A Day in the Life of Me

Ever wonder how an ordinary day goes by at our house?  How do we get through all our school work?  Do we really finish a full day and get all those tick boxes marked off?  Do we detour?

Well, just most fortunate for you my darlings, I decided to keep a loose piece of paper out to keep track of the school work.  It went something like this, { don't forget to hang on - it's going to get bumpy and you might find a recurring theme throughout }:

Let's start the day with Bible.  Copywork of commands.  We are currently working our way through the 1050 commands found in the New Testament.  The older boys and myself do the command and the verse, but I'm soft on the girls and they only do the command.  So, Chloe and Phebe both copy out 2 commands.  Hannah reads her reader to hubby.

Then we have our first break.  Yep, I know, we only just started.  But we don't have a long break, and we know that we still have a heap of work to get through.  

Soon we begin Maths - Chloe, Phebe, and Hannah doing maths { photo insert }.  All different levels { Grade 3, 2, and 1 } out in the lounge room where the fire is going.  It's getting colder here now-a-days so we toggle between the school room and the lounge room.  We keep lap tables available for each girl.  They are super handy dandy things to have when you are desk-less.  For some reason Chloe isn't using hers today.  Please do note that little Miss Charlotte is also joining in as well.   Never mind the pyjama thing happening, that's of little consequence.

I just keep doing a round robin type of thing, marking the work and explaining things as needed to each child.  My best friend Red Pen and I team up really well.

Then we have another break.  Yep.

When I get myself organised for the next leg of the trip we start with Hannah doing copywork, Chloe doing Spelling, and Phebe still working on her Maths.  She's dawdling today.  Hubby steps in to help Phebe finish up.

Oh look, another break.

But we quickly resume with Phebe reading.  Chloe still works on spelling, and moves on over to hubby to finish that up.

As a general rule I start and get things going, do the big ticket items, and hubby helps to finish off the stragglers.

You also might have noticed that there's a little overlap of where some take a break and jump over while the other children carry on.  Gets fiddly.  Letting them have lots of little breaks helps me to find time to organise the next thing.  It also helps hubby get those stragglers back on track.  

Now they all have another break.  Are you counting how many we're up to?

Moving right along - Chloe and Phebe come back to Latin and Greek. A current favourite with the girls.

And yep, then there's another break.  These breaks can last from anywhere from 5 mins to an hour, but so far today they've been pretty short.

Now we come to a huge unexpected detour in the day.  We don't normally stop for family movie time - even at nights { but that's another story } but today hubby has a movie.  So....... there's goes a couple of hours.  The children are so excited.

When the movie finishes it's lunch time.  Who's making lunch?  Anyone got lunch organised?  Oh, anyone at all?  Ok, we'll all go out.  We get dressed and drive to town.  This includes the two highschoolers who missed the communal photo shot at Maths time.  We have lunch.  Then we go shopping for incidentals like milk, and fresh fruit etc...

Wow, we've lost quite a bit of time today.  Can we get the day saved?

Once home Phebe starts her Grammar with hubby.  { It's his day off so he's home today. }  Chloe copies her spelling words and moves straight on in to Writing Strands with me.

Break time.  Do a little Hammer dance style if you want to.

Phebe continues to rest while Chloe does Grammar with me.

Then yep, can you guess what comes next?  Wow, you are good!  Of course it's break time.  It's getting LATE in the day so everyone is starting to tire.

Dinner is on it's way.

After dinner I feel the compulsion to try and get a couple of more things done on my tick list.  So I read a chapter of 'Life of Fred' and move straight over to Science and give the girls each a notebook page to fill in. They think that's great.  For some strange reason they like the idea of doing notebook pages.

After that I say - I'm out.  My day is done.  If I'm done, they're done.  

So we toddle round the house with bits and pieces until it's bed time.  I have to tell you how awesome it is to delegate housework and what a blessing a dishwasher can be.

I'm sorry that you had to miss out on my usual laundry and house work story - but I might have to do another "Day in the Life of Me" for that reality to be played out.  

Red Pen and I thank you so much for visiting.  :o)

Journey to the Center of the Earth

{ Journey to the Center of the Earth }

Filled with plenty of lined drawings and illustrations.

Title:  Journey to the Center of the Earth
Author: Jules Verne

Adapted by: Howard Schwach
Illustrator: Brendan Lynch
Pages: 238
Publisher:  Baronet Books

Another quick two day read to introduce the girls to another classic on the shelves. 

What books have you read this week?

Another Updated Tick List

How is it that I can keep updating my tick list?  Well, you see, it takes a little practice to get to something that's going to work. 

If you want to see it more clearly please feel free to download the tick list.  It's in pdf form.

No doubt I'll probably update it or tweak it a little more as we settle in over the next few weeks.

Do you use a tick list?  

Bible Quotes Review

     Have you ever tried Bible copywork in your homeschool?  Not only does your child get to practice spelling, penmanship, reading, punctuation, and grammar, but they also get the scriptures and manual to life as well.  Feed your child academically and spiritually.  What an awesome combination!

