A Simple Change Makes a Big Difference

It's funny how sometimes the simplest things can make such a big difference.

Zachary has never liked handwriting or any kind of assignment that required him to pick up a pen or pencil and write letters onto a piece of paper. I've gone through several lines of reasoning for this and usually come back to the fact that he's just like his dad, whose handwriting is completely illegible.

But, being one to never give up....I keep trying to improve the hand writing.  I am a big believer in teaching him to type, which we are working on, but his typing isn't fast enough yet to be efficient. In addition to knowing how to type, I also think it's important to have the ability to write legibly in both cursive and printing. Not that I'm looking for perfection (I have to remind myself of that everyday!!), but I do think it is important for him to be able to put his thoughts on paper in a reasonably fluid and timely manner.

Practice, Practice, Practice seems like the best method to make this seemingly torturous chore come more naturally. In the past years we skipped over a lot of the copy work that past curriculum have required - he just didn't seem physically ready to do so much writing. Now I wonder if I should have forced this practice in order to exercise those fine muscles. Should've, Would've, Could've....right?

Well, this year we have been using IEW's SWI-A (for more information on this check out this past post) and it requires a decent amount of writing by hand; copying what Andrew writes on the white board during the video lessons, writing key word outlines, writing rough drafts, and rewriting a final draft. For my dear son, that is a lot of writing!!

So what is the simple thing I found that has helped so much?

A better paper. I told you it was simple, but it has made a big difference to Zac. I think when we started using the standard wide-ruled paper, it was too big of a jump from ruled handwriting paper, the kind with the dashed middle guide line.

I went to DonnaYoung.org (my favorite site for any free printables) and found out that she has a lined vertical handwriting paper called C1. The guidelines are still there, but the lines are much closer together. To him, it is not "kindergarten paper", but I think the guidelines make him feel more comfortable than the "naked" wide ruled paper. Since the lines are closer together it isn't as cumbersome for him to try to form the letters quicker. The paper is positioned vertically so that you can 3-hole punch the side and put it into any binder. I thought, "Why not...let's give it a try."

All of a sudden, Zac could write faster because the guidelines forced him to write smaller, and it was much neater, which surprisingly, was a really exciting thing for him. He kept calling me into the room where he was working to get me to just look at his work. He was really proud of how it looked! He actually asked me to print out more paper and put it into all of his notebooks, so that he could use it instead of the regular wide-ruled paper.

From Draw Write Now Book 3 - The Mayflower

Happy to have his guidelines back, Zachary had no complaints about doing his writing assignment today.

Now, obviously, this isn't a miracle-working cure that will make all complaining go away forever, but it did make a big difference to Zachary and that makes me happy!

~Vicki ~

Memorable Moments ...........

Do you ever have days, or weeks, that just seem to be gone before you even realize they've happened. This week feels like that to me. It's already Friday! I have that feeling a lot when we get super busy and are running from one thing to the next in a crazy whirlwind, but that wasn't necessarily the case this week. We didn't have that much planned. I mean, not more than usual for us. No, it feels more like it just slipped by...in a whisper.

Don't get me wrong, I do have some great moments to share with you from this week.

Monday....

We made a 3-D model of the White House in Monday's Co-op

Monday night....

We got together with neighbors for our annual Halloween Hayride. Zachary dressed up as King Peter from Chronicles of Narnia. He had a cool shield that his Daddy and Nana worked on together.

King Peter of Narnia

 

  

Tuesday....

We got started on our writing assignment from our SWI-A Co-op. Zac has really enjoyed this year's writing class!

We are slowly working our way through the SWI-A (Student Writing Intensive - Level A) program by Excellence in Writing. It is great! I wish I had learned to write this way. The kids especially enjoy watching  Andrew Pudewa teach the classes on the video,  he is quite humorous, which the kids love. What is amazing to me is that I've already begun to see marked improvement in all the children. Even the most apprehensive writers (my son being one of them) have gone from dreading the process of writing their thoughts down on paper to actually being excited about what they are writing and looking forward to reading their works aloud to everyone in class. 

 

Here is a sample of Zachary's work:

The Dog and the Treats

by Zachary 

       A crazy dog named Rosie was at the groomers and saw a bowl full of dog treats. She put her head in to get some. She filled her mouth with treats and tried to pull out her head, which was bulging with treats. She was unwilling to let go of any of the treats so she was unable to get her head out of the bowl. She desperately ran around the room in panic. 

