Making Charlotte Mason Simple

 Charlotte Mason, Elementary, High School, New to Homeschooling, Philosophies, Preschool, Uncategorized  3 Responses »
Jun 142010
 

What a wonderful experience I have had the last few months!  I received the All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar on DVD, seminar workbook, and the Laying Down the Rails book and Workshop on DVD from Simply Charlotte Mason to review.  If you have never been over to visit Simply Charlotte Mason, I highly recommend you take a look.  They offer free curriculum guides, free ebooks, and many materials for purchase as well.  They truly help make Charlotte Mason’s homeschool ideas simple.  Their blog is one that always inspires me.

I began by watching the 3 DVDs for the All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar and taking notes through the accompanying workbook.  I did this over the course of several evenings while my children were falling asleep in their beds, which allowed me some quiet to focus.

Session 1 (34 minutes) introduced me to Charlotte Mason, who she was, when she lived, and her ideas about education.  It was neat to get to know her this way.  I had tried to read her books in the past, but just could not get through them.  It took too much brain power at a time when I was trying to just keep up with my young children and get sleep.

Session 2 (78 minutes) and 3 (71 minutes)held my hand as we went through each subject applying Charlotte Mason’s methods.  Here is where I had many, many ah-ha moments. Short lessons, living books, and narration – these things made sense and could easily be integrated in our unit study family.  I appreciated that I was not expected to add everything in at once.  The appendix explained a doable plan for making the transition to a Charlotte Mason approach a step at a time.  Here is a short clip from the workshop about using narration.

Are we now becoming a Charlotte Mason family? Yes and no.  (grin)  I think narrowly defining any homeschooling family by one method is usually inaccurate.  We prefer to pick and choose the pieces that work for our family.  I have discovered that many of the Charlotte Mason pieces fit our family!  We have already begun to incorporate the following:

  • living books
  • narration
  • scripture memorization

We have plans to incorporate these ideas over the next year:

  • map drill
  • picture study
  • music study

Now let me tell you a little bit about the  Laying Down the Rails book and DVD Workshop that came as part of this set.  I watched the DVD first (45 minutes), using the workbook section for it from the All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar as I went.  I love Charlotte’s idea that good habits are like railroad tracks, they smooth life out because a child is not having to make the same decisions over and over and over.  I know that is true, even in my own life.  Habits help me to accomplish many of the routine things in my day without the extra effort of decision-making.

Sonya, the workshop presenter, is funny and helpful as she leads you through many of the habits a child can learn.  While there is an extensive list, she emphasizes to start with one habit, and not to add another until the first is truly habit.  It was really helpful to watch the DVD with my husband. He was not up for reading the book, all 230+ pages, but the workshop got us both on the same mental page easily.  He was as excited about habit training as I was.  You can watch a short clip from the DVD right here.

I next spent nearly a month reading and pondering the Laying Down the Rails book.  What a treasure!  It contains Charlotte’s words on each habit gathered into one place, prefaced by a concise definition of the habit and a story that shows how the habit is important.  There are entire chapters on ‘repairing the rails’ – breaking the bad habits we already have, including chapters on some specific problems like dawdling, temper tantrums, and lying.  See a sample from the book HERE.

Where are we now? Well, habit training is a process, and I will be honest that the first person who has to acquire the new habit is me.  However, we are working on our habits slowly and steadily, and I find a lot of support and encouragement when I read through Laying Down the Rails.

Would I buy these products? Yes!  That is an unequivocal yes.  The entire set can be purchased HERE for $54.95.  That includes 3 All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar DVDs, the Session workbook, 1 Laying Down the Rails workshop DVD, and a print copy of the Laying Down the Rails book.  I love having the All-Day Charlotte Mason Seminar on DVD, a shot of motivation that I can turn on whenever I need a boost.  Homeschooling is a process, and the experience is different with each child.  Having Charlotte Mason’s ideas broken down into manageable tasks gives me easy action plans to try when we need something adjusted.  Laying Down the Rails is a treasure trove of ideas for habit training.  Time will pass and our children will acquire habits.  The question is what habits will they develop – ones we have carefully helped them build or contrary habits that we lazily let develop?

