Amazed

My 9 year picked Photography as one of her elective subjects this year. This (of course) pleased me. I may not be an expert, but I know enough about it to have taught several workshops. I figured it would be nice to teach a subject that required no textbook purchases.

Considering her age, I figured it would not make sense to begin as I typically would with all of the technical camera information. Handing her my DSLR and showing her briefly how to work it, I gave her a basic exercise in seeing light. I gave her a shell, and a lamp, and put her in a dark room. The idea is to play with angles of both the subject and the light, seeing the sometimes subtle, and sometimes extreme, differences. She also had an opportunity to place the shell in front of window light and play with that too. After that, I loaded her photos into Lightroom and giving her a very quick overview of some of the Develop Tools, told her to select five and play with them until she was happy.

Honestly, I am astounded at how quickly she began thinking outside of the box. Without the inhibitions that we adults so often carry, to her, there were no limits. No right or wrong. Just simply what she liked. And I am sincerely amazed at the results she presented. The following images are all Copyright of J. D. Green.

Take the time to teach your child, give them a little freedom, and they'll open your eyes to a whole new world.

We Are Ready!

After working 10-14 hour days for the last week and a half, my lesson plan is complete, my school room is organized and my house is clean(ish)!  After enjoying a restful day tomorrow, we will be all set to start school Monday morning!

180 days planned, each with a corresponding file folder containing all copies, worksheets and books I need for each day. I feel GREAT about this coming year!

Week 3	DAY 1	DAY 2	DAY 3	DAY 4	DAY 5
Bible Study Telling God's Story: 1	Read Lesson 25 Coloring page	Duccio's Callingof the Apostles Peter & Andrew	Fishers of Men Game	Read & Discuss Proverbs 4	Life Lessons from The Princess & The Kiss Lesson 15
Math	J-Math-U-See Gamma 19A & D N-Math-U-See Beta Lesson 4A & D	J- Read Times Tables the Fun Way p.64-67 Math-U-See Gamma 19B & E N-Math-U-See Beta Lesson 4B & E	J- Read Times Tables the Fun Way p.68-71 Math-U-See Gamma 19C & F N-Math-U-See Beta Lesson 4C & F	J-Math-U-See Gamma 19 Test N-Math-U-See Beta Lesson 4Test & X	Both-Life of Fred Apples Lesson 4 Kid's Pay (Money Mgmt)
Grammar	J-FLL Level 4- Lesson 16 N-FLL Level 2 - Lesson 32	J-FLL Level 4- Lesson 17 N-FLL Level 2 - Lesson 33	J-FLL Level 4- Lesson 18 N-FLL Level 2 - Lesson 34	J-FLL Level 4- Lesson 19 N-FLL Level 2 - Lesson 35	J-FLL Level 4- Lesson 20 N-FLL Level 2 - Lesson 36
Writing	J - HWT Can Do Cursive- p. 14-15 N-HWT Printing Power-p. 12	IEW Unit 2	IEW Unit 2	IEW Unit 2	IEW Unit 2
Spelling	Spelling Check/Intro	Spelling words		Spelling words	Final Test
Memory Work
History	Read “If You Traveled On The Underground Railroad” p.7-29	Read “If You Traveled On The Underground Railroad” p.30-64		Read: CBUSH – Dred Scott p.185-193 Put Civil War Sticker on Timeline	Read UILEWH-American Civil War p. 348-349 Internet Links
Geography			A Child's Geography p.19-25 Postcard Home
Science	Vocabulary Lift the flap NJ. 29-30	Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy -Make a Solar Eclipse p.26 NJ. p.32		Sun Mini-books NJ p.A11-A15, p.33	UILBAS p. 10-13 Internet Links
Read Aloud	Freedom Train by Dorothy Sterling Ch 7-8	Freedom Train by Dorothy Sterling Ch 9-10	Freedom Train by Dorothy Sterling Ch 11-12	Freedom Train by Dorothy Sterling Ch 13-14	Freedom Train by Dorothy Sterling Ch 15-16
Latin	Prima Latina Lesson 4
Music	Music Theory 1, Lesson 4
Character			CF-Obedience S1, B2 p.8-16 Coloring Page
Worksheets
Elective Subject				N-World Farming p.18-1 Internet research chicken breeds Finish Rare Breeds book	J - Photography
Reading
Art		Artistic Pursuits Book 2 – Lesson 4
P.E.		Gymnastics 6-7pm		N-Ballet/Tap 3:30-4:45	J-HipHop 5:15-6:15

And of course a picture of my pet quail, Destiny. Just because she lives in the school room. And because I love her.  :)

To Lesson Plan or Not

When I began homeschooling, I started with the Abeka preschool program. While the content was good, it was far too structured and intensive for my 3 year old (and for me at the time, having a 6 month old as well). So we ditched the lesson plan and just used the materials whenever I felt the timing was good. This worked beautifully for these younger years.