       Nearby, an alley cat said, "If you would be satisfied with fewer treats you would be able to get your head out the bowl. Sometimes you have to give up a little to get what you wish."

 Wednesday....

We are steadily working our way through Singapore Math 3A and also using Aleks online. Zac is very good at math, but I am beginning to get really bored with memorizing the multiplication math facts. He's mastered through the 7's as well as the 10's & 11's, but we are still working on the 8's, the 9's and the 12's. Like I said, he's good at memorizing, but I mean it's the same thing, week after week, lesson after lesson. Just more memorizing. Blah, blah, blah!!..................... Great attitude for the teacher, I know!!

But, I finally found a game called Manga High that "rocks" according to Zachary. It's completely free which I think definitely "rocks" too. I'll post more information about it later in case anyone else is interested.

Thursday....

I pulled out Draw Write Now and let Zac choose a selection from the book that went along with our Plymouth Colony study. He chose the Mayflower drawing and took his time adding his own spin to the picture. I love it when he really gets into his work and has something he's proud of when it's done. 

Friday (actually, a little bit every day)....

We have been studying about the Plymouth Colony, Pilgrims, Mayflower, and First Thanksgiving all week and will continue on next week as well. I think the timing of how these weeks fall right before we break for Thanksgiving is pretty cool. Our American History Co-op is preparing for a Thanksgiving Play that the children will perform for the families the week before Thanksgiving. They've been given their lines to practice on their own, but we'll be using co-op time next week to start practicing more as a group and for making the costumes and sets. This will be the first time many of them have performed in front of a group and they are really excited.

Here's a peek at the books we've been using for American History:

An Assortment of History Books, Textbooks and Story Books

Readers for Zachary

Hands-On Projects and Zachary's History Workbook

Well, after thinking through all the things we've done this week I can see that, yes, we did get a lot accomplished after all.

I just want to be more careful in the weeks to come. The holidays are coming up and this is my favorite time of year. I don't want to look up and realize that the days have gone by and just slipped away without leaving behind thoughtful learning and precious memories. I want our days, weeks and lives to be more focused, more intentional. I definitely don't mean busier - certainly don't need more stuff to do. But I want to be more intentional in my planning (and in my unplanned moments), listening to the still voice of God that guides me and directs our schooling and our lives. I want to cherish the moments.

~Vicki~

Candy Rocks!

I got a call on Sunday evening from the lady that coordinates our Monday co-op.  She asked if I would mind filling in for the regular teacher, who was dealing with some health issues with her dad, and would be unable to plan for our class. Well, what could I say? "Of course, I'd be happy to help!" 

Truth was, at that very moment I started to feel the panic rising up inside. I know it sounds ridiculous....it's a class of 3rd - 5th graders. Nothing too scary, right?!! But I just can't help it. I have a fear of speaking in front of a group. 

Don't get me wrong, I was willing and happy to help, but at the same time I knew I was, once again, going to have to face this unexplainable fear of public speaking. In these situations, it always helps if I thoroughly know the information that I'm going to have to be standing up talking about. This class is all about Earth Science. Huh, not exactly a strong suit for me! I love science and find it extremely fascinating, but I haven't done much yet with Zac on geology. Biology, Human Science, Physical Sciences...any of these would have been a little better, but ROCKS??? What do I know about rocks? 

Thank goodness for friends! I mean that in all seriousness. I love my friends and so appreciate that at any moment I can call one of them and they'll stop whatever it is they are doing to try to help me out. They are the best. Well, it just so happens that one of my good friends has a degree in....lol, I know so little about science that I don't even know what to call her degree! But let's just say - the girl knows her rocks!!!

She was full of lots of ideas to get me going, and with the help of the her and the internet I was able to learn enough about the Rock Cycle and Sedimentary rocks that I felt like I could stand up in front of the class and with a reasonable sense of confidence, keep them interested and learning.

This was my lesson:

I started by reviewing the three types of rocks: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic, describing each one and how the rock cycle effects each of them in different ways. 

Then we watched a short video called Junior Geologist: Rocks and Minerals  that I downloaded from Discovery Learning. I threw in the video, because I figured by this time in the class I might need a breathing break, because I tend to hold my breath when I'm terrified. Sad, but true!

