Robinson Curriculum

I have posted before about how we use the Robinson Curriculum as the base for our home education. Here is the link to the first part of a series about the Robinson Curriculum. If you are looking for a curriculum to use or maybe you think it might be time for a change, check it out!

Introduction to Robinson Curriculum

I talk about our use of the Robinson Curriculum here:

Self-Taught Education

Rush Revere Giveaway!

School Planning

School Planning

As I have mentioned before, I am pretty much set with our schooling for this year. We plan on starting September 17th. One of the things I had been putting off was creating our schedule for the day. It is usually one of the most stressful things to try to figure out who will practice piano when, the individual lessons for the younger children, who will cook meals on what nights, etc. so I just kept procrastinating. Well, I knew with us starting in two weeks and the baby possibly deciding to arrive before then that I shouldn't put it off any longer.

So, earlier this week I poured myself a glass of Plexus Slim and sat at my computer and got to work. I am surprised at how quickly I was able to work out all the details. What normally takes me an hour to start with and then a week of revamping, I had done in about an hour. I did have two of my older girls look over it to see if I had missed something or made any mistakes, and I had made a few small mistakes, but those took less than 15 minutes to figure out and fix.

The interesting thing is that I did this in the afternoon. For as long as I can remember (for at least the past 20 years), afternoons have always been the hardest for me to accomplish anything. I usually hit the wall around 2:30 in the afternoon and need to take a nap (and by nap, I mean at least an hour nap). I used to figure if I don't get it done before lunch, it wouldn't get done because after lunch I just slow down. I didn't sit down (which means I had been busy until then) until about 3:00 in the afternoon to start working on the schedule and I was alert and could think clearly. Even after finishing the schedule, I worked on some laundry, picked up around the house, and helped get dinner ready.

I attribute this change to my body healing and to the natural energy that comes from the natural ingredients. I never had the sustained energy I now experience from drinking a cup (or two) of coffee! I'm sure my family appreciates how much more I am able to accomplish in a day. One would think that a mother of soon to be 13 would be experiencing more and more tiredness, not more and more energy. I am so thankful God led me to Plexus to help me with the ministry of motherhood to which He has called me.

For those who are interested in what we do for schooling, here is a brief explanation. We use the Robinson Curriculum as the base for our education. I have taken the Robinson book list and adapted it for our needs. Some of the books I replaced with books on the same topic that we already owned. I also added some books that I feel are important for my children to read. We also do not follow Saxon math all the way through as so far my girls aren't planning on college, but rather would like to own their own businesses or hope their future husbands own their own businesses. Instead of the higher level Saxon math, we have them do a year of personal finance (using Dave Ramsey's Financial Foundations) and then a year of business math (Rod & Staff's Recordkeeping). We also always do a separate Bible class, but we have not decided for sure what we are doing for this year. I am waiting for my husband to make the final call on a particular study. If he hasn't decided by the time we start school, I have a few options of short studies we can do until he decides.

I kept my oldest (who graduated this past summer) on the schedule for this year as she will be helping around the house and possibly with some of the schooling when she isn't working outside the home. I decided not to add the baby on the schedule because the baby will just be eating and sleeping most of the day and we'll just work that in our schedules (that and I'm running out of space if I want to keep it all on one page!).

If you have any questions about Plexus or our schooling, please feel free to ask!

Why I've Been Scarce

As you have noticed, I haven't posted much in the past two weeks and there is a good reason for that!

Of course, we celebrated Independence Day on July 4th. Our family attended the local parade and then just enjoyed family time together for the remainder of the day. Some of our girls had to work the next day (as well as my husband) so we decided to forgo the fireworks that night.

Our oldest graduated from our home school last weekend so we spent the week preparing things around the house, setting up shade tents, making food, etc. for her graduation and open house.

The very next day was our annual Carmichael family reunion so we then had to clean up from the open house and prepare for the reunion. After the reunion, it has become a tradition to go to my sister-in-law's house on the river for some fun in the sun.

The day after the reunion was the start of our three day Bible Bee camp. Our local Bible Bee gets together every summer for three days to have fun, work on learning verses, understanding the scripture passages, etc. While it is very fun, it is also very tiring (especially for this pregnant mama in this heat!). The younger children and I came home every night to do evening chores and then morning chores before heading back to camp. It was pretty rough on the youngest children as well since they either missed naps or had shorter naps than normal as well as getting to bed late every night. It took (is taking) a few days to get back to a normal routine.