For Kindergarten, I moved to Sonlight. I loved the structured, clear lesson plan and the materials were excellent. I stuck with that for several years, but was flexible with the plan and allowed for lots of field trips and extra activities.

Over time, our needs have grown away from Sonlight. While I still use their reading list for much of our literature, the rest of the program no longer worked. I didn't care for the language arts portion. Also, I teach both of my children history and science at the same time, so I build a program that achieves that goal.

Now, I have heard lectures and read books regarding "Unschooling". I have also read Charlotte Mason, Mary Hood and a slew of other books and articles regarding educational styles. And for this year I have done what every homeschooler should do, I have selected the parts I like from each area and have figured out what works best for my family.

I like checking boxes. I like to be organized. I like to plan ahead. And, I like to feel a sense of accomplishment. In a world where there is no boss holding me accountable or patting me on the back for a job well done, I have to be diligent in knowing that before myself, my husband and God alone, I am giving my children the best education I can. I have to know that while I don't have to follow the pattern of today's society, that my children will be prepared to function in that society. I will never force my child to "be successful" by our culture's standards which I feel are far too materialistic, but I do want them to understand the world they are in, and to be able to effectively evaluate what success means to them.

This year I am doing a complete lesson plan. Far more detailed and specific than anything I have created before, this plan will ensure that I have covered all of the subjects and materials that I have set goals for. It includes:

• Math, catered to their individual needs
• A rich, classical Language Arts program
• Additional subjects, such as Latin, Music and Art Appreciation, Character and of course Bible Study
• Classic literature
• Elective subjects for my daughters so that their specific interests are nurtured
• Full Science and History programs taught in the most fun and interesting ways I can find

While I understand that this much structure does not work for many families, it is what I feel is the best option for us for this year. It has a little flexibility for field trips and service opportunities, but not much. It will be our most structured and intense year to date. And I think we're going to like it.

Homeschool History Lesson Plan - How I Roll

I've just spent the past 4 days working on our history lesson plan. It's been gruelling. Seriously. It is by far the most complex lesson plan that I build. I could follow a simpler, pre-packaged plan but I don't. My reasons are as follows:

1. In my experience with most history plans, modern times are studied around fourth grade, and the content is too complex for my second grader. Since I wish to teach my two children together and modern times is where we are at in our rotation, that means making alterations. (We are on a 4 year rotation - ancient times, middle ages, early modern, and now modern times.)
2. There are so many fun resources out there to supplement the stiffer text books. There's unit studies, history pockets, sticker books, craft projects, fictional classics. I feel that teaching in layers like this truly adds depth and color to their studies, and hopefully results better retention.
3. I never do anything the easy way.

This list will seem overwhelming. It does to me. But now that I have it assembled into daily lessons, I am actually quite excited about it.

My lesson plan can be found here. Since I am doing a 30 minute lesson 4 days a week, I have it broken down into 144 lessons. The "Sessions" are based on the school calendar year that I have chosen and there is a week break in between each one.

My history program for this year involves correlating the following resources:

History Odyssey: Modern Times - This is a good lesson plan and is geared towards the younger age level. I use it as a starting point as it already correlates some of my resources, but I hack it up quite a bit. Actually, this year it will be hacked up a lot.

TruthQuest History - American History for Young Students III - This is my first time utilizing this program. It is mainly literature suggestions for the individual subjects, but I also purchased the "Binder Builders" to go with it, which acts like a large lapbook for the year. I think adding this will really add dimension to our studies.

The Story of the World: Book Four - In the past, I have used mainly this book and its suggested additional resources. However, a lot of the fun projects from the first two volumes' activity books have been sucked out of the latter ones and replaced with increased reading, mapwork and written responses. That doesn't seem fun too me, much less to my seven year old. Regardless, it still has content worth utilizing.

The Complete Book of United States History - This book is great. It is very comprehensive and uses a story telling style. Sections are of a manageable size for my seven year old, and since we are focusing on US history for this rotation (our next rotation will contain more complete world history), it is a perfect guideline for our studies. It's low cost also makes it well worth the purchase, however it will be challenging to acquire after the next year or so as it is now out of print.

The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History - An excellent staple with great pictures and a lot of cool internet links.

A Child's History of the World - Great story-telling style. I don't use this one as much, but every now and then it does well to reinforce specific events.