Written by Tristan, mom to 5 going on 6 children, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

{Disclaimer: I received these products free from Simply Charlotte Mason to enable this review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

United States Symbols Mini-Lapbook

 Elementary, Hands On, History, Lapbooks, Organization, Unit study resources  No Responses »
May 072010
 

One of our favorite educational tools is lapbooking.  Whether we create the traditional lapbook in a file folder or put the pieces on cardstock in a notebook, we love recording the things we learn in a lapbook.  We have created our own lapbooks, found free lapbooks online, and bought lapbook files from several companies.

The newest lapbook my eight year old, Makayla, has completed is the United States Symbols Mini-Lapbook from Knowledge Box Central.  We chose this lapbook as a fun way to learn about some of our country’s symbols, and a possible jumping off point for more learning adventures.  A Mini-Lapbook fits inside one folder.

I love the way these lapbooks are laid out. The included Study Guide is laid out in nice, large font and includes all the information about each symbol in simple paragraph style.  There is a Student Instruction Guide that told my daughter which booklet to grab(they are numbered), the questions that she was to answer in the booklet, as well as how to assemble that booklet.  There is even a Layout page that shows the student one way to fit all the booklets into the file folder.

Booklets in this mini-lapbook cover the following:

  • The White House
  • The Pledge of Allegiance
  • The U.S. Flag
  • The Statue of Liberty
  • The National Anthem
  • The Liberty Bell
  • The National Bird
  • and more!

It was neat to see my daughter mentally connect things we had learned in the past, as well as bring other questions to mind to explore.  For example, after learning basic facts about Independence Hall she wanted to hear more about the Declaration of Independence and why the colonists felt they needed to write it.  She remembered a favorite Schoolhouse Rock song, No More Kings, that tells some of the story, and off we were to listen to it again.

We both really enjoyed the United States Symbols Mini-Lapbook ($7.99) from Knowledge Box Central and can’t wait to start our next lapbook!  If you want to learn more about things we have enjoyed using in our homeschool you can read my other Curriculum Choice reviews.

Written by Tristan, mom to 5 going on 6 children, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

Schoolhouse Rock Helps Learning Stick

 Elementary, Hands On, History, Mathematics, Music, Science, Unit study resources  4 Responses »
Apr 092010
 

Not everything has to become a formal lesson at our house, but I love being able to sneak in some learning with a helping of fun.  I have seen in my own life that songs I have learned as a child I can still remember to this day.  While this has many applications to homeschooling I only want to talk about one today, called Schoolhouse Rock.

Schoolhouse Rock is series of short musical cartoons that aired originally before I was born during the Saturday morning cartoons beginning in 1973.  Topics covered in the original series include songs for multiplication, grammar, science, American history and lawmaking, and computers.  Later offerings from the makers of Schoolhouse Rock include songs about money and taking care of our earth.

In August of 2002 Disney released a 30th Anniversary DVD set of over 40 Schoolhouse Rock songs.  A few years later we bought the set for our family.  I said it was for homeschool and my husband said it was just for fun.  We were both right! Our children enjoy watching different sections of the DVD.  Each has a favorite song or two.  My 8 year old daughter’s current favorites are:

  1. No More Kings – A song about the beginnings of our country and the Revolutionary War.
  2. I’m Just a Bill – A song that boils the legislative process down so that even a child can understand how our countries laws are made.  Here it is on You Tube to watch.  (Like everything else on YouTube, the comments below the video may not be appropriate.  We like to click the handy arrow beside the comment section to close it, or watch the video in full screen.)

I love that my children are easily learning many educational topics without a formal lesson.  The DVDs spark my childrens’ interest in topics like conjunctions, multiplcation facts, money and debt, and the branches of the US Government.  We may watch a few songs while waiting for dinner to finish cooking, or have a sing-along as a family for fun.  There are many ways to use the Schoolhouse Rock DVDs.  I am sure we will just happen to pull it out when a child has trouble learning those pesky times tables for another way to reinforce math facts.

The internet abounds with free resources.  Here are a few related to Schoolhouse Rock:

  • The lyrics to many of the songs.
  • Ideas from educators of lessons that use Schoolhouse Rock songs.
  • Many of the songs are available on YouTube with a simple search.  (Remember to close the comments section or watch the videos on full screen to avoid inappropriate material.)

