Typing

I hope all of you have enjoyed this blizzard.

What a fun few days we've had together.  Praying the rosary, reading Little House on the Prairie, eating three meals together at the table (which will keep our kids off drugs).  And, we kept up our lessons through Saturday, just to take advantage of these days indoors and to build up a surplus so we can go outside when it's nice.  I can't wait for sunshine.  Slick slack wrote a poem for ccc last week about me, and I'm still gushing over it.  (Yes, I'm pregnant, but that's not why I'm crying over it.  Really.)

As my fellow homeschoolers are wrapped up in the legalities and constitutional infringement in the latest CT legislature's proposals to require behavioral assessments for our children at ages 12, 14, and 17 (now adding public school children to the homeschool children), and others are heading to a romantic Valentine's Day in Hartford to March for Change, I'm resisting my former self's instinct to jump in and write a long brief about the fourth amendment, equal protection, the second amendment or anything legal at all.  I'm quietly praying. We are called to continue to be faithful Catholics, remembering our purpose.  Lead our families to heaven. And somehow, I feel called to do more.  Yet, I know my current limits, don't I?

And in the meantime, I will teach my children to type, so they can write briefs and great articles like the latest George Weigel on the future of the Church and the New Evangelization:

Here is a really cool (free) typing program.

While the kids are learning to type, watch this awesome made for tv movie, The Battle of Athens, Restoring the Rule of Law, and keep praying.

Hope to see you all Wednesday. 

Mrs. K

Listening suggestions....

During these long days at home due to sickness and icky weather, screen time is extremely tempting. TV, iPad, computer, etc.....it's all so convenient and easy. Yet often it seems to backfire when it's supposed to help. One area of technology that I've been trying utilize more deliberately is audiobooks and the like. There are two that have been extremely popular in our house the past month:

The Scrambled States of America

Beethoven Lives Upstairs

The Scrambled States of America comes just as a book or with book and CD. We have the CD and the boys have been listening to it multiple times a day for the past 2 weeks. A very silly story, but enjoyable nonetheless and a few random facts are learned along the way.

Beethoven Lives Upstairs is a wonderful introduction to the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven. It's the story of a boy who's mother rented the upstairs apartment to Beethoven. He then writes letters to his uncle telling of the various things that happen while Beethoven is living in their house. They use Beethoven's music in the background to set the tone for the story. It is wonderfully done, and I look forward to exploring more CDs in this series.

Other audio series the kids have enjoyed for a while are Cat Chat and Glory Stories. We have listened to both the 1st and 4th volumes of Cat Chat (Mary Leads Me Closer to Jesus and The Mass Comes Alive). They seem kind of silly upon first listen (talking cat?!), but the music is very catchy (with a couple exceptions) and the kids have learned a lot. Glory Stories tell stories of various saints in a engaging way. I've learned a lot! The links to both are below. 

Cat Chat

Glory Stories

Now that I've discovered our new car will actually record CDs and store them in it's memory (crazy, huh?!), I hope to have more things at the ready for our listening pleasure. Hopefully it will make these LONG days pass with a little more joy.

Be perfect

I was an athlete growing up. My family lived and breathed sports. I played basketball, a team sport where team truly meant everything to me. I called teammates on Saturday mornings in June to rally together at an open court in the summer heat. To win, we had to prepare. We had to be perfect.

When a team mate was injured, I felt the injury as my own. When a team mate lost a boyfriend or a grandparent died, we all felt her pain. We passed notes during class, sharing bible verses. Philippians 4:13 is still engraved on my plaque in the all-Ohio school trophy case. During the National Anthem before games, I prayed the Our Father and asked God to take away my teammates fear of the opponent or sadness over a parent divorcing. To win, we all had to experience joy together. I couldn't appreciate the win knowing another of my teammates was grieving. We had to be perfect.

I've prayed for guidance in this homeschooling journey. I've begged Our Lord for Catholic friends. Look at this team we have. How abundantly blessed we are. I second Melinda's nudging - lets be generous with each other, lift up those grieving, and be perfect.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=o-iPiN_YHjY&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Do-iPiN_YHjY

The above link summarizes my point.

You are all in my hearts.

Mrs. K

What's working around here

For the past two weeks we have been using a new checklist system to provide some order to our days.  On day two of my system I joked with Sandy that I was going to blog about it immediately, but look how I have prudently waited two weeks to prove the lasting effectiveness of the system.

The truth is, we have had different checklists over the years and I have always found them helpful.  My kids have either learned or inherited my love of checking things of the list (I have been been known to add things to my list after completing them, just for fun) and I think it helps them have a good sense of what is expected of them as well as what they have accomplished each day. 

My latest list system is aimed at having the girls take a little more responsibility for their independent work in the morning, and has been working.  I call it ten by ten, and the deal is that if they finish ten things on their morning list by ten, we can go out or they can play.  We have had trips to the zoo and library as well as just headed outside or to the porch to play.

The 10 by 10 list has things that they can do on their own: review songs for Suzuki, Saxon Math fact sheets, math drills, computer maps, unload the dishwasher, get dressed for the day, etc.  While they do their 10 by 10 I can take a shower, start a load of laundry, and read books to the baby and Liam.

The second part of their checklist has "with mom" activities: math lesson, spelling lesson, new music pieces, handwriting, and a daily subject like science, history, or latin.  We do these during naptime, so that we can focus.  Also, they are quiet during naptime, a huge plus for my rotten little napper.

Finally, there is a third "bonus" category that lists a few more chores and activities, including reading silently.  They are supposed to do 20 things per day, and if they finish their list for all four of our school days, they get a treat on Friday night. 