(FYI: If you live in the state of Georgia and are a teacher/homeschool teacher, you can contact the Georgia Public Broadcasting office at jpasley@GPB.org, and request a subscription to Discovery Learning. It's completely free and they have thousands of streaming videos to select from that cover just about any topic for any grade. It is a great resource.)

After the video we worked on a mini booklet page from our Considering God's Creation science book. This gave us a chance to further review the 3 different types of rock and visually see how the rock cycle works.

Finally, the part that the kids were really looking forward to - because my son knew my plans and he sort of spread the news quickly - time to bring out the candy!!!  My thinking here was that no matter how badly I was doing, the kids would all forget about it once they got a chance to eat some candy. Smart, huh?

No, really the idea came from my super smart, creative teacher friend, and the fact that our class was on Halloween made here idea even cooler. She suggested gathering together different types of candy that would replicate the different sizes of particles, called clastics, that are used to classify the different types of Sedimentary rocks. So, for instance, a silt or clay particle was represented by the powdery sugar in a Pixie Stix and in Wonka Fun Dip , and I used candy sprinkles to represent sandstone, and for the pebbles, cobbles and boulders that are found in conglomerate rocks, I used Nerds, Reese's Pieces, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. I also found some candy called Rock Candy in the specialty aisle at Walmart, and it looked so much like real rocks that I couldn't resist throwing in some of those too.

I used a snack size Ziploc bag for each student and added a small handful of each of these different types of candy. In addition, I also added some sprinkles that looked like little fish and dinosaurs to represent fossils that are found in the layers of sedimentary rock. After giving each student a Ziploc bag and a single cupcake liner (for observing their "rock" samples more closely), I would call out one of the different types of Sedimentary rocks and ask the students to look through their bag of "rocks" to find the one that most closely fits that description. I asked them to put one "rock" in their cupcake liner so that I could come around and see what they had selected and I gave a few of them the chance to tell the class why they had chosen that particular piece of candy.

This was the sheet from Considering God's Creation that we used to help them classify their "rocks".

By this time our one hour class was almost over and the kids and I were having so much fun that I had forgotten to be scared. Of course, the kids were thrilled that they could take their "rocks" home to eat and I was thrilled that I had faced my fears and learned a lot about rocks all at the same time. 

God is good and faithful and full of mercy! Thankfully,even in my weakness he can shine.

 Blessing to you all,

~ Vicki ~

Memorable Moments in Our Life This Week:

Sunday...Zachary and I went outside to enjoy this beautiful fall weather. The colors were vibrant and the air was crisp. The only sad part about this day was that Bucky had to go out of town and we missed him on our walk.

Nature Walk with Zachary

Monday....we learned about the Water Cycle in class at our Monday Co-op. We made rain in a jar, which all the kids thought was pretty cool.

Makin' It Rain

Tuesday....I took this photo of Gizmo just because he's so darn cute! Gizmo is the Pekingnese puppy that my husband and I got as a wedding present 14 1/2 years ago. He's lost most of his sight and hearing, but he still has a bit of spunk left in him.

I love my little Gizmo!

 

Wednesday....we started our geography study today. I want to focus on the states as we study them in our American History lessons this year. Today was all about Florida. Last week we studied about Ponce de Leon and other Spanish explorers, so it worked well to start with Florida. The rest of the year the states we cover will follow along with the founding of the 13 colonies.

 

Books we used for Geography

Zac working in his Geography Notebook

Thursday....we finally got our life size human body traced out. In our human anatomy co-op, Ronda passes out the parts of the body that they covered and Zachary gets to attach them to his own body. We got our bones and digestive system attached today too, but I forgot to take a picture.

Making our Life Size Human Paper Doll

Friday...we've been looking forward to today all week! I love our Friday co-op day. We have so much fun!! The kids have all been studying about Jamestown, Captain John Smith and Pocahontas this week, so for our activity we made a model of the Jamestown Fort. The project came out of Easy Make & Learn Project - Colonial America. To be honest, this wasn't exactly "Easy", but I think the kids enjoyed it. I wish we could have split it up over two meetings. There was a lot to color, and they were all taking there time and wanting to do a great job. Then, it was time to cut out and put the model together. By this time, we all felt a bit rushed and the parents had to jump in and help everyone get finished. But, the final results were great!