I would love to hear if you have a favorite Schoolhouse Rock song, or any fun ways you can see incorporating Schoolhouse Rock into homeschooling, so please leave a comment!  If you want to learn about some other things we have used in our homeschool read my other Curriculum Choice reviews HERE or visit my blog.

Written by Tristan, mom to 5, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

It’s a Zoo Out There! Apologia Review

 Elementary, Science, Unit study resources  2 Responses »
Mar 082010
 

There are so many interesting animals to learn about.  Our favorite family field trip is to the local zoo.  We have been going since our oldest was an infant and still enjoy it 8 years later with five children.  It will come as no surprise to you, then, to find that we love studying animals in homeschool.  Being a unit study family, we have made many units on our own.  This past year we found a textbook that is perfectly adapted to unit studies.

Exploring Creation with Land Animals of the Sixth Day is the third in a series of Zoology books offered by Apologia Science.  We looked at each of the zoology book’s topics, samples, and table of contents before my oldest chose to begin with Zoology 3 because so many of her favorite animals from the zoo are covered in this book.

Things we love:

  • Written in an easy conversational style directed at the student - this makes it a perfect read aloud for our family.
  • Beautiful photography - who is not inspired by amazing photographs of animals?
  • Christian Perspective - a book that openly celebrates God’s creative powers and his amazing designs.
  • Experiments that work - directions lay out each step, a materials list is in the front of the book, and experiments really apply to the topics in each chapter.

With 14 chapters packed full of information this book can fill an entire academic year.  We use it a little differently, picking it up when we want to do a unit study about a specific animal family, then putting it away again until we’re ready for more animal adventures.  That means we have only finished a little over 1/3 of the book this year.  My eight year old loves the book so much that she has read it nearly cover to cover already on her own.  She takes it to her room and reads during quiet time.  Many times this year she has come to tell me all about the things she has learned, or to ask a question the reading has brought up.

While we do not have many textbooks in our home, I have found the Exploring Creation series to be a wonderful fit for our unit study family.  We will be investing in the rest of the series in the coming years.

Written by Tristan, mom to 5, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

{Disclaimer because the FTC says I have to:  I bought this book with my own money, and yes, we really use it.  All opinions presented herein are my own.}

Elephant image courtesy of Tim Seed / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Careers Units for Kids – Wanna Be’s Review

 Unit study resources  No Responses »
Feb 282010
 

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a question most children love to answer. Those answers change many times through the years.  When I came across a sale for the Wanna Be series from The Old Schoolhouse, which are unit studies about different careers, I grabbed my debit card and ordered.  We love unit studies and I had nothing for careers in yet.  The series covers the following ten careers:

  • Firefighter
  • Veterinarian
  • Chef
  • Military
  • Doctor
  • Police Officer
  • Missionary
  • Farmer
  • Artist (upcoming release)
  • Pilot (upcoming release)

While these units are written for ages 4 – 10, even my husband and I learned a lot as we used our first two units.  I love that these units are written from a Christian homeschool perspective. I love reading how families make these careers work in their life.  The information for high school homeschoolers is wonderful, giving them direction on how to prepare for that career, while the end of unit activities have fun games and activities for younger kids.

What’s inside a unit?

  • Information pages about the career, with information for preschoolers through high schoolers.
  • Crossword puzzles
  • Coloring pages
  • Handwriting Practice
  • Vocabulary
  • Copywork
  • Applied math problems – relating to the career.
  • Word Search
  • Creative Writing Prompts
  • Quiz
  • Fill in the Story
  • Experiments
  • End of Unit Activities – games, memory verses, and ideas for great themed parties.
  • Great resource lists that are internet linked.

Our first adventure centered around a police officer’s job as peace keeper and law enforcer with When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Police Officer. Each day we read a few pages from the e-book as a family and did activities.  I used the library list to gather books for our unit study basket, which we explored throughout the week.  You can find the ones we chose HERE.  We found out the tools of the trade, training needed for the job, and even some of the science behind fingerprinting.

My oldest wrote a story called The Jewelry Thief (read it HERE ) in response to one of the writing prompts in the unit.  She really enjoyed learning about how police use clues to solve a crime.  We finished up our unit with a trip to our local police department.

