Today I took my kids to the polls and exercised that sweet American right, voting. I let Meredith and Clara push the red "send" button at the end so they could feel a part of the process too. Later I mentioned something on Facebook about being thankful for voting and the opportunity to tell my kids about what a great country America is. I got a comment from someone who isn't convinced America is great anymore. I thought I would post my reply here just because this is something I truly believe and I am truly thankful.
For all of its flaws, America is still the greatest nation on earth. The issues I have with our government are a direct result of the lack of moral fiber and/or apathy of the American people. I feel so blessed to live in a country where I don't worry about my husband being arrested in the middle of the night and being tortured without a trial. I feel so blessed to be able to speak my mind freely, vote for my elected officials, and attend the church of my own choosing. I feel very blessed to have as many children as I want and educate them according to the dictates of my own conscience. There will always be doomsayers and lots of info floating around on the Internet that I could allow to bog me down. But I am thankful to be an American. God has blessed me by allowing me to be born here. I love my country and will pass this on to my children. I want them to be aware of the blessings they enjoy that many others will never know.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Our "Morning Board"
I totally stole this idea from several other moms! But I wanted to post a picture because it's been a big part of our homeschooling this year and the kids LOVE it. Basically it's a science fair-type board that I got at WalMart. I stapled plastic page protectors to it. Every week I switch out the paper inside it, with our new memory work of the week. I've also added some fun stuff, like a monthly calendar where we discuss the day of the week, weather, etc. And a map of the states, with a corresponding workbook (Clara gets one too and loves it!) where the kids learn about a new state every day. Their FAVORITE part is learning about money. They add a penny every day, switching it out for a nickel, dime, etc., when they get enough money. This board only takes about 15 minutes a day and is an awesome way to review all of our memory work. In addition to our Classical Conversations memory, I'm having the kids memorize a poem about the months, and also a good character habit of the week and corresponding bible verse. They look forward to doing our "morning board" every day.
Renaissance Lady
We have been studying the Renaissance with our homeschool program and I found a really great picture book at the library that shows what types of clothing ladies of the Renaissance wore. After reading it, Meredith ran to the basement to rummage through all her dress up. She found this ensemble and declared that she is a Renaissance lady (I'm not sure where she got the sunglasses idea, except that she knew she'd need lots of accessories).
Sophia is Nine Months--Watch out world!
Our docile, smiley, content little girl has transformed into a strong-willed, very determined, Type-A child. (Sin nature?) Kevin's dad asked, "How did you get three first borns?" All three of our girls are pretty strong-minded. Sophia loves nothing more than interacting with her big sisters, and they always oblige! Clara and Sophia play a game where Sophia mimics sounds that Clara makes. And no one can make Sophia belly laugh like Meredith. When her big sisters run around and play, Sophia squeals and bounces with excitement. Sophia is army crawling everywhere and loves to clap and wave. She has five teeth, weighs 21 pounds, and loves to eat paper. Seriously! She finds paper everywhere and I can't believe how quickly she swallows it before I can get to her. She has eaten half of a magazine cover, nearly a whole receipt, and she took a big bite out of a library book last week. I'm having a hard time keeping up with this one!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Family Visit
Sophia at the Essenhouse in Amish country.
The kids loved playing on grandpa's lap!
The Covered Bridge Festival:
Aunt Melissa is always so sweet to her nieces! They adore her.
The kids loved playing on grandpa's lap!
The Covered Bridge Festival:
Aunt Melissa is always so sweet to her nieces! They adore her.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Feeling Loved
When I tell my children that I love them I get a variety of reactions. Often I get no response from them, as they continue with their play. Sometimes I get a little smile. And sometimes I get an “I love you too!” back from them.
Today I got the best response.
I told my daughter that I love her and she said, “I know.”
That is my ultimate goal in mothering: That my children will know every day, their whole lives long, that their mother loves them completely, without reservation, without condition, and without fail.
Today I got the best response.
I told my daughter that I love her and she said, “I know.”
That is my ultimate goal in mothering: That my children will know every day, their whole lives long, that their mother loves them completely, without reservation, without condition, and without fail.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Oral Presentation
Aside from the memory component, the Classical Conversations group also covers science, fine arts, and public speaking. Each week, Meredith gives an oral presentation to her class and we are working on things like eye contact, the three second rule, and volume. She is doing great so far. It’s so fun to watch. All the kids are so cute about it. For Meredith’s first oral presentation, she had to tell about her favorite Old Testament bible story. I reviewed all the options with her, but she was very adamant that The Fall was her “favorite” choice.
Here is what she said. I wish I had thought fast enough to get a video of it!
“My name is Meredith and I’m going to tell you about The Fall. In the garden, God said to Adam and Eve that they could eat of any of the fruit except for one and that was apples. But then one day a snake came to them and they disobeyed God and ate from that fruit. They tried to hide from God but God found them. They both had to leave the garden and an angel came with a stick of fire to keep them from coming back. Adam’s punishment was that he would have to work very hard to get food out of the ground. Eve’s punishment was that it would hurt very bad to get babies out. The worm’s punishment was that he would have to crawl around on his belly forever. Thank you.”