     These past few weeks we've had the opportunity to review an ebook of Bible Quotes by Joyce Herzog.

{ About the Product }

     Each list of Bible quotes within the ebook are gathered together according to a particular phonetic skill, which is based upon the 'Scaredy Cat Reading System' written by Joyce Herzog { a separate product }.  The ebook is 26 pages in length which includes the cover and introduction. 

{ A sampling of the printed pages from the ebook }

The rules are clearly and conveniently located at the top of each page.

The ebook is a tool for parents.  There is no fluff included, or pictures within the text.  It is purely a list of verses that will help you to focus on particular set of phonetic skills.  

{ How We Used It }

     Since we already had a good feel for phonics we went ahead and used this product for cursive penmanship.  That means I simply printed the book out, and then used it to copy out the scripture verses into an exercise book, and then had Chloe { 8 } copy them in her cursive handwriting.

     I choose a normal lined exercise book in which to house our copywork.

I would write out each scripture verse and then Chloe would then read and copy it.

     I do have to mention that Chloe is 8 years old.  Had she been any younger I might have felt that it would of been more appropriate to use a different style and method of copywork.  I would of also quite possibly used this product in a different manner. This is important to mention because it is the younger audience who are just learning their phonograms and are beginning reading that this ebook and its verses are intended for.

     While the ebook refers to a separate product - namely the 'Scaredy Cat Reading System', and the phonetic skills are based on the { SCRS } as well, one is still able to use the material as a stand alone without any problem. 

     I feel that this product is more for the parent and not for the child in its present form.  It is a homeschooling tool, and not a workbook / worktext that you would just hand over to a child.  This in itself is a needful thing to know.

     Even though the product says that it can be used for spelling it does not give any lists of spelling words.  The parent would have to make such a list.

     Finally, even though I really do love the idea of Bible copywork from Bible Quotes I don’t think that I would use this product exclusively or even long term.  There is not enough material to use it long term. { If you have a Bible - that's exhaustive, and would supply your needs well met. }  It is even doubtful that I would use it for phonics instruction { which is its main focus }.  This is due to the fact that often when we choose a single verse to use for one particular phonetic structure we are also bombarded with multiple other phonetic structures within the very same sentence.  To use the sentence in its entirety the child will have to be able to use a host of other phonograms as well.  So basically, just using it for a single phonogram may not be so beneficial at all.  If the child has not mastered other phonograms before attempting the scriptures this could easily burden or confuse the child all the more.   Especially for example when the focus is on using short vowel sounds but being presented with multiple phonograms like / or, ck, ng, th, ch, er, ou / { on the very first page I might add } in the sentence.  What do we teach first?  Line upon line, precept upon precept – is it not?  Now having said this, I do feel that it would still be quite beneficial to copy the scriptures as a way of practicing and cementing already gained skills, as consolidation.   So if you want a product to help you consolidate and practice – this would work.  If you want a way to teach phonics, there are better ways of doing that.

 { How Much Does it Cost? }

     Download the pdf today for $12.00.

     Thanks for visiting, and don't forget to visit Joyce Herzog for additional information about Bible Quotes and other products that she has available.  Oh and please do check out some of the other awesome reviews done by my fellow crew members on the different products by Joyce Herzog as well.

Chicken Wings and Pasta Salad

Here's an easy meal we recently had at our home.

Chicken wings in honey, soy sauce, and garlic.

The pasta salad with ranch dressing, tuna, celery, and capsicums.

An up close of the chicken wings to make you feel hungry.

Thanks for visiting.

Places to Visit

Ha, ha, ha, you won't believe this, BUT I have redone and updated my tick list AGAIN.  It's looking decidedly gorgeous { if you like tick boxes }.  Sometimes it takes a few goes before one gets happy and finds something that works.  I can't wait to do a show and tell on it.  Look for that next week some time.  I'm even thinking that I might offer it as a little download as well. :o)

In the mean time, this week I traveled here:

Generation Cedar

Wow, a must read for EVERY husband, wife, christian, man and woman.

Vision Forum - Doug's Blog
I listened to the interview of Doug Phillips by Kevin Swanson.  Wow, if only all children could speak like that about their fathers at their passing.  The Heritage of a Father.

Famous Composers for Children
A number of books to print out on famous composers.

Homeschool Report Cards
Yep, super cute, and I thought you never know, it might be fun to fill one in for each girl.

Next Gen Homeschool
Homeschool Conventions


Windy Hill Homeschool
Charlotte Mason and AO information.

I also started new albums on Pinterest for Charlotte Mason, Classical education, Notebooking, and Latin.  

Copywork


Chapel Library
I ended up here looking for and obtaining a book by William Gouge.

A Puritans Mind


* * * * * * *

Where did you travel?  What did you find this week?

This week I'm linking up with:



I hope you can join us.

Current Reader for Chloe {8}

Chloe has just recently finished reading these two books:

Grade 2 reading.

We've been reading them at a much faster pace than would otherwise be expected.

Now she is currently reading:

Quite a little step up in how many words appear on a page.

Grade 3 reading.

Includes poems throughout as well.

What are your children reading?