Handwork Ideas for Read Aloud Time

Read Aloud Time.

It has the potential for being some of the best moments of the school day. But, on the other hand, the promise of disaster if too many children are made to sit sedately for too long.

Although we have amassed a large assortment of fiction books, we typically save this time for reading library books. My usual pattern is to read two board books for The Newbie, two picture books mostly for the middle boys (Pre-K and Kindergarten), and one chapter from a chapter book for everyone to enjoy. After a morning of going in many different directions doing mostly independent, core studies, our read-aloud time is our way of regrouping together.

Galloping the Globe Review

Awww...it was our bi-weekly co-op today...a brief pause in the crazy busyness of our homeschooling week. We always love getting together with the gang to learn in a larger, significantly more animated setting. As I mentioned last week, our group has chosen to do a geography study this year. We will be using the digital download version of Galloping the Globe by Loree' Pettit and Dari Mullins and published/distributed by Geo Matters.

We have been enjoying the curriculum so much, I just have to take a quick minute to tell you about it...

Galloping the Globe

Although, we are strictly using it for group geography lessons, this well-organized, unit-study style curriculum includes sections that focus on geography, historical biography, literature, language arts, science, and Bible. With the exception of math, it is an all-inclusive curriculum.

Art Lesson: Cracked Wax Resist

For the past few weeks during our Wednesday afternoon art time, we have been learning about wax resist painting.  One of our favorite resist projects so far has been this simple cracked wax technique. Even my four year old was able to show his artistic prowess.  (Just a quick side note:  I know it is quite difficult to conduct art lessons with preschoolers and babies in tow.  Most of the time, I reserve art for nap time and allow my three year old, who rarely naps these days, an opportunity to create a modified version of our project.  He typically uses the same materials, but just free-styles an "abstract" painting/drawing.)

For our cracked wax pieces, we chose to create a flower print, but you could produce any number of simple wax pictures.  Basic lines and shapes work best, especially when teaching little ones.

Geography Club: Mexico

After three years of hosting a book-club style homeschool co-op, we co-op moms decided to take a different route this year and focus our efforts on world geography themed units.  We will be using Galloping the Globe by Loree' Pettit and Dari Mullins and its companion book, Eat Your Way Around the World by Jamie Aramini as our core curriculum and supplementing with several living literature books, crafts, and activities.  

We will be meeting twice a month.  Each meeting, we will look at a new country within the current continent we are studying.  Due to some scheduling priorities, we will not be hitting every single country on the continents that we will look at this year.  But, are going to do our best to highlight many of them.

We have begun in North America with Mexico.  I invite you to join me over the coming school year as I share our themed units.  They will be ready-made and easy to implement.

(This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for full details.)

Mexico

  

I began the morning by explaining that "geography" is the study of the world.  I used a set of geography circles to depict the different elements of geographical study...city, state, country, continent, world.  We will continue to use these circles to help the children see the relationship between the countries and continents, as this is sometimes a difficult concept to grasp.

Homeschooling Through Baby Blues

In my effort to maintain this ministry of mine, I have to push the pause button on the homeschooling how-to's to expose real life.  My dear friend the Deputy's wife is constantly reminding me that authenticity only comes through transparency.  So here it is...the raw, transparent truth.

(At this point in "real life", most people fidget, glance at the floor, rub the tip of their shoe in the sand and look for an easy "escape" button.  I'm not exactly sure what the on-line equivalent of that would be, but I apologize in advance if transparency brings a level of discomfort.)

The truth is, with a six-month-old sleeping peacefully at my side, I am six months into postpartum hormones.  And for me, that always means the beginning of a downward spiral into baby blues.  I begin to feel overwhelmed...overwhelmed with homeschooling...overwhelmed with parenting...overwhelmed with...LIFE.

Great Homeschool Convention Registration Giveaway

Don't think that because the 2012 school year just started that it is not a great time to start planning for next year. Now's your chance to register to win a complete family registration pack for the 2013 homeschool event of the year, the Great Homeschool Convention!

Historical Rendezvous: Fur Trade Encampment

Several weeks ago, we joined up with the Radio Announcer's family to take school on the road.  We took an hour drive to a neighboring community to spend the day visiting a historical rendezvous (fur trade camp reenactment).  At this particular encampment, folks were dressed in period costumes and living off the land for an entire weekend, using historical tools and reenacting living conditions.

When we arrived, our first stop was a trading circle where we got to see folks bartering without using words.  We learned that fur trade camps would have people of different nationalities.  Since they did not speak the same language, they had to use other forms of "speech" to make their trades.

Waterproof Bible Review

Woo-hoo! Finally a book that will stand the wear and tear of my rough-and-tumble household...and better yet, IT'S A BIBLE! Yep, that's right! I was given the opportunity to check out the ESV Waterproof Bible from Bardin & Marsee Publishing.

If you could have been at my house to witness the "bowl of flying banana oatmeal" incident today, you'd know how excited I was to receive my very own WORRY FREE Bible.  Made from entirely synthetic materials, the Waterproof Bible is completely LIQUID PROOF and STAIN RESISTANT.  But, I suppose, that is something you have to see to believe.  Check it out...

Ancient Egypt: Making Papyrus

We had another exciting week of "ancient studies" with our Egypt Unit.  After a brief look at hieroglyphics and scribes (We will visit these more in depth in the coming weeks.), we took a pause to watch a quick video on how to make papyrus.

This, naturally, got my crafty fingers itchin'.  I made a spur of the moment plan to try to make some of our own.  Obviously, we don't have papyrus reeds growing in our backyard, so our version of this ancient paper making process had to be tweaked quite a bit.  Although, our "papyrus" was not necessarily 100% authentic, the kids got a glimpse of the arduous process...and certainly a new found love of modern conveniences.

Family Mission Statement & House Rules

About two years ago, the Hubs and I had a lengthy conversation about what we thought were the most important life qualities to impart to our children. Although this is a pretty open-ended question and could compel any number of answers, it was pretty much a no-brainer for us to agree upon our TWO MOST IMPORTANT. From that conversation, we unknowingly picked ourselves a family verse and determined a family mission statement. (This post contains affiliate links.)

Some might see a family mission statement as a bit militaristic. Perhaps you have visions in your head of our children being lined up like the VonTrapp family reciting a rather lengthy and litigious dissertation of "why we exist". This could not be further from the truth. The reality is, our mission statement is very short and sweet and has been lived out the past eleven years without our even realizing it. It is purposefully simple because, in truth, a mission statement is only useful if it is easy to remember and easy to implement. And with the eight and under crowd, simple means...well, about ten words or less.