Interactive 3-D Maps: American History - Love, love, love this! While I typically end up assisting in the cutting out of these things, the girls always enjoy them, and it really gives them a tangible visual to reinforce the lessons.

Usborne Sticker Books (Sticker Dressing First World War, The Second World War Sticker Book) - I special ordered these through Amazon. Although it is impossible to avoid the heaviness of the subject, I wanted to present it in a way that would not completely freak out a very sensitive seven year old, or even my nine year old. These are a light way to visually reinforce these important events.

Pandia Press History Timeline - I prefer this timeline over any other I've found. You can stretch them out on the wall, or they fold nicely into a 3 rind binder (and are hole-punched for such).

Sonlight Timeline Stickers - Pandia Press has stickers to go with their timeline, but I started out using Sonlight's and they just always seem to have pretty much everything I need.

Sonlight Read Alouds E - Sonlight's composed list of classic literature is always AMAZING. We love almost every book on their list. I think for this year, however, I may have overdone it (could it be possible???). With over 40 books now sitting on the shelf, I may have to turn some of these into readers for my 9 year old, and otherwise just be very selective as to what I choose to real aloud to my children. I never regret purchasing them, however. Lord willing, these children will be with me for another 9 years at least, and that gives them plenty of time to read the living books that await them.

Plus a few other books that fit in well:
If You Traveled West In A Covered Wagon
If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad
and a list from the Truthquest program that is way too long to list.

And that's it. Hopefully the rest of my lesson planning will go MUCH easier!

How Do I Fit It All In?

As I'm sitting here staring at all of the curriculum I've purchased for the next year, I'm left wondering how on earth we are going to do it all. Well...we're not. It's as simple as that. However, we will be able to do most of it, if I can get us on a schedule.

I've never been a schedule kind of a girl. I really think God has a special place for people who are regimented, those driven to create and stick to a routine. I've always been more of a highly organized, let's-just-get-it-all-done-in-a-general-order-before-we-have-to-go-somewhere homeschooler. And it works. Just not as well as I think it could.

So, here is my general plan for the next academic year. It's not fancy, but it's a starting point for building my lesson plans. And hopefully it's flexible enough that when I decide to toss the whole schedule out the window for a day, or a month, we won't be totally off track.

Putting It All Back (Well...Most of It)

With yesterday's goal achieved, I now realize that taking everything out of the room is the easy part. Today things get much more difficult.

When I first moved in with my husband, he thought it would be fairly easy to move me from the tiny house I had been living in. I guess he didn't realize just how good I am at utilizing space. It's like one of those compressed bags of pine shavings that triples in size when you open it.

Which is why I am now looking at the tremendous amount of books, papers and art supplies that have taken over my family room, and need a plan of action for putting it all back.

Today's Goals

Goal 1: Take all of our next year's curriculum and place it on the most accessible shelves. (This does not even begin to touch how I prepare my curriculum plan, but it at least assigns it a place).

Goal 2: Sort and organize the supplies in the closet to make the most of the space and determine what could potentially be stored elsewhere.

Goal 3: Return everything else neatly.

Pet Corner.

Eventually the guinea pigs and quail will go. The tortoise, however, has a ridiculously long life span. I am absolutely certain my oldest child will be taking him with her when she goes off to college.

Tearing Apart

Today begins the week my husband loathes.

It's the week when I take our entire school room apart, dump it into the family room, reorganize it as well as the curriculum for the next school year, and finally put it all back. We all hate clutter and chaos, but in this instance, it's inevitable and it will be epic.

Typically I would have had school breaks to to stay on top of things, but because of the medical treatments I had, I've actually not had a true school break since Christmas. Naturally, this has led to a lot of mess and a distinct lack of sanity.

So, here we go. This is the room to start with (with the table already removed). I am going to assess what worked, what didn't, and plan the room accordingly.

In J.D. Meier's book, Getting Results the Agile Way, he states to set goals in threes. Three for the day, three for the week, etc. My goals are as follows:

For today:
1. Remove everything possible from the school room in as organized a fashion as possible, using the 3 pile method (keep, toss, give).
2. Clean the room (vacuum, dust, etc.)
3. Move/remove large pieces of furniture/critter cages to achieve the desired configuration.

For the week (which will technically end on Friday, June 14th):
1. Have the school room clean and organized.
2. Have all curriculum sorted, copied, organized by week and craft/project shopping lists complete for the entire school year.
3. Remember to feed myself/husband/children/pets during the process.

And, an additional goal, to blog about our next years' curriculum choices. Maybe that should be goal #3. I mean really...the kids know how to make a sandwich.

How to Blow Out Eggs

Just in time for Easter!

After several years of trying different methods, I think this is the method that works quickest and best for me.  Here's what you need:

1.Duck eggs. You can do it with chicken eggs, but they are far more fragile, so you will have to take more time.

2.A large syringe and needle. I use a 60cc syringe and a 14 gauge needle. I bought mine from my vet.

3. A bowl of clean water.

4. Play dough or something similar. We had made salt play dough this week and it worked great.

Step 1. Push down firmly on one end of the egg. Your needle should be very sharp and will go through smoothly.  Chip around the hole with the needle until it is about 1/4 inch. Hold with hole on the bottom and poke around inside the egg a few times to break the yolk.

You can try to make a smaller hole than this, but I go for speed and efficiency.

Step 2. Pull back the syringe to fill with air. On the opposite end of the egg, push through the shell with the needle. Apply firm pressure and the white and yolk will come out of the other, larger hole. This is where is is easy to fill chicken eggs with too much pressure and they will explode on you.

Step 3. Fill the syringe with clean water. Spray this into the egg to rinse the inside.

Step 4. Using a small ball of the play dough as to help seal your smaller hole, fish the syringe with air and push this into the egg to remove any remaining water or white/yolk.

Step 5. Place eggs in carton, large hole side down, with paper towel underneath. This will help it to drain and  dry quickly.

Now you are ready to dye!

Emptying the eggs this way will make them last for years. It is so neat to have bowls of these around the house at Easter time. And so many wonderful memories are attached to them too.

Operation Organize!

My story started as the typical romance fairy tale.

I met my soul mate, we fell in love. Got married, bought a house. Everything was clean and shiny. Everything had a place. We had a miscarriage, but shortly after along came our first child. I delighted in washing, folding and neatly organizing all of her tiny pink clothes. Then somewhere in between losing a second child, having a very uncomfortable 4th pregnancy, giving birth to our other wonderful daughter, the onset of chronic pain and homeschooling, I lost control. Oh every now and then I would tackle an area that I could no longer function in. And we clean. But it's often the "company's coming" type of cleaning. You know, where you clean the  main areas, then stash and dash all of the rest into a room and close the door. I'm not saying we live in filth. It's just clutter. And now that my girls are big enough to help me with the maintenance, it is the perfect time to change that.

The first step I made was to create and inventory of my house. You see, I need to feel a real return on my investment, and what better than to be able to make a check mark. Well, actually several check marks would be better.

I have literally broken down every room in the house into areas that I will be able to clean and organize, a bit at a time. The task doesn't seem overwhelming because I'm not trying to organize the whole house all at once. We have a few days off for Easter break, so I am tackling my most frustrating areas in fairly large chunks. After that, one item a day will be my goal. And I think that's very do-able.

Today: The dreaded Tupperware cupboard, and the kitchen counters. See Exhibits A & B below.

And the cup cupboard. Wait, that's like a duplicate. The cup boards? Aw, heck. The cabinet that contains the cups.

I swapped out these two cupboards to give better flow, but it also seems to add a further sense of newness.  After 10 years of going to the same cabinet to get my cups, it has made for an interesting afternoon.

All of my kitchen counters are now clear, clean and make me smile. In fact I think I'll go back to the kitchen to admire them again right now.

Much better!

And best of all, apart from a few papers that I need to work on, everything else on the counters was addressed, cleaned and found a home for. Check, check, check.

Really, I am smiling at my kitchen counters. And I think they may be smiling back.

Squash Soup

One of my all time favorites. It is very rich and I always eat too much.

Ingredients:

1 Acorn Squash, microwaved until tender, scoop out flesh

3/4 cup Carrots, microwaved until tender

2 cups hot Vegetable Broth 

3/4 cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut (Or Coconut Milk)

1 tsp Curry Powder

1/2 tsp Cumin Powder

1/2 tsp Corriander Powder

1 tsp Salt 

1/2 tsp Pepper

Put hot vegetable broth and coconut in the blender and blend. (For a smoother soup, you could use coconut milk instead of shredded coconut, but I liked it as is).

Add the acorn squash, carrots and spices.

Blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Pink Grapefruit

I don't like grapefruit, except like this.

1 Pink Grapefruit, cut in half. Slice down each side of the segment membranes to make for easy removal later. Place on a cookie sheet. Set oven to broil with oven rack in top position.

Drizzle each half with a teaspoon or so of honey. Put under the broiler for 3-5 minutes. Take out and immediately sprinkle with salt (about 1/2 tsp each). So good!

