had (Parenting with Scripture and the PDF Heather sent of the Memory verses, Bible Heroes and Truths) to make my Virtue Clues more useful for us. In case you are curious as to what exactly we do: We choose a virtue, read the pages from Parenting with Scripture that best fit, then memorize the memory verse from the PDF.  I also read the story of whichever Bible hero is assigned to the virtue.

The Virtue Clues are $5.99 for 13 cards in a nice carrying pouch.  They were shipped in a padded envelope too!

Read what others thought about We Choose Virtues here.

Disclaimer: I received these cards in exchange for this review.  No other compensation was received.  The opinions expressed are my own.

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Counting while playing

One of the play things in our yard are the ten stumps I salvaged from the neighbors when they had their tall pines removed last year. 

They are great for displaying nature and leaving popcorn out for the birds.

 And equally, or even more, great for leaping across.

 I wrote numbers on them in sidewalk chalk...

 ..to help J-jo with number recognition as he counted the stumps on his journeys across them.

Once he has mastered 1-10, we'll write 11-20 on them, and then skip count the tens to 100.

We could write letters on them too, or sight words...when he gets to sight words.

linked to Math Monday.

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Maestro Classics - The Story of Swan Lake

The Story of Swan Lake from Maestro Classics has become a new favorite in the car these days.  Bear and J-jo love hearing the story of the prince who falls in love with a swan princess.  The story is interspersed with Tchaikovski's beautiful and enchanting music.  I was very pleased with this CD and it makes for a wonderful addition to our homeschool for music appreciation.  Although the CD is geared for ages 5+, my 2 and 4 year old enjoyed it tremendously.

Maestro Classics offers many more stories set to music.  Visit Maestro Classics and listen to some of the music samples.  Each CD comes with a 24 page activity guide with additional information and activities such as a biography of Tchaikovsky, information on acoustic and electric guitars, sheet music and words for a sing-along song, explanation of major and minor keys, puzzles and more.

The curriculum guides Maestro Classics offers (free) for each CD allows a parent to use each CD as a wonderful unit study if desired.  I love that this is all there, even though we haven't used it yet.  I love that when I am ready to do a more directed study of Tchaikovsky with the kids, I have a place to go for the information and activity ideas.

Maestro Classics offers their selections on CD ($16.98) or as downloadable MP3s ($9.98).  You can also find Maestro Classics on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I received a free copy of "The Story of Swan Lake" for giving my honest opinion of this product.

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Fetching Jonas Blake

I've always wanted to know an author and it just so happens that Bear's history and drama teacher this year at Master's Academy is a bona fide author!  When I found out her young adult novel, Fetching Jonas Blake, had just been published, I asked if I could read it and she was kind enough to give me a copy in exchange for a review.

The story takes place during the Revolutionary War.  Anne, her twin brother Tom, and their sister Betsy, are trying to maintain their Virginian farm on their own, as their mother has died and their father is ill.  When Will Norrington comes trying to take their farm, Anne realizes that even though she is an independent young woman, she needs a man to protect what is theirs.  She and her siblings embark on a journey to find Jonas Blake, the brave militia captain who once worked on their farm.  Will Jonas want to help them, though?

I stayed up nights to read this.  Margaret McKinney has written Fetching Jonas Blake in such an engaging style that I didn't want to put the book down.  Not only that, but the story involves the use of flashbacks in every other chapter, which conveniently leave you hanging, desperate to read the following chapter to get to the next flashback to find out what happened.   Fetching Jonas Blake has the perfect mix of wit and humor, with Betsy, the protagonist's sister providing a lot of comic relief with her attitude and behavior.

It's hard to find decent young adult literature that isn't about vampires or teens full of angst.  This was a refreshing read and while it included romance, it was definitely G-rated.  I'd recommend it for ages 12 up.  I am eagerly awaiting her sequel, told from the point of view of Anne's sister Betsy. 

Fetching Jonas Blake is available to purchase from Tate Publishing as a paperback ($16.99) or as an eBook download ($9.99).

You can also visit Margaret McKinney's website and read a sample chapter of the book or delight in some other writing she has done.

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Montessori Monday

 We were blessed with some really good Montessori work periods last week.  Here are some of the highlights.

Math:

J-jo worked on the number rods with me.  We combined it with the counting cards I reviewed here, which he had chosen from the shelf.  He was able to match the numeral to the numeral on each card (on the reverse of the cards, not shown in the photo).

 Bear worked on the stamp game - dynamic subtraction.  She can do these alone now.

Sensorial:

Bear enjoyed the pink tower and broad stair, creating her own extension.

 And working on her favorite traditional extension as well.

 They cooperated to return them to their spots, each carrying the next one in the correct order.  I was impressed with J-jo's ability to do this without his sister telling him which block came next.

J-jo tried to put this away.  I had left it out like this as an invitation.  He got frustrated. It was too hard for him.  Bear was going to do it, but she was working on her pink tower stuff and I couldn't help myself.  I LOVE the knobbed cylinders.