Once we returned home from camp, not only did the older girls return to their jobs, but we had to start preparing for our son's 5th birthday! His birthday is today and we will be celebrating with family today and then he will have some friends over tomorrow to have some fun with a Thomas the Train celebration.We also have another graduation open house to attend after our son's party.

After that, we have a "normal" busy week filled with shuttling girls to jobs, tending the garden, midwife appointments, continuing in our Bible Bee studies, etc. before I will be taking my oldest on a girls' getaway for a few days. I have also recently agreed to be a mentor mom for our local MOPS group and the leadership is having a planning weekend that I will try to attend at least for a little while.

Through all this busyness, I have realized how beneficial Plexus has been to my life. You see, I actually ran out of my Plexus Slim last month and due to financial strain, couldn't order more. I went back to needing naps, getting charlie horses in the middle of the night, not sleeping well, not having regular bowel movements, etc. I also noticed that it had been keeping the negative side effects of our neighbors spraying chemicals on their trees at bay. In less than a week of being off Plexus Slim (and the neighbors spraying again), I started having an allergic reaction where my entire body itched as well as the normal sinus drainage that happens every year when they spray (which I hadn't actually experienced this year yet). Those effects made it even harder to sleep and pretty much made life miserable for a while. I did start on some herbal supplements to help combat those effects and started seeing improvements in just a few days. Through all this, I now know how much Plexus had changed my life and I know my gut needs much more healing for me to continue to see improvements.

I truly believe that Plexus can help so many people with their health issues. I have heard story after story of how Plexus has changed the lives of friends and others that I have never met and it is interesting to see how it seems to help everyone a little bit differently. It has also been amazing as I have been learning more and more about gut health, how many different health problems actually stem from poor gut health. 

I would love to discuss Plexus with anyone who has questions. Please just contact me through the form on the right side of the blog!

Here are a few pictures from the past two weeks so you can see what we've been up to!

Can you see what it says?!

 

Self-Taught Education

About five years ago, I was introduced to the Robinson Curriculum. While I don't follow the curriculum exactly as it is intended, I love using it as my base.

The Robinson Curriculum was born out of a need because the wife of a college professor died while they still had young children in the home. The books provided in the curriculum were because they were quality books already in their personal library. For that reason, I "replaced" some of the books with books that we already owned on the same topics. Also, having an English major and being a former public school English teacher, there were some books that I desired my children to read that weren't on the list and of course, I needed to add books for our state history and constitution.

Also, because our children are not desiring to go to college (at least at this point), I have altered the math curriculum a little bit by not going as high in the Saxon math and incorporating some personal finance and business math (because they do plan on having home-based businesses).

Another difference, is that with the younger children, I tend to lean toward a Charlotte Mason/Notebooking approach with them.

With the curriculum, they are to write every day. I then check them for grammar, dictation, etc. They can choose to write on anything they desire (except I require them to write on whatever they are reading for school on Fridays). Sometimes they choose to write stories, sometimes they ask if they can copywork out of the Bible, sometimes they will do extra research and write on a topic of their choice.

I have loved how they choose what they "study" and will go much further than I expect them to go. I am also surprised at what interests them. They may be introduced to something in their reading and then choose to study more (like Cora studied spiders!).

Another surprising side-effect is that they will continue to explore topics outside of school as well. Sabra has been reading about David Farrogut in Fifty Famous Stories (which is included in the Robinson Curriculum) and she is enjoying learning about him. Every day she was coming to me telling me something that she found fascinating. Yesterday, she took it upon herself to start writing her thoughts about him. She wrote 5 pages and this is in addition to her normal, daily writing!

David Farrogut is someone who I don't think she would have encountered in other curriculums, but I'm glad that she is reading about him because it is sparking a love of learning.

Do you homeschool? What do you like about homeschooling? What do you love about the curriculum you use?

They're Your Kids

I have a friend who I admire mention a book that she really liked-They're Your Kids by Sam Sorbo. Since she has been homeschooling longer than I have, I thought I would check it out. She was kind enough to share her copy with me.

I also really liked this book. It's subtitle is, An Inspirational Journey from Self-Doubter to Home School Advocate. I am not a self-doubter when it comes to a home school standpoint, but I am an Home School Advocate.