Brownies My Way

Even I was surprised as to how good these turned out. You can't eat these and expect them to taste exactly like a store brand box mix, but they are smooth and chocolaty, and work really well for a sweet treat when using the Paleo diet.

Ingredients:

8oz Creamy Roasted Almond Butter

2 Eggs

1 1/2 cups Honey

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Avocado, mashed

3/4 cup Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Salt

1 cup Almond Flour

1 cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

1/2-1 cups Dark Chocolate, chopped (I used Green & Black's Organic 85% Cacao)

In a large bowl, blend almond butter, eggs, honey, vanilla and avocado, using an electric mixer. In a small bowl, mix cocoa powder, salt, almond flour, and coconut with a fork. Add to almond butter mixture and blend further with the mixer or by hand. Stir in chopped chocolate.

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and back at 325 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

Flash, making sure I was doing it right.

Smoked Salmon Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms

Ingredients:

3 Portabello Mushrooms, stems removed. Gills removed if desired.

1 Small Zucchini, diced

1 Tomatillo, diced

1/2 Small Onion, diced

2 Garlic Cloves, sliced or crushed

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

1/2 tsp Basil

1/2 tsp Oregano

2oz Smoked Salmon

Saute zucchini, tomatillo, onion, garlic, basil and oregano in olive oil until soft. Put them in a food processor with the smoked salmon and pulse until blended. Sprinkle olive oil on the tops of the mushrooms and put on a cookie sheet, gill side down. Put under broiler for 3-5 minutes. Take out, turn over. Sprinkle inside with salt and pepper and then fill with the salmon mixture. Put back under broiler for another 3-5 minutes.

This was a very tasty and filling alternative to one of my favorite dishes. If I was not on the Paleo diet, the only thing I would change is to add cream cheese. Because what's better than smoked salmon and cream cheese. Other than strawberries and cream. Or chocolate and...well, anything.

Wisdom

I have a couple of homeschooling ideas that I wanted to share with you today. The first is a state quarter map. I bought these books years ago, way before the girls were old enough to do anything with them. The other day I decided to pull them out, along with a big jar of coins we've been saving. I had the girls sort the quarters first, and then divide the quarters into regular issue, and state quarters. Then they found the states in their book and placed the quarters in their spot. It was a great way for them to identify where the states are, and a few facts about them. Some books have more info in them, some less. You can get these books through Amazon like this one, and some hobby stores also carry them. 

Through our jar, they have the book about half way filled, leaving plenty for them to keep their eyes open for in the future.

The other thing is a book by Jennie Bishop called "The Princess and the Kiss". It is a delightful tale of a princess finding her true love with the underlying theme of purity. It also has an accompanying "Life Lessons" book that helps to solidify in a young girl the notion that her kiss (heart, purity) is precious and should not be given lightly and without determining whether the match be God's will.

It's a light-hearted book, and the discussions can be lighter or deeper depending on the age of the child. The Life Lessons book also has activities and craft suggestions, which my girls are always in favor of.

There is also a version for boys called "The Squire and the Scroll", which I would be really interested to read at least. And I would like to know if any of you have sons that you are doing this program with. I will be making a list of their names for later. :)

And I don't think it's ever too soon to tell my girls that to God, they are precious princesses. It may not stop them from making every mistake when they are older, but if it saves them even a little heartache, it will be well worth it.

Why?

So, the other day my cousin posed the question of why I had started the Paleo diet. Little did she know what a loaded question that was.

It's because of this.

Ok, so not just because of that. But that is a representation of my life. It's all good stuff, but it's chaos.

I also have chronic SI joint syndrome. Which means pain every day. And I have been receiving a variety of treatments for it, and all I can do now is wait and see if they will help. I just don't know. And there's nothing I can do about it. Even if it helps, there are many things I will never be able to do again without risk of putting myself right back where I started. And that doesn't help the chaos.

So, I am having to reinvent my life. I am going to take all of the stuff that drives me crazy or that I'm doing wrong or that I simply need to do differently, and fix it. There is SO much about my life that I already love, and this will make it that much better. And I believe it is about being obedient to God, and taking care of that which he has assigned to me. But it won't happen overnight. It is going to take months, maybe longer. And the Paleo diet is simply where I have chosen to start. I need more energy, and I need to lose weight, and I'm an all or nothing kind of gal. So Paleo it is. I don't plan to stay on it forever, but I do hope it will change how I eat long term.

This blog is a record of my journey to find peace through the chaos. This blog is all of my creativity, frustration, faith, ideas and photos all rolled into one.