Planning for 2015-2016 school year ~ I am loving vintage books!!

  This is the time of year when the current school year ends and I begin praying and preparing for the next school year. I am also starting to see clearly my homeschooling recipe. I am for sure an Eclectic / Charlotte Mason homeschooling mom with the love antique/ vintage books. I can't wait to post about the vintage books but today I want to stay focused on my curriculum choices.

Keeping:

1. Wisdom Booklets: Bible, music, science,history, law, health
2. Math U See
3. Easy Grammar
4. McGuffey readers
5. Biblioplan : Medieval
6. Mystery of History :The Early Church and Middle Ages (as an optional spine/reading)

New:

1. Elson Readers
2. Truth Quest History : Middle Ages & Renaissance/Reformation/Exploration
3. Bob Jones Chemistry
4. God's Design for Chemistry (Answers in Genesis)

 We have been using the Wisdom Booklets from the beginning of our homeschooling days. Christ clearly called us to using them. We read them together every morning to start our day it is our Bible, music, and time to look at life through all the subjects together. The Wisdom Booklets contain each subject. In the past we have been doing the projects but I have decided to go back to learning history in chronological order and focus on a science topic.

 I really like Biblioplan for my highschool students who are more independent . They can go through studying history in 4 years. In the study  they can include literature and Geography. I will be using Biblioplan textbook as resource for my elementary and Jr.high students.

  I am excited to give Truth Quest History a try. It is a Charlotte Mason /Eclectic flavor that is my favorite in a learning style. I love that Christ is the center and that the book lists are vintage books from an era when literature was not dumbed down, Christ, and good morals are woven throughout the books. These beautiful books are from 1820's to 1960. Many of the authors being in the 1940's or before in the time of J.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, G.A.Henty, Genevieve Foster, Ingri and Edgar d' Aulaire books etc. I love how she has a conversational keeping Christ the center , God focused not man ,and how man responds to Him. She then has a list of books that we can sit together and learning about man's response to God in a chronological order. I am having a blast tracking down these antique and vintage books. Many can be found in the library.She also lists spine options for those who want to read through a book that teaches history in a living book story telling style. Since I really enjoy Mystery of History and Linda Hobar's love for the Lord that shines from her writings I am going to include it as an optional spine for Truth Quest ,even though it is not listed as a spine,so MOH will still be apart of both those doing Biblioplan and Truth Quest.I am looking forward to snuggling up on the couch with some great living books this fall.

 Another new vintage book series we are going to add to next school year is the Elson Readers. I am going to have them read through the Elson readers so they are reading other types of great literature for reading in poems, stories, fairy tales, etc. so they are not just reading historical type books. The Elson Readers are a collection from great antique & vintage authors .  I found some original books that were printed in 1920 the year my house was built.

  We are going to continue using the McGuffey readers. I love these books and I purchased the 1857 version that has Charlotte Mason teaching tips in the beginning and more instruction that McGuffey added to the original 1836 version. This was the last set of readers he was directly involved with so it still has Christ interwoven. click here for 1857 version

 As for Science we are going to do Bob Jones Chemistry highschool and give it a try this year. I am not a fan of Apologia Highschool Science books and since we are no longer attending the co-op that uses it I am taking advantage of trying something new. We will also be doing the God's Design for Chemistry. I really enjoy the Apologia elementary science but I am looking for a Christ centered science with less reading and more hands on experiments etc. so we are going to give this try. Everyone will being doing Chemistry.

I love Math U See and Easy Grammar. They are keepers in this house!

My books are slowly coming in for next year so I will be posting about them. I pray the Lord leads and guides your homeschool for next year. I pray He provides everything you need strength, endurance, focus, books, and most importantly a closer walk with Him as you follow your Shepherd and feeding His sheep.

Wb 36 History Resource part 1 ...World War 2 evacuation of Dunkirk,France

 Today We completed the history resource part 1. I am sick with the flu/ cold but have energy and enjoying the WB lessons as they point me to Christ so pressing forward. I wanted to add to the resource question ( How did God demonstrate His power from death?) to my kids so they could not only see how God protects but the example of fleeing from danger (temptation) to safety (God). This was a great example as we studied World War 2 the miracle at Dunkirk, France as soldiers cried out to God, how He answered, and received the glory.

