Tuesday, June 29, 2010

small sacrifices with big impacts,

for all you ladies who sew, here is a pillow case challenge I think me and my girls will whip up a few out of fabric already in my sewing room. it is a nice easy thing for young girls just getting started to do that will have a huge impact on some ones life!! just think 30 minutes or so of your life could let some one else know they are loved. how awesome is that.
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

web sites

I added some new links in sites that I like to visit, one for catholic supplies and one for my local catholic book store, both have many thngs, books, roseries ect.. I also found this site might give it a try.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

planning

Well today is the day, I will start planning for the fall learning! I am always a little nervous because there is so much out there and soooo many choices. I never can make a decision, it seems like I am changing plans more then making them, hehe
But I think I have a good plan this year, vision books. We will be using vision books as our main learning and going from there. I picked up a couple of them at my local catholic book store, along with a teacher guide book. It has vocab, time lines, C.C.C. and Scripture connections, and more. So I think we will read the books out loud  over several weeks. And study the geography and time period of the saints life. If the saint lived in 1504 a.d. you could study things happening all around the world in 1504 a.d. You could study all the geographical places the saint went. You could use the vocab words as spelling words and use the C.C.C. and Scripture as handwriting practice. They also have topics for reports and discussions. So from one book as your core you can spin off into;
engish, handwriting, vocab, spelling
geography, history, 
Bible, C.C.C., church teachings
so all you are missing is science and math. Awesome!!, so I think we will each book read slowly and plan a lesson for each book that goes over about 4 weeks. We will have group time each morning doing things related to the book and then after lunch do individual math on Tuesday and Thursday and have science after lunch on Monday and Friday, Wednesday will be nothing after lunch to prepare for C.C.D. I figure if we read 2-3 chapters a week, that leaves plenty of time for other learning and spreads it out enough to not feel rushed. There are enough of these books that I think I could plan 2 or 3 years like this. I like this because it puts our Faith at the center of our learning, and our lives. And after all isn't that where it should be? 

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Saturday, June 26, 2010

I really should start planning for the fall, but its sooo hot I don't think my brain will work. On the plus side we had a great vbs and had a house blessing
Amy

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

I think I need a day off!! Haha, somehow I don't think I will get one.
Amy

Sunday, June 13, 2010

week of 6/13-6/18

Well This will be a light week. We have company coming from out of state, and V.B.S. is next week so I will be doing a lot of prep and meeting with the helpers.
We will be doing a lot of reading for the library's summer reading program. We will be doing daily bible study along with bible workbooks. I might squeeze in a math lesson, and we will talk about interdependence of people in the world. I am still not sure how we will do this, I think mainly it will be a discussion. I think we might make some flow charts on how things go from point a to b to c to you! And talk about how we use things like our home garden to support ourselves, and tie it in with carbon footprints, and being a good steward of our earth and resources and how this relates to being a good follower of Christ.
We will also be getting ready for our trip to Michigan the week of the 28th, busy busy time.
I thought summer was supposed to be relaxing : )

As for the home schooling group I am trying to start in our town We have 4 families signed up, not to shabby.
this is a great homschool resources, it has books that are great in instructing boys and girls in things like home ec, hygine ect...

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi
Well I am trying a mobile post, lets see how it works!
Amy

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

This has been one of those weeks where I need to decide if its worth the fight. My son who is 12 just has not wanted to do his work, he has just a bit to catch up on, really an hour or so of work if he would just sit down and do it, and he is just not willing to do, fussing and asking to take a break after not doing anything for 2 hours. So do I make him sit and do the work?? Or say this is why we home school so that when he is having an off week he can step back, put the work down and come back to it with renewed interest. The thing is I want him to get it done so we can be down except the little bit of group work we do after our morning bible study, I have tons of things racing through my mind, and would love to be able to say; school, CHECK so I have one less thing to think about.
V.B.S.is only 2 weeks away and I have so much to do still, next week will be a busy one.
Over at wardrobe refashion I got tons of ideas and can not wait to start sewing!! oh, if only there were more hours in the day, or I didn't need to sleep, : )

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Summer schedule

Well summer is here, I had hoped to be on our summer schedule by now, but we were a little behind and will be finished by the end of this week. Some sooner then others. We do school all year long but use the summer to review, touch on new things a little and do READ!! The kids are reading up a storm and each have read quite a few books for the summer reading program. We also turned in the Borders reading program sheets and picked out their free books.

It seems like time is flying by much too fast, 2 weeks until v.b.s. I am a little unprepared feeling, It is the first v.b.s. that I have made up on my own, but I think it will go well it is called Saints Alive!! and all about saints. We picked 5 saints to do 1 for days, 1-3, day 4 we do 2 blessed Marian founders, and Friday we do Mary and the party. Wish us luck.

I have much to think about as far as planning next years school, having tried a lot of different methods the last few years, I am thinking of doing a mix of traditional and unschooling starting in the fall. But I am still unsure. I hate changing so often but I am still trying to find the right fit.
Summer schedule goes like this:
bible & ccc reading, a little group work (maybe 30 minutes or so) and then reading.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi