Jimmie's Collage

Nature in Your Notebook Free Printables

Jimmie — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:55:00 +0000

Cycles of Nature Notebooking Pages - Record keeping printables for recording seasonal observations. Special nature logs for clouds, flowers, birds.

Snow is a pretty exciting thing in Memphis just because it is so rare. This winter, although being exceptionally mild, has given us two short episodes of snow (but no accumulation). You can be sure that when it snows, we pull out the nature notebook and document it! Here is our First and Last Snow page. We record the incidents in between the first and last, of course, because we never know when the last one will occur. The idea is that next winter we can compare and see if the snow comes earlier or later.

Modern man has sadly lost his connection to the patterns of nature, and keeping a nature journal like this one helps us to keep in touch with the wonders of our seasons. When our daffodils started blooming, we put that in the notebook, too! Although I am sure it is happening much earlier than it happened last year, I didn’t document it in 2010, so I have no data to confirm my suspicion. Next year, though, we will have the data, recorded by Sprite herself!

A great project to go along with recording seasonal changes would be to take a photograph of the same tree during each season or even once a month. Put the photos side by side and notice the drastic changes. It’s not too late to start. Do it today. BrainInTrainin shows the results of a year long project with following six different trees through the four seasons. Her photos will inspire you!

I have made these nature journal pages available as a free download to my readers. Get your free Cycles of Nature Notebooking Pages here.

But wait! There’s more! This is a group project, and there are five additional bloggers who are blogging about Nature in Your Notebook and offering free printables:

Cindy from Our Journey Westward
Maureen from Spell Outloud
Lauren from Mama’s Learning Corner
Amanda from Hearts and Trees
Barb from Handbook of Nature Study

We have also started a special Pinterest board called Nature Study Homeschool Coop. Feel free to follow the board for nature inspiration all year long.

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Homeschooling is Like Exercise

Jimmie — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:15:00 +0000

I like homeschooling a lot more than I like exercising. That’s probably obvious to you based on my blog posts. After all, this is a homeschool blog. And aside from my one random Hot Pants post, I never talk about fitness.

But I’ve discovered that homeschooling is like exercising in many ways.

1. Small, repeated investments have a big pay off in the long term.

Going to the gym doesn’t instantly give you the figure you’re longing for. (I wish!) But a commitment to exercise will show dramatic results if you stick with it — even if it is only 20 minutes a day, three times a week. Homeschool is like that. Short, daily lessons like Charlotte Mason recommended seem to be insignificant. But they build a foundation of learning which reaps huge dividends.

Some days we jump from ten minutes of artist study to ten minutes of poetry to fifteen minutes of grammar. Are we really accomplishing anything? Yes, we are. There is power in a little done often. And with short lessons there is no time to get burned out or bored.

2. If you don’t do it right, you are just wasting your time.

With exercise, if you do it wrong, you can actually hurt yourself instead of contribute to your wellness. I certainly don’t want to perpetuate any fear on the part of homeschool moms that they are teaching their children in the “wrong” ways. But every mom should carefully evaluate how she makes her educational decisions.

Are the methods you use in line with the educational goals you have? Are you spinning your wheels with methods that don’t work or that sap the love of learning from your child? Are you in a rut? Just like you ask the advice of a trainer when you’ve reached a plateau in your fitness efforts, sometimes a homeschool mom needs to seek the advice of a mentor or read a how to homeschool book.

3. Although you can spend a fortune, the necessities are very inexpensive.

I am amazed at how much you can spend on exercise — fancy clothes, gym memberships, exercise equipment, dietary supplements, and pedometers. But to get fit, all you need are a pair of tennis shoes and a place to walk. It’s really that simple.

Homeschool is exactly the same. You can easily spend a thousand dollars on a child for a year’s worth of homeschool curriculum. But homeschool can also be accomplished with Internet access, a library card, and a much more modest budget. Flashy doesn’t necessarily mean better. It’s just flashier. And expensive.

And let’s be honest. It’s a lot more fun to shop for cute workout clothes than it is to actually exercise. Right? How many of you love researching and shopping for curriculum more than the actual teaching of the lessons? Don’t let a lack of frills keep you from making your homeschool experience great. Start with what you have and keep it simple.

4. There is a high that comes — if you keep going.

I always read about endorphins that come when you exercise. But not until the last couple of years have I experienced the high that you can get from exercise. The reason I never believed in them is that I would get sweaty and stop long before the endorphins had a chance to be released. To get the good feelings, you have to press through the pain.

Homeschool is like that too. Some days it feels dull and lifeless. Some days you fight with your kids. But if you keep pressing on, those endorphins will kick in. In homeschool, the endorphins are a love of learning and a close relationship with your children. When they kick in, you know you’ve made the right decision to educate your children at home.

Do you see any more parallels between exercise and homeschool? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

(Thanks to Robert S. Donovan for the great shoe image I used under a Creative Commons license.)

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Sponsor Shout Out

Jimmie — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:42:24 +0000

This post is a shout out to the three sponsors of Jimmie’s Collage this quarter.

I hope that you could spend a moment visiting the links that appeal to you whether it’s food, curriculum, or printed products.

1. Healthy Chef Recipes

If you are looking for some “sweet spot” recipes that are both healthy and delicious, Chef Alain has some great ideas for you. Caution — don’t visit the website hungry. The photos are scrumptious!
2. Maestro Classics CDs

Maestro Classics CDs teach music in the best way possible — through audio recordings in which you listen to the music and to engaging stories. These are great ways to introduce children to composer study.

3. VistaPrint

If you need something printed, anything from invitations to mousepads, Vista Print has it all. And cheap.

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Beautiful Feet Ancient History Curriculum Review

Jimmie — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:15:22 +0000

Over the years, I have used three curriculum packages from Beautiful Feet (BF): History of the Horse, History of Classical Music, and now Ancient History Junior High. I like BF Ancient History for the same reasons I like BF in general. All three packages I’ve used have these same characteristics:

a foundation of living books
an emphasis on notebooking
a loose structure

We have already covered Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Now, after taking a break from history for many months we are beginning Ancient Rome. Since we are over halfway through the material, it’s a perfect time for a curriculum review.

BF Ancient History in its essence is a teacher’s guide that outlines lessons. (The guide includes an answer key.) There is a junior high track (grades 5-8) and a high school track (grades 9-12) in the same book. At a minimum, you need this teacher’s guide. As far as the living books, you can purchase them from BF in a package or find them on your own. Besides the books and the guide, all you need are normal school supplies and general reference books (or the Internet).

Notebooking

Notebooking assignments are included in the lessons. Examples of typical notebooking tasks are

to copy a quote from a book and comment on it
to explain a person’s behavior
to sketch a map of an empire
to research a personality or event
to write and define a few vocabulary words.

Left to right -- Guide, Notebooking Page, Living Books

The notebooking tasks are always meaningful. That means that not every lesson will have one just to fit an artificial standard. On the other hand, a particularly meaty lesson may have two or three notebooking tasks. The BF guide recommends a composition notebook, but a three ring binder (our favorite) can just as easily be used. Alternatively, you can assign some of the notebooking tasks to be answered orally instead of in writing.

Note that these are notebooking tasks, not pages. There are no reproducibles or hand-outs. There are instructions.

In the photo, you can see an example of the notebooking pages with which I sometimes supplement the BF ancients study. I either make my own or turn to the Ancient Times pages from Notebookingpages.com. [Use discount code discount5 to save $5 on your $10+ purchase; use discount10 to save $10 on your $20+ purchase.]

Structure

I say that BF has a loose structure because although there are clearly detailed lessons, there are no charts or check boxes. I have no regret about skipping over things or adding in tangents. Part of that tendency is simply my growing confidence as a homeschooler. But the organization of the teacher’s guide has a less rigid feel that many other curriculum sets we have used (such as Sonlight or Winter Promise) which have daily lessons laid out on strict grids where you can’t help but highlight or check them off.

The Children's Homer and Teacher's Guide

The BF Ancient History guide for junior high has only 71 lessons. This means you do around three lessons per week to finish the course in a typical school year. (The senior high track has 90 lessons.) This kind of flexible scheduling is good for someone like me who appreciates an order to the study but doesn’t need a day by day guide.

The Books

Ancients Teacher Guide and Book Stack

The books are quality, of course, and are a mix of non-fiction and fiction. According to the directions at the opening of the guide, the reading assignments are to be read out loud so that both parent and child hear the books together. However, the program can be done with the child doing all the reading independently. We do a mix of the two.

There is a single textbook among the selections – Streams of Civilization. I am not a fan of textbooks, so it’s not surprising that this book came off very dry and dull to both me and to Sprite.

The senior high selection includes more books and more difficult ones. Among the junior high choices, our strong favorites were The Children’s Homer and The Bronze Bow.

Timeline

BF sells a set of applicable timeline figures for each curriculum package. I have the entire Homeschool in the Woods timeline figure CD, so I use that instead. For each lesson, the teacher’s guide tells which figures should be placed on your timeline.