Much of the information in the beginning of the book I already new, but it did educate me on some points that I didn't know. It showed me that even before I had become a public school teacher, things were starting to go downhill. Of course, I didn't see what was happening as bad at the time, looking back, you can see it was the beginning of what I see as a major problem in public education.

I love that she doesn't just spout off her ideas, but uses references to documented facts, quotations from other people, and information from recognized studies.

One of the major "complaints" I hear about home education is that parents do not think they are capable of doing it. While she combats the most common complaints with common sense, I love what she says towards the end of the book.

Raising children is difficult. Many of us find ourselves overwhelmed by all the challenges children can pose. But doing the hard thing is often the only responsible way forward. I've tried to show that as hard as it is, it's still not as hard as sending your kids away from you to the state institution to be educated.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book and reading it. It is good for those who already home educate as well as those who are thinking about it or even thought about it for only a second. In fact, I think it would be beneficial for even the staunch public school advocates to read as it brings to light some issues that many people are blind to seeing.

I'm sure you can find this book at your local library. It is also available as an Amazon Kindle download if you prefer to use your e-reader.

In Thine Heart

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 KJV 

6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

At the core of life is the knowledge of who God is and how to relate to Him. These two essentials form us and how we live.

The knowledge of who God is-We must study His Word and get to know God. We must form a personal relationship with Him. This leads to how we relate to Him. We must know His commands. We must make them a part of our lives.

Not only must we know His commands, we must share our knowledge with others, especially our children. We should talk about God no matter what we are doing. Our homes should be filled with His Word--not only read and spoken, but on the walls and doorposts. God, and His Word, must be the center of our lives.

As parents, we must be intentional about sharing God with our children. He must be a part of every aspect of our lives.

So many parents see these verses as directives to home school children. We are to "teach them diligently" (emphasis mine) at all times. How can we do that if our children spend a third of their day under the tutelage of humanistic thinking?

Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener Review

As a home school family, we go through a lot of pencils a year. One of my biggest frustrations is not being able to find a sharpened pencil in the house. We used to have an electric pencil sharpener that I purchased while in college and used when I was teaching public school, but the downside to that is that it was loud. It eventually quit working and they are not cheap to replace and of course, if we had a power outage, we couldn't sharpen pencils.

After the electric pencil sharpener quit working, we went through numerous hand held pencil sharpeners. The major problem with those is that either the container that holds the shavings would come up missing or the entire pencil sharpener would go missing when I needed one.

My parents bought us a battery powered sharpener one year, but then I had to keep buying batteries and it still had the problem of coming up missing when I needed it most.

I had decided I wanted an old-fashion, wall mounted pencil sharpener; however, as an one-income family, we didn't have an extra $20-$30 laying around for a pencil sharpener.

Someone had linked to the Classroom Friendly Supplies page in one of the home school facebook groups in which I participate and talked about how nice their pencil sharpeners were. I immediately went to look (yes, I am a nerdy, home school mom!). I looked around and read about them and thought they sounded great and decided that I would rather have one of those than the old metal, gray ones, but I still had to wait until I had the money.

Just as I was getting ready to close out the page, I saw that they were looking for people to try the pencil sharpeners and write reviews. I submitted an application and waited to see if I would be chosen. I squealed with delight when I received the email telling me that not only had I been chosen to review it, I could pick the color of my choice! They offer five fun colors--midnight black, cool blue, firehouse red, groovy green and popular purple.

I chose a blue sharpener because blue is my favorite color. We then waited for it to arrive.

The children all gathered around me when it arrived and waited for me to open it. I was impressed with how sturdy it looked and felt. I like the fact that the compartment for the pencil shavings is clear so that we can see when it needs to be emptied before it overflows. I like being able to mount it somewhere because then my children won't walk off with it and not return it. I love how sharp of point it gives the pencils; it is nice and crisp. It is also nice that the handle spins freely when the pencil is sharpened (which creates a different sound) so that you know when it is completely sharpened.

I was a little disappointed to not find any directions on how to use the sharpener or how to mount it, but they do have directions on their website. You can print off the directions so that if you are using it in a public setting, new users will now how to use it.

I originally mounted it on the edge of my desk, but have since moved it to another location in the house. I think I like it in the new location better. The nice thing about the mount is that we can continue to move it to where we think it will work and we won't have screw holes in a wall after we move it.