Our next Wanna Be adventure took two weeks using When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Firefighter. We were able to compare many things we had learned about becoming a police officer with the path to becoming a firefighter.  Again, the library list and end of unit activities gave me plenty of ways to include my younger children.  Our second field trip in a month led us to Fire Station 3, where we saw up close and personal many of the things we had learned about during the unit.

The Wanna Be series is a great fit for our unit study family. Each title is a complete unit study.  I do not have to find books at the library unless I want to.  Many creative ideas are included for some themed games and activities perfect for my younger crowd, while the information is meaty enough that we will reuse these when the kids are older.  My children are already debating which career we will learn about next – I hope they choose chef!

Written by Tristan, mom to 5, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

{Disclaimer because the FTC says I have to:  I bought these books with my own money, and yes, we really used them.  All opinions presented herein are my own.}

Star-Spangled States Review

 Elementary, Geography, History, Unit study resources  2 Responses »
Feb 252010
 

While I am a unit study mom, I do not feel the need to turn every topic into an elaborate unit for my family.  This year I wanted to encourage my 8 year old to work independently of me for one subject.  The topic we chose?  Geography of the United States.  She was interested in knowing where the states were thanks to dear cousins who move often as a part of being a military family, as well having as other family members scattered across the country.  We had set goals for her geography study:

  1. Learn where the states are on the map.
  2. Learn the capital of each state.
  3. Learn the postal abbreviation for each state.
  4. Read some fun stories along the way.

Knowing I wanted this to be independent, I looked for a simple, repetitive format to hold her hand.  I discovered The Star-Spangled State Book ($18.95)from Knowledge Quest.  The book itself under 100 pages.  Each state has it’s own page packed with facts and stories in a matching format.  The stories were fun and interesting, they would hold her attention.  As a matter of fact she usually tracked me down to tell me the stories later.  The Star-Spangled Workbook($29.95)was what really sold me though.  It has 259 pages broken down into two semesters, 36 weeks total, and includes a reproducible CD so I can use this curriculum for each of my children in future years.  Each week is laid out in a 4 day format.  In Semester 1 on days 1-3 you learn about 3 states.  The two sided workbook page for each day on the front is the same as the regular book in grayscale, but information is missing.  The student has to remember and finish the information.  Then there is a map of the US for the student to find the state and color it in.

On the back of the worksheet at the top is a simple question, “What do you remember about (insert state name)?”  My daughter could write a short answer of what was the most memorable to her.  This was one of her favorite parts, telling what she knew.  Underneath that section are two vocabulary words to define (she learned dictionary skills!).  Last is a set of 4 boxes where the student draws the state, connects 3 state outlines with their names, finds the state on a portion of map, and unscrambles words related to that state’s information.  I will be honest, my daughter hated the word unscrambles, so I let her skip them.

Day 4 in each week of semester 1 is a short map quiz that has the student labeling states on a US map.  Short, easy, and helpful in meeting one of our goals.

We finished semester 1 this month and decided to take the end of the book exam because we are not moving on the the second semester of the book right now.  It was 5 pages covering labeling all 50 states on the map, matching capitals to states, writing postal abbreviations, and finding a mystery state that shares a border with a list of states.  Makayla did great, taking a week to complete the exam.  After she labeled the blank map with all 50 states I let her use it to find the mystery states, because we had not worried about learning border states in our semester 1 studies.

When we pick the Star-Spangled States Workbook back up to do semester 2 later on it will take us through fun geoquizzes flipping through the book itself to strengthen her recall of the facts as well as the stories.  She will also focus on borders, learning which states border each other, increasing her map skills, and reviewing capitals and other facts.

Knowledge Quest also sells the Star-Spangled States book and workbook together at a discount, for $39.95.  You can see sample pages for both the book and workbook HERE.

I am so glad I discovered The Star-Spangled States book and workbook.  It has been just right to introduce Makayla to our country while encouraging her to develop her independence.  I will definitely be using it with each of my younger children when they are ready.