In my experience, motivational tools like this usually fade away after a few weeks, but they leave some habits behind.  I'm sure some aspects of this new system will become irrelevant as we add or subtract activities from our list, but I'm hoping the idea of getting up and doing several things on their own every morning will stick.  I also like how this system has helped me to get out of the house with them at 10am, which is supposed to be one of the joys of homeschooling.

So, that's what is working around here! 

Another little gem we recently discovered it Times Tales.  There is a longer review of it here.   Since my kids regularly make up stories about their math facts anyway, I thought it was worth a try.  It works.  Caera knows her upper multiplication tables, and they have only watched it twice.

We have also been doing lots of Civil War reading.  We went ahead and read Rifles for Watie together, and the kids loved it.  I did skip over a couple of the more violent parts, and I wouldn't bother with it for kids under 8 or 9.  Aine loved Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln, and we also enjoyed A Voice of Her Own.   I checked out Ulysses S. Grant, Military Leader and President from the library.  It is part of a series by Chelsea House Publishers, edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and every title in the series we have read has been excellent.  They are short biographies, good independent reading for fourth grade and up.  Aine read some of it, and I read other parts aloud.

Since we are almost done with the Civil War, I am thinking about our next read aloud.  Next up in history are Industrialization and Colonialism.  I just started previewing Counting on Grace, and I'll let you know what I think, but I might skip straight to Colonialism and do The Jungle Book, The Secret Garden and/or A Little Princess.  This is also a perfect time to start the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I think we might need a snowstorm to get us through this reading list!

Underground Railroad website

Just came across this link. Very good introduction to the topic for the littler "big" kids :) They also have more information for older kids on other pages. I'll definitely be exploring the rest of the their website for other appropriate topics. 

National Geographic Underground Railroad Website

Presentation Skills

Before my recent promotion in 2006 to mother/homemaker, I was a corporate/university trainer for legal and soft-skills. Presentation Skills was one course I facilitated for faculty and employees. Now that I'm teaching the 5-6 year olds, I thought I'd share some of my own ideas for teaching presentation skills to them. Obviously, after watching our Christmas presentations, this group is already well on our way. These are tips for for kids for presenting in front of any group.

1. Prepare. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice in front of a mirror, iPhone video, stuffed animals, friends and mom and dad. Create a stage at home - an ottoman, a stool, your own stage built by your parents (anything!) and speak. Articulate. Go for it.

2. Props Rock! Use props, humor, poster board, PowerPoint or handouts.

3. Sing it! Sing your presentation once at home as if you are singing in the shower. It's good practice to try to be heard over the shower water or other competing noise. We are rarely as loud as we think we are. While presenting, imagine you are having a talk with the person in the back of the room. Be loud and project your amazing voice!

4. Eyes Up! Use eye contact with all of your audience. If you are nervous, imagine they are all in their pj's and giggle to yourself.

5. Pace, walk, and talk. Move around the room - purposefully- so the left, right, and center audience get some time with you.

6. Consider a theme. Start your talk with a topic and wrap up with that topic.

7. Watch others. Watch comedians. Watch priests. Watch your CCC teachers! Note what successful presenters do. Go online together and find good examples of presentations and not-so-good ones. Discuss.

8. "And I was like...." Catch your filler words. Pause when you are moving from sentence to sentence. Avoid "like", "um", "you know", and "did you know that..." Watching yourself on a video will help you hear your filler words.

9. Be expressive. Use gestures. Clap your hands. Make 1, 2, 3 points and use your fingers. Video your practice presentation and when you watch it, turn off the volume. Watch your "filler gestures". Do you move your hand like you are waving in a crowd into the stadium? Do you mess with your notes? Do you look down the whole time?

10. Smile and have fun. We love to hear what you share.

What other ideas can you seasoned parents or children share that work for you?

See the awesome presenters below...

Civil War Reading

Here at our house we are easing our way back into school after a nice vacation by reading some new books on the Civil War. Some are Christmas gifts and some are library picks by our favorite librarian, Grandma Susan.  I thought I'd share some of our favorite finds with you.

The Drinking Gourd and Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt are gentle introductions to the subject of slavery for young readers.  Both focus on the Underground Railroad.  Amistad Rising: A Story of Freedom is also good, and brings in a little bit of the legal and political history surrounding the Amistad trial. 

We just read Pink and Say last night.  Based on the true story of Patricia Polacco's great-great-grandfather, it is powerful but has a very sad ending.  We also enjoyed Dadblamed Union Army Cow, a funny and touching fictionalized account of an actual cow who traveled with a Union company in the Civil War.

Aine is currently reading the My America series Virginia's Civil War Diary.  These three books are light on battle, blood and gore, but describe one family's experience living in Washington DC during the Civil War.  They are written by Mary Pope Osborne, author of the Magic Treehouse series. My kids have read all of the "Jack and Annie" books, and the two on the Civil War (Abe Lincoln at Last and Civil War on Sunday) are among my favorites in the series.  These make great read-alouds, especially if you can make your third grader read them to your first grader and preschooler.  School for everyone!

While they're busy with that, make yourself some coffee and read the The Killer Angels, a novel of the Civil War that is powerful, informative, and serious enough to impress my hubby, who is something of a Civil War buff.  If you are feeling more scholarly, he recommends you read the three-volume series by Bruce Catton. 

(Or, you could just re-read Gone with the Wind.  Come on, you know you want to.)

For older kids (9 and up), I love Rifles for Watie and one of my best elementary school memories is of preparing to act out the amputation scene with my fourth grade classmates.  Another memorable read from my late elementary years is The Root Cellar. I have not read either of these with my kids yet, so do give them a preview.  I remember Rifles for Watie being quite graphic, The Root Cellar less so.

Okay, that's all I have for you tonight.  Happy reading! I just added eight items to my amazon cart, so you should be hearing back from me again soon...