It also isn't as loud as the traditional, gray, metal pencil sharpeners you usually find in schools which means anyone can use it while the little ones are sleeping and I don't have to worry about them waking up.

I highly recommend the Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener for any home school family, teacher in a public school, and any other place where pencil sharpeners are needed. I am highly satisfied with the pencil sharpener and have taken the old pencil sharpener off my Amazon wish list because I don't plan on using any other pencil sharpener. 

Before actually use one and enjoying it as much as I do, I don't think I would have spent the money to buy one for myself, but now that I know how great it is and how much nicer it is than other pencil sharpeners, I will gladly purchase another one if needed. However, I don't see that being a need. They do offer replacement parts so it is simple to just replace the sharpener blades instead of the entire unit. They also offer wall mounting plates if you would rather mount it on a wall.

I received a Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener 
for free in exchange for writing a review.

McGuffey Readers

We use McGuffey Readers in our school. We use them to teach reading as well as just reading the
lessons. We have a set of the original McGuffey's as well as a set of the revised McGuffey's.  I have chosen McGuffey readers for a few reasons.

1. This nation was built with people who learned with McGuffey's. They excelled so I don't see why we would need to change.

2. The McGuffey readers are filled with scripture and godly principles. We do a Bible study as a class, but I love how they continue to hear His Word and His principles in other subjects as well.

3. The McGuffey readers are great for teaching many aspects of learning. My children learn about proper use of words by reading content where words are used properly. They learn how to write by seeing correct use of words and grammar; they are great sources for copy work. They learn reading comprehension by comparing to what they understand from the reading to the picture on the page. There are even lessons where they learn aspects of science and mathematics.

4. They are flexible. There are so many different ways to use the McGuffey readers that I can adapt how they are used for each student.

We also have a set of Christian Eclectic Readers that we use. These were based on the McGuffey's and come with a study guide which includes questions for each lesson as well as projects and grammar lessons. I first used this set as it had more structure as was easy for me, a former public school teacher, to understand and follow. I then saw the benefit in the McGuffey's and using them as how it best fit myself and my students. While we all use the McGuffey's, each student uses them in slightly different ways.

I just want to share part of one of the lessons that one of my girls read and wrote yesterday. It is from lesson 18 of the First Reader from the original McGuffey series.

"All that live get life from God. He made the poor man, as well as the rich man.

He made the dark man, as well as the fair man. He made the fool, as well as the wise man. All that move on the land are His, and so all that fly in the air, and all that swim in the sea."

If you homeschool or even if you just want to supplement the education your children are receiving in the public school (or a private school), then I suggest checking out McGuffey Readers.

I do have the two books pictured for sale as I have multiple copies of them as well as a parent/teacher guide. If you are interested in them, please contact me.

Handwriting Practice Review

I received a copy of Handwriting Practice to review.

Handwriting Practice

I chose to have my five year old complete the book. She could write her letters, but they weren't very neat. Handwriting Practice is perfect for her! She is learning how to properly form each letter and having fun at the same time. She is already showing improvement! She enjoys coloring the pictures on the pages and is looking forward to when she is writing the sentences that are further in the book.

The book is great for me as well. As a busy mother, it helps me to know that she is getting quality practice in forming her letters properly. She can just grab the book and go with very little guidance from me. Another benefit is the price. Right now it is just over $3 and if you have Amazon Prime, you'll get the free shipping and have it at your door in just two days. This is much more economical than printing the "free" worksheets that are so readily available on-line. Not only is it more economical, but it is all contained in one book instead of having lots of loose paper all over the house.

I was already using the Cursive Handwriting Workbook by Brookdale House with an older child and was loving it so I was sure I wouldn't be disappointed--and I wasn't!

Rush Revere Giveaway!

As some of you know, I am a former public school English teacher and now an home school mom. Both of those aspects of my life add to my love for books--good books!

We use Robinson Curriculum as our base for our school, but with being a book lover, I, of course, have my favorites that I have added to our required reading list (and I'll probably continue to add books as I find new favorites!). I have also taken books that we already own and "replaced" books from the Robinson list on the same subjects to keep me from having to either print the books, find them in thrift stores, or download on the kindle.

Here is what our reading list currently looks like:

To see the entire file, go here.