 After we read the WB out loud together we completed the project. I am learning not to take to much time when preparing the WB in advance because sometimes I will change what we planned for and today was an example of that.

   I decided to do the project using the vocabulary words for a writing assignment.Instead of having them look up or copy the vocabulary words I went through the vocabulary list and if they did not know the word I looked it up and wrote it on the board for them. I then listed a word list of vocabulary words they knew for the writing assignment & spelling. Finally I wrote the writing assignment. 

  This worked well for them so they could look up at the board to use the vocabulary words in their writing. I went over their writing correcting them on capitalization , separating paragraphs, etc. but did not make them re-write it since we do more of the writing assignments in the WBLA. My focus with the WB writing projects is more practicing how to write what they are thinking and learning to organize their thoughts while using the vocabulary words. I enjoy reading what they wrote and really need to do more writing assignments during the school year so they become more comfortable with writing.

Nehemiah's project was learning the compass & Pledge of Allegiance to our flag.
 I will have them all list the countries on the map were the resource took place  and add that to our notebook along with the vocabulary word harbor for Geography. We of course did our writing assignments and projects in our WB notebook.

Spititual Warfare Fighting the Giants in our lives

click here for blog on David fighting the giants in his life.

I forgot to mention in my last post for those of you who have not done WB36 yet the giants of temptation we face were an allegory of David and the giants he faced in his life. We will face these giants of temptation moment by moment all the days of our lives but its through Christ that we can defeat these ugly giants. We must be filled with the spirit.

      God is good. Today at church the Lord spoke to us about the spiritual warfare walking in the spirit and battle the lust of the flesh. I couldn't wait to get in the van and say hey is God not amazing how what we are learning at home in the Wisdom Booklets He not only gives us life lessons but it continues in church. As we go through the WB it is always the case. 

 Today the sermon's foundation was Galatians 5:16-26 so tomorrow I am planning to make a mini-book and I will share that. The pastor also recommended doing a word study on desire and from James 4:2 so we will also look at that tomorrow during our Bible /WB time.

Here is a picture of my husband's notes from today. I pray they will be a blessing and just add to the lessons as you go through WB 36.As soon as they upload the series I will post a link to this sermon.
God is good!
 

Lord, I need you a song that goes perfect with wb 36 and life.

Lord, I need you by by Matt Maher is a song that goes perfect with what we are learning in wb 36. We sing the Wisdom Booklet song every day when doing the Wb so I am going to print out the words and add this song to our wb time. 

"Lord, I Need You"

Lord, I come, I confess

Bowing here I find my rest

Without You I fall apart

You're the One that guides my heart

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You

Every hour I need You

My one defense, my righteousness

Oh God, how I need You

Where sin runs deep Your grace is more

Where grace is found is where You are

And where You are, Lord, I am free

Holiness is Christ in me

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You

Every hour I need You

My one defense, my righteousness

Oh God, how I need You

Teach my song to rise to You

When temptation comes my way

And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You

Jesus, You're my hope and stay

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You

Every hour I need You

My one defense, my righteousness

Oh God, how I need You

You're my one defense, my righteousness

Oh God, how I need You

My one defense, my righteousness

Oh God, how I need You

 

WB 36 Power Through Precision~ Gold Rush & 5 Giants of temptation

Gold Rush interactive notebook click here

We have spent the last week and a half on our Power Through Precision studying the 5 giants of temptation & the California Gold Rush. We spent each day reading about the giants we face in our lives doing one giant daily and studying the Gold Rush.

   I decided to do the project that list vocabulary words to know and spell. We did this all at once at the end of the resource. I made a vocabulary mini-book to glue into their interactive notebook. I wrote the words on the flap and they copied the definition from the board as I looked it up in the dictionary. I used my IPad's dictionary which saved time.Going over the vocabulary words were very helpful. I asked them what the word meant then we wrote the definition. This allowed me to see if they understood the vocab words. My older student took notes as we went through the study so this was just with the elementary students. Next time I would like to have everyone do it together. 

   We then made a mini-book that listed the 5 giants of temptation and under the flap we wrote a verse that went with the giant. 

This study was what we needed here .God is good. As we face these temptation in life whether it be from Satan or our own sinful desires we have a choice to make. They also really I think for the first time understood what lust was in scripture. 