 J-jo likes the binomial cube.  He can almost do it alone in the box.

 Bear was up to the challenge of trying to complete the binomial and trinomial out of the box.  Mission accomplished!  First she practiced the trinomial in the box, because it had been a long time since she had last done this.

 And on another day, to make sure she could still do it.

Linked to Montessori Monday.

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S is for Sun

I was feeling that J-jo had no direction in his days.  He wandered aimlessly while Bear did some school work in the morning.  Since she isn't doing much Montessori anymore, he isn't drawn to the shelves at all.  Wanting to spend more time with him and knowing the shelves and Montessori material weren't going to allow that, I purchased the My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum to use with him.  Obviously, he isn't ready to learn to read and though the MFW K curriculum does focus on that, it also focuses a lot on scripture and wonderful letter of the week themes that allow for a lot of learning about science and nature.  So far, he is thriving with the structure and I feel a huge relief that everything is already planned out for me (though that hasn't stopped me from adding fun activities into the mix).  I LOVE this curriculum and how it allows Bear and J-jo to combine school. We're still doing Montessori, but this focuses the morning before we move on to Montessori.

The first theme is S is for Sun.

We experienced walking in the dark and noticed how the sun helps us see so that we won't trip.  We learned that Jesus is the light of the world and that he also helps us see and not trip.

We made raisins by placing grapes in the sun (Mommy often had to sneak them into the oven after baking to speed up the process as the winter sun isn't really hot enough to turn grapes into raisins.

We used a flashlight to represent the sun and used our globe to show how the earth rotating causes night and day and how night is really just a shadow.

We made a sundial and measured the passage of time with the sun.  We were able to go outside the second day and realize that it was after 12 by looking at our sundial.

We read Frank Asch's Bear Shadow, which is a delightful little story of how Bear tries to get rid of his shadow.  We went outside and noticed shadows, including our own, and we played shadow tag.

 

We made sunprints, using nature this time instead of buttons.
 

At the end of the week, I had Bear tell me what she remembered learning about the sun.  I wrote it down for her and she cut a circle for a sun.  She didn't want to put rays on it, even though her brother had for his sun craft.

Books we read:
Bear Shadow


Sun Up, Sun Down,


What Makes a Shadow


Who likes the Sun?


The Sun is Always Shining Somewhere (very simple.  Great for a 2 year old)



The sound /s/ work

The curriculum is laid out so that each day you work on one sheet with your student and work through some activities for that week's sound.  I really like how it is set up.  It is very Montessori-inspired, except for the fact that the student isn't choosing.  However, there are sound sorts, textured letters to trace,and tactile tracing activities.  I don't do all the sheets with J-jo.  The handwriting practice, for example, gets given to Bear.

On the math day, in which he chooses numbers and writes them and then draws that many items in a box, I have him choose a number stamp and stamp his number.  He then used a sun stamp this week to stamp out the correct number of suns for the number he had chosen.  I help with this and count with him as he stamps the suns.

Day 5 has the child write and draw pictures for the letter sound, so instead I have printed out all the ABC sheets from 1+1+1=1 (see photo) for him to color.  I give him the letter we are working on for the week.

They make a badge every week to go with the Bible lesson and theme of the week.  The sun also addressed abab patterns with the rays.  The sheet is glued on is printed from Mama Jenn, who also is doing the MFW K curriculum.  There was cutting work (which he did!) and gluing work - see the sheet to the right of the sun.  He also did a sticker activity that I made up, which I explain below.

I bought a barely-used used Deluxe package and it came with the cuisenaire rods and the Cuisenaire Rods Alphabet Book, which I think is great for spatial development, but is a little too tricky for J-jo.  Bear usually does the pages...sometimes.


Here's a sound sort type of activity.  J-jo is to put the token on the pictures that begin with the letter sound.  He isn't quite ready for this.  It's hit and miss - some days he gets them all right and other days all wrong.

The same thing happens with the sound sorts.  He's really not in the Sensitive period for word sorts.  I keep trying them in the hopes of catching him when he hits that period.


His favorite activity was finding the "s" stickers and placing them on paper suns and then gluing the suns on a red paper.




We sing the phonetic alphabet song using the flashcards everyday.  With the three letters, he is asked to give me the /s/ as I mix up the letters.  The smaller cards are pictures of things that start with /s/.  He'll do sound sorts with them later, after more letters have been introduced.

He used wiki sticks to make the letter s.

Here's how he finds his trays set up when he comes to the school room.

Our week went so smoothly and we had some great Montessori work periods too.  However, J-jo is starting to resist naps (I don't wanna!) though he still sleeps 2 hours once I put him down.  His naps are also starting to run too close to bedtime so he can't fall asleep at his regular (early) bedtime.  It looks like I will be having to drop his nap soon.

Next week we add our Classical Conversations readings and memory work into the mix and it will be interesting to see how I manage to do that!

linked to Weekly Wrap up, Preschool Corner and 5K too, and Tot School

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REAL Homeschool Spanish - a TOS review

I was fortunate to try out another Spanish curriculum.  This one is called R.E.A.L Homeschool Spanish and I was duly impressed by its organization. The book is really well laid out.

R.E.A.L  is an acronym for relax, enjoy, aspire, learn Spanish. The program is designed for the whole family to learn together. It is geared toward grades K-8, but according to the website a high school supplement will be available soon.

 
The entire beginning section of the Teacher book includes tips and ideas of how to use the curriculum.  The guide states if there are "35 Vocabulary clusters, and approximately 32-38 ‘school year’ weeks, some highschoolers might be able to comfortably work through the material in one school year...A preschooler and or early elementary school child, could spread the learning out over two and a half to three years."  There is a lot to cover in this R.E.A.L Homeschool Spanish, but there is no rush to get through it. A curriculum planning guide is included to help you spread the material out as best fits your family.

The 35 vocabulary clusters include: greetings, colors, numbers, telling time, food, family, the body, clothes and weather, places, days of the week, transportation, sports, animals, and more.  Grammar and verbs are infused within each unit.

The activity book has a lot of written activities, for which Bear isn't ready, so we simply skipped them; but at least I know I have these to go back to when she is older.

The audio is clear and the speaker is a native Spanish speaker so the accent is authentic. I did find some echo in some of the dialogues.  I didn't end up using the audio because I can speak Spanish and it was more fun to use puppets to act out the dialogues.

There are SO many ideas for ways to proceed with the lesson and introduce the vocabulary.  It isn't scripted.  You can choose which activities will work for your family.  A page or two of ideas follows each unit.  Activities vary for different aged students.  Puppet shows, board games like Candyland but using the vocabulary cards to play, using magazines to find pictures that represent the vocabulary and way, way more.

I like this curriculum so far, but find it challenging to use it off the computer.  I will likely end up printing most of the pages so I can highlight and mark the activities I want to do with the kids.  If I had had to purchase my own copy, I would have opted buy the print version.

R.E.A.L. Homeschool Spanish is available as a bundle that includes book, activity book, answer book, and audio files.  A download version is available for $49.95 without the daily curriculum guide and $59.95 with the curriculum guide.  A print version is $89.99 w/o curriculum guide and $99.95 with the guide.

Visit the Crew blog to see what other TOS crew members thought of REAL Homeschool Spanish.

Disclaimer: I received this product in exchange for a review.  This is my honest opinion.  No additional compensations were given.

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Bear's room featured on Oh Dee Doh

Bear's room has been featured at Oh Dee Doh! Check it out here.

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Twelve Things for 2012

A new year of course means resolutions.  Here's a quick list of what I am hoping to work on this year.

1. Read 12 books for me.  That's one a month and when I look at it that way, it seems extremely manageable.

2. Develop a meal plan that works for my family.  I despise cooking.  I never know what to cook and my kids are EXTREMELY picky. I want to make my life easier with a meal plan.

3. Limit my computer time and focus more on my family. I spend too much time looking for the "perfect" things to do with my kids instead of spending quality time with them just doing whatever they want to.  I keep reminding myself that it is me they want, not the activity I've planned.

4. Do at least 12 of the things I have pinned on Pinterest. Looking forward to this!

5. Spend more time in nature.  I used to hike a lot and haven't in years, so I plan on doing at least 2 hikes/nature walks per month.  I'd obviously like more, but the point is to accomplish these twelve things, so I will start small.

6. Start a garden.  I always say I have a black thumb, but Bear really wants to have a garden this year.  Maybe she can turn my black thumb into a green one. 

7. Take more field trips.  I'd like to visit at least 6 museums/parks in our city that we haven't yet seen.

8. Learn to use Photoshop.  I feel I take decent pictures of my children (not talking about the blog's photos), but would love the help of Photoshop to make them even better.

9.Try to sleep 8 hours a night.  This means an earlier bedtime.  This is REALLY hard for me.  We'll see how I do.  I used to be a morning person, but having kids has flip-flopped me into a night owl and it is rare I go to bed before midnight.  I know that a lot of my impatience could be cured by more sleep.

10.  Use my copy of Parenting With Scripture more.  I love this book and need to get in the habit of using it more instead of losing my patience. 

11. Not get sucked into letting my children watch Disney movies.  So far, the few things they have watched have not helped their behavior at all.  (Nemo tells his father he hates him and tonight Bear decided to try out that line on her dad, which led us to bring out Parenting With Scripture and have a long talk with her.)  And on that note, although we love Frances books, the TV show is a no-go, as she uses the word hate in it as well and now J-jo loves to chant "Frances says Hate."  What's with the word hate on TV?  Don't they want kids to grow up LOVING others?

12. Review this list monthly, because what is the point of making it if I later forget about it?

I pray to fare better this year with my resolutions than I did last year.  How many of you have made resolutions?  Feel free to leave your links in the comments if you have blogged about your resolutions.

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