BF is a no-frills kind of curriculum. There are no hands-on project ideas. BF doesn’t do a lot of media hype although they do have a Facebook fan page. They have no forum where you can hang out with other users. They just make a quality, affordable curriculum and get out of the way so you can use it.

By the way, I have started an unofficial BF Yahoo group where you can ask questions and get support.

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Why I am Not a Militant Homeschooler

Jimmie — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:14:50 +0000

I want to openly say that I am a homeschooler. (You knew that.) But I am not a militant homeschooler.

thanks to eBomb716 for the cool image

What is a militant homeschooler?

By militant homeschooler I mean someone who believes that all Christians should homeschool their children. Actually, the word should is probably too weak. A militant homeschooler is one who thinks that homeschooling is the only path to educating children and therefore is a matter of disobedience to God — a sin — not to.

Militant homeschoolers judge others who do not homeschool and pity those pathetic children who can’t learn at home. Militant homeschoolers like you when they find out that you homeschool — until they discover you are not a militant like they are. It’s not enough just to homeschool, you have to be utterly convinced that it is the only educational path.

Why I am not a militant homeschooler

To put it most simply, Christians we are free in Christ.

Our two commands are to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

What a responsibility we have to raise our children in the love of the Lord! But homeschooling is not necessarily the single answer to that responsibility. In fact, you can homeschool your child and not teach him the truth of God’s word or be an example of it. (That would be a sin.) On the other hand, there are parents who send their children to public and private school who do an excellent job providing spiritual direction.

I agree that God calls people to homeschool. He has called me to do that –at least for now. Things could change, and God may ask us to do something different in the future. Many times in life, God has shoved us off of the path we were on, a path that He directed us to and placed us on. But the time was up. A new path was rising in its place. Who are we to question His direction?

The bottom line is that there is not one single, absolute answer to a child’s education.

Each child is unique.
Each family is different.
Each season of life brings special challenges and privileges.

Free in Christ

So to all you homeschool moms, if you stop homeschooling your child, please don’t act ashamed and embarrassed in my presence. I am not a militant homeschooler. I will not condemn your choice. You don’t have to explain why homeschooling didn’t work in your situation or that you tried with all your heart and strength before you gave up. I’ll listen if you want to share, but I will not judge you as an inferior parent because of any choice that you prayerfully made.

I am free in Christ. Free to obey Christ for the educational choices He makes for my daughter. And you are free in Christ, too.

If you want your own button to tell the world you are not a militant homeschooler, visit here.

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Homeschooling on Second Shift

Jimmie — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:55:43 +0000

For the past month, my husband has been working a second shift job. For the most part, I am enjoying the second shift lifestyle, but it has meant some adjustments for our family and for homeschooling.

We now eat a large lunch as our main family meal of the day. This is really healthier than having a big dinner, and I find that I have more energy to cook at mid-day than I have in the evenings. Of course, that means I have to be even more diligent to plan ahead. I must have my plan for lunch before I go to bed the night before.

I am used to eating leftovers for lunch, so it has been an adjustment to sometimes have the kitchen in full swing while Sprite is also needing input on a school assignment. While I’m cooking, I ask her to either come to me in the kitchen or to do her independent work without me.

So that we have time to spend with my husband, we have shifted the bulk of homeschooling to the afternoon hours when he is at work. Mornings are still free for Sprite and her dad to run errands, go to appointments, and swim at the gym.

Although I prefer to get my work done early, I have seen that a shift to afternoon homeschool has been pleasant for Sprite. In fact, I would say that school is easier for her in the afternoons since she seems more energetic and focused. Research has shown that because of the changes in their bodies, teens do not do well with early mornings. So second shift homeschooling seems a perfect match for a middle schooler like Sprite. We are normally done with lessons by dinner time which is a simple meal of a sandwich or leftovers (what used to be our normal fare for lunch).

Some of her friends, both homeschooled and public schooled, are surprised to call and find Sprite still working on school at 5:30 PM. But she is quick to remind them that she didn’t begin her work until around 1 PM.

Sprite has loved staying up late for many years now, and it has worked fine for our lifestyle, so I have allowed it. That meant I could rise early and have the house to myself in the first hours of the day. Now she likes to wait up for dad to get home and visit for a while before going to sleep. (I’m sure there is a psychological desire to have dad at home and connect with him before going to bed.)

On my part, I admit that I am usually already in bed and often already asleep and normally when he gets home. I’m not a bit of a night owl. But even with allowing her to stay up late and get up later, I always felt this nagging concern that we should be done with homeschool by 2:00 or 3:00 PM, that we are somehow lazy if we don’t get done before then. I am loving the freedom that a second shift homeschool gives us to start as late as we need to and keep working until it’s done.

A downside to my husband’s working second shift is that I can no longer go out for a ladies night or even to the local homeschool group since they all meet in the evenings. But I am thankful that he has a job and for the perks that second shift homeschooling offers us.

Photo Credit: thanks to Scalespeeder for the awesome clock image that I modified.

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10 Best Online Game Sites for Homeschool Math

Jimmie — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:49:54 +0000

Online math games are a fun way to add variety into a living math approach. They can be used as rewards, review, or even an introduction to a new concept, depending on the game. Here are ten of the best math game sites for homeschoolers, arranged in no particular order.

1. Math Game Time

Math Game Time has games for preK to seventh grade. Besides being arranged by grade, games are also arranged in a convenient list of skills such as fractions, probability, multiplication, etc. The games are fairly simple in their layout but do provide an engaging format for practicing what might be boring on a worksheet.

2. MangaHigh.com

Magna High has over a dozen very attractive math games. I started playing and couldn’t stop! To get full versions, a teacher is supposed to sign up a “school.” It appears that signing up a homeschool is accaptable, and there is no cost. But the free game I sampled was pretty impressive.

Mousing over the games on the home page will show you what math skills are used in the game.

3. Funbrain.com

Funbrain includes a math arcade among other academic subjects. Games are also arranged by grade level K-8.

4. Number Nut

Number nut activities are really online quizzes instead of real games. The site is easy to navigate with lots of math skills featured. The home page outlines all the main topics very clearly.

5. Toy Theater

Among other subjects, Toy Theater has a math category. The games are very attractive but graphically simple. All of the games deal with basic math skills for the youngest of learners — less than and greater than, matching, counting, and patterns.

6. Multiplication.com

Games are one feature of the entire system of teaching multiplication offered at Multiplication.com. The games all center around memorizing the multiplication tables, so they are not arranged any other way than my theme. However, you can select a single math problem and get games that cover it. (It would be nice if you could select multiple problems, but that is not an option.)

7. Illuminations

Illuminations is an educational (not commercial) site, so there are no ads. And there is an emphasis on learning rather than on fun or style. The games are truly online exercises, but there is a wealth to choose from, including advanced topics for high schoolers.

Games are divided into four broad grade groupings: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Before selecting a game, you are shown a screenshot, a title, and a short blurb about the math skills in the game.

8. Math is Fun

The home page of Math is Fun is divided by concept and leads to textbook like information. There are some games, but the most valuable part of the site is probably the multiplication drill activities that help a child memorize through repeated exposure.

9. Hooda Math

The games on this site are fairly well done and cover a good range of math skills. Games are divided into three broad categories: logic, arithmetic, and geometry, so it’s fairy easy to find a game for whatever topic you need.

10. Arcademic Skill Builders

On this site, the games are neatly organized along a yellow horizontal strip: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Integers, Decimals, Money, Fractions, Time and other non-math topics.

The games are moderately engaging and do a good job of focusing on the math skills being reviewed or taught.

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Jesus + Nothing = Everything

Jimmie — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:22:11 +0000

I had originally scheduled this book review for Thanksgiving! That’s how long I have lingered over Jesus + Nothing = Everything?

Tullian Tchividjian’s book is meaty. It is one of those books that you can read on one level, thinking there’s nothing new. But if you read it more slowly, savoring it, and sucking out the marrow of the message of grace, you will be truly blessed.

The title is an example. Jesus + Nothing = Everything makes sense. We know that it’s true in a logical and theological way. But is it a reality in our lives? When our things, whether they are people, positions or possessions, are taken away, do we still live in the truth of having everything in Christ? But this isn’t really a book about loss. It’s about the very nature of our salvation and the sanctification process.

I have struggled with reviewing this book. Maybe it hits me in a new way that is so deep and personal that I can’t quite put it into words. I can’t seem to look at this book objectively and give an impartial review.

I’ve seen lots on the Internet about choosing one word for the year — a theme of sorts. My word for 2012 is freedom. And this book — its message of grace — sets me on the path.

Tchividjian talks about a common falsehood in Christianity, a “do more, try harder moralism that robs us of the joy and freedom Jesus paid dearly to secure for us. ” Salvation becomes man centered, another tool in our belt of personal development. The remedy, according to Tchividjian is to meditate on and live in the reality of Jesus’s victory. I love this quote.

The only way to deal with remaining sin long-term is to develop a distaste for it in light of the glorious acceptance, security, and forgiveness we already possess in Christ. I need to be reminded of this all the time, every day. Because the fact is, guilt doesn’t produce holiness; grace does.