Written by Tristan, mom to 5, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

{Disclaimer because the FTC says I have to:  I bought these books with my own money, and yes, we really used them.  I am not affiliated with Knowledge Quest books in any way, though I really like many of their products.  All opinions presented herein are my own.}

Under the Microscope

 Elementary, Hands On, Preschool, Science, Unit study resources  4 Responses »
Feb 132010
 

There are so many expensive homeschool resources, but one of the best science investments we have ever made cost less than $15.00.  We purchased a Pocket Microscope($13.95) several years ago from Home Science Tools.  With two AA batteries, and three zoom levels (60X, 80X, 100X) this little microscope can help even a 2 year old explore the world around them.  A small, lightweight base has clips for exploring slides, which is nice, but be sure to read on to learn how you can use this microscope without them.  We do have a Kid’s Microscope Slide Set($10.95), also from Home Science Tools.  Put on the slide, adjust the focus with a handy dial on the side, and give it to your toddler to look through like a telescope.  Really, it works!  Here is my two year old Daniel using it. 

Because of the transparent cover protecting the light bulb you can take off the base and put the microscope up against just about anything to take a closer look.  In the house this may be a favorite toy, the carpet, or the hairs on your arm. 

There are plenty of possibilities, even when confined to the house on a cold, wet day.  Catch the cat and look at her fur, see what your peanut butter sandwich really looks like, and check out the dustbunnies hiding in the corner.  After that be sure to venture outside with the microscope.  Take it in the backyard or on a nature walk.  Now you have opened up a whole new world to explore.  We have seen the bark on our trees, the tomato still growing on the plant, a flower petal, dirt, grass, and rocks.

Our pocket microscope has survived use by many children from age 18 months to 8 years.  We have not even needed to replace the light bulb (a bulb costs $1.00 HERE).  One of these days we will invest in a nice student microscope, but we will always keep a pocket microscope on hand for fun exploration out of doors.

Written by Tristan, mom to 5, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

Magic School Bus Books Review

 Elementary, Science, Unit study resources  13 Responses »
Jan 172010
 

We’re a unit study and lapbooking family.  We love to take a week, two weeks, even a month to explore a topic.  We have used the Magic School Bus series to shape our units from the beginning.  As a matter of fact, we spent one entire year doing science units that centered around the Magic School Bus books and there are still more left to do!  With 5 children at my house this series is bound to have a book to interest each of them.   Here is our home library of Magic School Bus books. 

 There are several book series available now.  The classic series consists of 10 books covering topics from the 5 senses to bees, space to dinosaurs.  Note: The books are not from a Christian viewpoint, and as such you will come across references to ‘millions of years’, but these information packed books provide a great opportunity to discuss your beliefs with your children on such topics when you feel they are ready.  My 4 year old Emma’s favorite book in the Classic series is The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body, which takes you on a digestive system adventure.  Most of my children can tell you all the parts of the digestive system thanks to this one.  It is presented like an amusement park ride, so it is pretty easy to remember.  5 year old Joseph’s pick would be The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth.  He loves when the bus turns into this giant drill and tunnels into the earth.  This books was also his first introduction to caves.  After reading this one he really enjoyed watching the caves episode on Planet Earth.

 The Magic School Bus was made into a series for television, some of which is now available on DVD.  This series spawned 31 more books, the TV books.  Topics covered include:

  • Color
  • Migration
  • Heat
  • Bats
  • The Water Cycle
  • Germs
  • Habitats
  • Plants
  • And Many More!

 Our favorite book in this group is hard to pick.  My 2 year old Daniel’s favorite is The Magic School  Going Batty. 

 There are 6 books in the Liz series, centered around the class lizard’s adventures.  Liz Looks for a Home is our favorite in this set.  There are even Magic School Bus easy readers, including one we used when studying dentists and teeth called The Magic School Bus and the Missing Tooth.

 Our favorite set is the Magic School Bus chapter books.  There are 20 books in this set.  Some cover topics from earlier books, like space or dinosaurs, but these chapter books are filled with information beyond the other series’.  We loved The Search for the Missing Bones, which we used to learn the major bones of the human body.  We use these as a read aloud during a unit.  Makayla, at age 8, has read all the Magic School Bus books and narrowed her favorites down to two.  The Magic School Bus Meets the Rot Squad from the TV series is all about decomposition.  Her favorite from the chapter books is Penguin Puzzle, where the bus ends up in Antarctica.

 There are many other Magic School Bus Resources available, including computer games, DVDs, and the official website.  On the website you will find:

 Take a field trip from your home with any of the Magic School Bus library!

Written by Tristan, mom to 5, homeschooling through unit studies with a side of lapbooks.  You can visit her at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

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