If you would like to see all the grades an the books listed, click on the link in the caption of the photo above. The first column says whether the book is original to the Robinson book list or what I've added. The second column is the grade level (although I may be changing the grade level of a few books--I'm still contemplating). The next column is the book title and the next the author. The fifthe column is what "subject" I have placed the book although some of the books can fit into more than one subject. The sixth column just lets my children know where to look for the book in our personal library (my two oldest have their own kindles, we have one family kindle, and I also have a kindle reader on my iPad). The last two columns is for my children to fill out when they start and end a book.

I have shared this information on part of our school (our mathematics program isn't here), as an introduction to a giveaway!

If you click and open the entire file, you will see that in 9th grade, I have my children read Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims by Rush Limbaugh. It is an entertaining book on the subject of colonial times. My oldest is the only one who has read it so far and she wrote a brief review of the book.

Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims is a good book. It makes you look at what the pilgrims did and felt instead of what happened to them. It also teaches not to look at the outward appearance--look on the inside. 

The only thing I dislike about this book is the magic. Other than that, it is a great history book. ~ Dara, age 14

Rush Limbaugh has other Rush Revere books already in print and I will most likely find them at some point and if they are as good as this first book, add them to our reading list as well.

I have a copy of Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims to giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mary Had a Little Lamb Nursery Rhyme Preschool Unit Review & Giveaway

I received a copy of Mary Had a Little Lamb Nursery RhymePreschool unit by Super Mommy to the Rescue to review (she also has other units available that I've heard are great at Currclick!

When I first received the unit, I printed it out and read through the whole thing. You will see that the pictures of the unit are in black and white. That is because I was out of ink for my color printer at the time. The unit is very colorful and I am sure would be beautiful printed in color. Since I was going to be using it with three children at the same time and I was low on ink, I decided to put everything in plastic sleeves and have the girls use wet-erase markers to do the writing activities. I did decide to laminate the hands-on activities (except for the traditional puzzles, number puzzles and patterns. I stored most of the activities in envelopes in the back pocket of the binder. I did decide to store the tic-tac-toe pieces in the sleeve of the tic-tac-toe board.

 I sat down with Cora, Martha & Jaina to do the unit. While I thought it might be a little “easy” for Cora, I also thought she would enjoy starting the school year off with a little review from last year. Martha & Jaina are only four and I’m easing them into Kindergarten work since they turn five in February.

The girls enjoyed listening to the nursery rhyme and then singing it all together. I then had the girls practice with the pre-writing. I actually gave Cora one of the longer copies of the rhyme since she already knows how to write her letters. They enjoyed tracing the letters, wiping it off and trying again.

Martha and Jaina then worked on tracing the lines. They both did great with the straight lines, but needed extra practice with the zig-zag lines. Having them using the papers in the plastic sleeves was great for this because they just wiped them off and tried again. They also worked on the coloring pages. Again, having them in the plastic sleeves worked well because they just wiped off what they did and traded papers.

I had Cora work on the number puzzles while Martha & Jaina were working on their lines. Then they took turns with the number strip puzzles, 2 part match-ups, and sizing. They then would pair up and play tic-tac-toe while the other continued to work on the other “games” and then would switch pairs. All three of them played memory together.

 

I also allowed Cora to try her hand at the patterns. This was a little hard because the pieces were so small and she had difficulty seeing what the picture was and picking up the small pieces to place in the pattern. Because she was having difficulty, I didn’t have Martha or Jaina attempt it.

  When they were done with the other activities, they had fun putting the puzzles together. I couldn’t figure out a good way to laminate the puzzle pieces so I just made sure they were careful with the pieces.

Overall, this was a great unit! The girls had fun (they even asked the next day to do it again!), Cora strengthen concepts she already knew and was able to practice counting and number order, and Martha & Jaina began on the journey of learning letters, numbers, sizing, and matching like items. The only downside I saw was what I mentioned earlier about the size of the pattern page.

 

I would recommend this unit to anyone who has little ones. Even if you don’t home school, you and your children will have fun while learning at the same time!

Stacie Lewin (Super Mommy to the Rescue) is graciously giving a copy of this unit to 2 of my readers! To enter leave a comment telling me why you want this unit. Giveaway ends Sunday, Sept. 23rd at midnight. I will post the winner before I leave for vacation (we leave on the 26th).

To earn more entries, complete the following and leave a comment for each item you accomplish.

• Visit Currclick and tell me another one of Stacie's units that sound interesting to you
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