If you want a preview of Jesus + Nothing = Everything, watch the author speak on the subject.

Disclaimer

I received a copy of Jesus + Nothing = Everything from Crossway Books in exchange for my honest review.

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How Sprite Learned to Read

Jimmie — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:10:00 +0000

Reading in 2011

Carma invited me to join in her blog series on how each of her children learned to read. That’s reaching pretty far back for me since Sprite is twelve years old, but I love the topic. I started blogging when Sprite was already an independent reader, so it is not something that I ever wrote about.

I have a degree in English; I even have a master’s degree in education. Yet I was nervous about teaching my child to read. I look back now and realize how ridiculous my concern was. But it was a very real fear at the time.

I had been exposed to some of the better late than early material, and I had learned a few lessons from potty training that made me realize a child is not going to read until she is ready. Period.

I’d love to share the potty training stories, but since Sprite is now a tween (and reads this blog), she would probably be horrified to see them online. I’ll just share the bottom line. Sprite was totally potty trained when she was ready for it to happen. And I mean totally. She never (Never — no exaggeration) had an accident or wet the bed after that single day when she chose to leave diapers behind. There was no middle ground of being partially potty trained, or a period of working on potty training that gradually shifted into mastery. One day she was using diapers; the next day she was potty trained.

In my mind, reading and potty training fit in the same category. They are essential life skills, but they cannot be rushed. A child must be developmentally ready both physically and emotionally. As a parent, my job is to provide the tools for learning these skills and to encourage growth. Shame and pressure are counterproductive.

When Sprite was five years old and beginning Kindergarten, we were in China. Homeschooling was the best option for us then, and I plunged in with a complete curriculum, purchased from Sonlight. It was fantastic to have everything in one box — books, manipulatives, and an instructor’s guide with boxes to check. Despite my degrees and years of teaching experience (middle school), I still doubted my ability to teach a child to read.

The Sonlight curriculum included a system to teach a child to read, but I was leery of using it. I was afraid of pushing her too much and ruining her love of books (which meant up to that time my reading aloud to her). I went ahead with the program, constantly cautioning myself against rushing and pressuring. I was firm in my resolve to let it happen when she was ready.

There were times when she was frustrated by the phonics program. At those times, I laid it aside for a few days. Then we would try it again. This off and on again approach continued for several months. Finally something sparked inside her, and Sprite was highly motivated to learn to read. From that point on there were few frustrating lessons. It was truly a smooth process. Sprite was five years old.

I credit her ease in learning to read to three main factors.

1. A literate family.

We had loads of books in our home. Her dad and I are readers. Sprite even had her own bookcase filled with age appropriate books from birth.

2. Reading aloud to Sprite since birth.

Sprite already loved books and the adventures they held because she had experienced plenty of them by listening to me and her dad read them.

3. A low-key, no pressure approach to learning phonics.

There was no rush, no shame, and no pressure in our reading lessons. I always approached phonics lessons as a fun activity, equal to crafts with glue and glitter or a romp on the playground. I may have used the term “school” but only because it was novel for a five year old to “play school.”

My learn to read story is not very glamorous. But it is Sprite’s story. So, of course, I love it.

Readers, what do you think? Is there a magic age when a child must learn to read? Did you push your children to learn to read? Was that a good decision?

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Scheduling Time for Review

Jimmie — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:40:00 +0000

Sprite laughing at her own visual aid

Remember the photo holder thrift store find that we turned into a vocabulary tool? The idea was to make a card for each root Sprite studied and review them weekly. We did well with making the cards, but after several weeks, we neglected to review them. That omission was painfully obvious when we tried to review the whole set at the end of the workbook.

She remembered the meanings of the roots at the beginning of the book; we had reviewed those consistently. And she knew the roots at the end of the book; we had just finished them. But the ones in the middle were altogether forgotten.

Actually, this phenomena is normal for memory. We tend to remember what is at the beginning and end. But the middle items are forgotten more easily. By failing to consistently review, I was only reinforcing a normal tendency of the human memory.

So instead of rushing on to the next vocabulary resource, we spent a few days to review these roots and memorize the meanings. It would be a shame not to cement the learning after Sprite has spent so many weeks of effort on the material.

The whole experience reminded me again of the value of consistent, periodic review and final review. Why invest so much in our lesson planning and execution if we don’t take the time to lock in that learning with some quick review? My takeaway is this: Schedule time for review. Write it on the plans so that you actually do it.

How to you handle review? Is it a part of your homeschool scheduling or do you wing it? How important do you think it is? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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