Classical Homeschooling (Part II)
One thing that I wasn’t really sure about when I decided to pursue classical education for our kids was the heavy emphasis on memorization.
Up to this point, my children had really enjoyed the preschool I had implemented with them. They think school is fun! I didn’t want to ruin any good thing by forcing them to memorize a bunch of facts. The words “rote memorization” have a negative connotation in my mind, and I think probably in most people’s minds.
But after visiting an open house last spring for the Classical Conversations group, I saw that the tutors really made memorization fun for the kids. There were either hand motions, or songs, or games for most of the memory work and all the kids seemed to be enjoying it. In fact, after visiting, Meredith was disappointed that we would have to wait until the fall before we could come back.
I have been blown away by how much Meredith (and ALL the kids in her weekly class) have memorized. It’s very true that young children’s minds are able to quickly memorize things and retain them. But I would have never, on my own, had Meredith memorize a fraction of what she is doing through this program.
Kids memorize a lot of dumb things—really hokey songs, advertisement jingles they overhear, dumb jokes, etc. The theory is, why not have them memorize things that really matter and will be useful to them later in life. The things Meredith is memorizing at this point are not things that she fully understands. That’s okay. They are just “pegs” of memory that will be stored in her mind so that she can use them when we study them more in depth later on.
Here is what the kids memorize every week!
1) Eight world history timeline cards (they just memorize the captions, and emphasis is on being able to place them in the correct order). They memorize the entire timeline every year.
2) A history sentence (“In 800 A.D. Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor of Europe”)
3) Latin conjugations
4) Math facts (they are beginning with learning skip counting, through 15)
5) Science facts
6) English grammar facts
7) Geography facts (they also learn to identify and trace things on a map)
8) They are learning a bible verse together each week (this year it is from Ephesians 6)
I’ve found that the day after class, she still remembers about half of this stuff. After reviewing every day (it only takes about 15 minutes a day and we can listen to it in the car!), she has learned all of it for the most part. And what she has not learned perfectly, she will learn in three years when she has it again.
The last thing I will say about classical homeschooling, is that I enjoy teaching it more than I thought I would. I think I would tend to get easily bored teaching traditional kindergarten. With this method, we delve into really interesting things. Last week, for instance, Meredith learned about the Magna Carta and we made a craft where she glued a “law book” above the king’s crown to signify the limiting of the king’s power by the rule of law. She totally got the concept of it. How many kindergartners get to learn cool stuff like this? This style of teaching has kept MY mind fully engaged and helped me to beef up my own knowledge. I am enjoying learning or relearning just as much as Meredith.
Up to this point, my children had really enjoyed the preschool I had implemented with them. They think school is fun! I didn’t want to ruin any good thing by forcing them to memorize a bunch of facts. The words “rote memorization” have a negative connotation in my mind, and I think probably in most people’s minds.
But after visiting an open house last spring for the Classical Conversations group, I saw that the tutors really made memorization fun for the kids. There were either hand motions, or songs, or games for most of the memory work and all the kids seemed to be enjoying it. In fact, after visiting, Meredith was disappointed that we would have to wait until the fall before we could come back.
I have been blown away by how much Meredith (and ALL the kids in her weekly class) have memorized. It’s very true that young children’s minds are able to quickly memorize things and retain them. But I would have never, on my own, had Meredith memorize a fraction of what she is doing through this program.
Kids memorize a lot of dumb things—really hokey songs, advertisement jingles they overhear, dumb jokes, etc. The theory is, why not have them memorize things that really matter and will be useful to them later in life. The things Meredith is memorizing at this point are not things that she fully understands. That’s okay. They are just “pegs” of memory that will be stored in her mind so that she can use them when we study them more in depth later on.
Here is what the kids memorize every week!
1) Eight world history timeline cards (they just memorize the captions, and emphasis is on being able to place them in the correct order). They memorize the entire timeline every year.
2) A history sentence (“In 800 A.D. Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor of Europe”)
3) Latin conjugations
4) Math facts (they are beginning with learning skip counting, through 15)
5) Science facts
6) English grammar facts
7) Geography facts (they also learn to identify and trace things on a map)
8) They are learning a bible verse together each week (this year it is from Ephesians 6)
I’ve found that the day after class, she still remembers about half of this stuff. After reviewing every day (it only takes about 15 minutes a day and we can listen to it in the car!), she has learned all of it for the most part. And what she has not learned perfectly, she will learn in three years when she has it again.
The last thing I will say about classical homeschooling, is that I enjoy teaching it more than I thought I would. I think I would tend to get easily bored teaching traditional kindergarten. With this method, we delve into really interesting things. Last week, for instance, Meredith learned about the Magna Carta and we made a craft where she glued a “law book” above the king’s crown to signify the limiting of the king’s power by the rule of law. She totally got the concept of it. How many kindergartners get to learn cool stuff like this? This style of teaching has kept MY mind fully engaged and helped me to beef up my own knowledge. I am enjoying learning or relearning just as much as Meredith.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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