The other project we did was study the California Gold Rush because of the greed during that time in American history. I read through this book as they colored & cut. I purchased the interactive notebook which has the link above. You may be able to find some for free or make your own even better. We then glued them in our WB interactive notebook. I made some of my own mini-books and added it to the study. I am going to look for a movie or documentary on the gold rush. An idea for a read aloud would be Brighty of the Grand Canyon. click here.

One of the fun things we did was discuss if we had to leave and pack up a wagon to go across the country. It really made them think about was is a true needs in life verses things that are pleasures and things that can cause us to be greedy.

I am looking forward to studying bulletproof George Washington next week.

Kids footprints and hand prints in my Bible..following the Shephard

I came across this idea from someone on Facebook and I loved it. They stamped their babies footprint in their Bible. So I started off with Caleb then I decided to do all of my children. The red stamp ink shows up the best as I tried other colors. The older kids did not want their hand-prints so I talked them into a thumbprint by a verses or Biblical hero that Christ spoke to our hearts when they were born to be named after. I had to pull out the Birthday card since it is my birthday.I also reminded them of how they are dedicated to God.
       I know some people don't like to mark their Bibles but mine is a recorded journey as I walk through life with my Shepherd. I always enjoy reading over notes in my Bible from Bible study to Rhemas. I hope one day my children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren will read the notes and see he journey.My Bible is one of greatest treasures I have here on earth and I hope someday they will treasure it also.

Scheduling the Wisdom Booklets with the Parent Guide Planner

     I am so excited to start back up with the Wisdom Booklets. We just sent in our yearly registration and ordered more Wisdom Booklets for the remaining of the school year & next year. Since I have a new baby instead of writing in a separate planner like I have in past I just grabbed a pencil and wrote in the Parent Guide Planner to schedule the Wisdom Booklet planner to save time planning.
     
     I circled the projects I wanted to complete. I am scheduling for a 4 day week since we are going to a homeschool co-op on Fridays. I began at the beginning of the Wisdom Booklet and wrote week 1 then Day 1..Day 2...Day 3...Day 4 planning my days for the week.For the projects I scheduled days for my younger students and the older in the age appropriate sections by simply circling and writing the day of the week above it. Also on the side were it it is blank it states student initials hours evaluation I wrote down supplies I would need for the projects for a quick glance when I am gathering materials needed the following week.

I continue through the Wisdom Booklet adding each week until the WB is completed. Some of the resources are long and so I break them up into days to read through. Here is an example as you can see on Day 4 will will begin to read in this resource on giant 4.

My printer is not working so I am waiting for a part to come in so I can't print or copy any worksheets. Since we are using a composition notebooks it is not a big deal. We can either make mini-books to glue in or simply write and journal as we go. I love this as it makes less work on me trying to print out or gather the needed worksheets. We can simply open the WB and go working in our composition books.

     Each student has an age appropriate composition book. As you can see Nehemiah in 2nd grade has a Primary journal to use as he journals his learning discoveries going through the Wisdom Booklets.

Since we do our Wisdom Booklet time in our living room I have an organize in there to hold their Wisdom Booklets, Wisdom Booklet LA, & journals.I still use my workboxes for other subjects and books.
 My husband this weekend placed a white board up for me also to use for the Wisdom Booklet time and to put our memory verses up.
  My husband gets paid on Wed.normally so that is when I look through my library to see what we have for the next week as I review the planner looking at what I planned at the beginning of the month. If I need any books I will go to Amazon to purchase a book we may need. We have Amazon Prime so as long as we purchase items with Amazon Prime it will be here in time for the next week. You can use the library too as an option but will need to plan ahead.
  Some of the books I might plan are read alouds, reading books, or research books with information. I first look at the recommended books in the WB. I like living books with lots of pictures and Christ centered books are on top of the list. So if we are studying George Washington I want a book that shows his love for the Lord.
 Planning the WB writing in the parent planner itself is a quick and easy way to plan the WB a month at a time.
    The journal makes it easy too in preparing as it reduces making copies of worksheets or notebooking pages etc. Your kids also have paper in hand. Another benefit is they can work on their WBLA writing assignment & vocab words that correlates with the WB all in their journal. This reduces the prep time for mom and keeps everything together organized as we work through the WB.
  I hope this was a help and blessing to you in preparing the Wisdom Booklets.