Zac's Model of the Jamestown Fort

Friday Night....Zac took his friend, Cade, to the Karate Halloween Party. Zac dressed up as Peter, King of Narnia, and Cade dressed as a Ninja. It was a wild and crazy group of kids!!! Let's just say it was a VERY long two hours for Bucky and I and not nearly long enough for the boys.

Peter and the Ninja

Saturday Morning....we had a football game (Zac is #14) and they won! Yeah, Pirates!!! They came in second for the regular season and now we start play-offs next weekend. It's funny how Bucky and I can be just as entertained at this Under 7 Football as we are going to an Auburn game. 

Zachary #14

Saturday Night....Church of Joy was having our annual Hallelujah Hoedown. Zac helped make the Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars that we took to donate to the cake walk. I was able to sneak in some math here, because I was doubling the recipe and he had to figure out the multiplying of fractions by two. Zachary doesn't get to each much sugar or white flour, so when I promised to let him sample his cooking he was pretty excited. The ladies (namely, Amy Osborne) did such a great job putting together the Hallelujah Hoedown. I can't believe I didn't bring my camera. It was a great time for hundreds of kids and their parents. Thanks, Amy, for all your hard work!!! 

Helping in the Kitchen

Thanks for taking a peek at our week. If you want to join in the fun, click on the link below and link your blog up too.

Looking forward to lots more fun next week,

~Vicki~

Expecting Rain - What We Can Learn From the Water Cycle

This week at our Christian Fellowship Co-op, the kids were learning all about the Water Cycle.

Here is some information from Weather Wiz Kids, which is a fabulous website developed by Crystal Wicker, a meteorologist, who wanted to provide kids with a way to learn more about the fascinating world of weather. 

What is the Water Cycle?

Earth has a limited amount of water. So, that water keeps going around. We call it the water cycle. The water cycle begins with evaporation. Evaporation is when the sun heats up water in rivers, lakes or the ocean. Then turns it into water vapor or steam. The water vapor or steam leaves the body of water and goes into the air. Transpiration is the process by which plants lose water out of their leaves. Condensation is when water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into water to form clouds. Think of it this way, when you open a cold soda on a hot summer day, your soda will start to sweat as water droplets form on the outside of the can. Precipitation occurs when so much water has condensed that the air can't hold it anymore. This is how we get rain or snow. Collection happens when the precipitation falls and is collected back in the oceans, lakes and rivers. When it falls to the ground, it will soak into the earth and become ground water. This is the water cycle and it just keeps repeating. 

The class did an experiment that really helped the kids visualize the concepts of evaporation, condensation and precipitation. What's also cool about this experiment (and the teachers in the class) is that it accidentally helped the kids understand how molecules move around more in hot water. I say accidentally, because the water wasn't hot enough the first time they attempted the experiment, so it didn't work. The teacher didn't miss a beat (I tend to panic when the experiments don't go as planned!), she just went on to explain the science behind the molecules moving around in the water and that they weren't moving around enough - because the water wasn't hot enough - so they weren't separating off into steam.  After they got the really hot boiling water, the experiment worked as planned, and the kids got to see the steam rising and mixing with the ice cold air at the top of the jar and actually forming a little cloud and then droplets of rain. You had to look really closely, but the kids thought it was great.

photo from icanteachmychild.com

My favorite part about this was watching the expectant looks on all the faces of the students. I love that they are so eager to see new things and learn about the why and the how behind how it works too.

~~Vicki~~

Outdoors Enjoying this Fall Season

Last year, when I was thinking about how I wanted to approach our science studies for the coming school year, I ran across the Outdoor Hour Challenge Nature Study and knew this was something I wanted to participate in.  If you aren't familiar with Barb at Handbook of Nature Study and her weekly challenges, I would encourage you to browse through her beautiful blog, take time to enjoy the gorgeous photos she has posted of her own family outings and get inspired to get outside and discover the world around you.

This week, our Outdoor Hour Challenge (OHC) included reading pages in the Handbook of Nature Study, which is available online if you don't own it. "The chief aim of this volume is to encourage investigation rather than to give information." Barb goes on to point out that "This is where many people misunderstand the HNS. It is not a field guide but it teaches us how to help our children with nature study."

 Here is this week's challenge:

"Before setting out on your walk, sit with your children and explain to them that when you remain quiet during your nature time, you are more likely to hear interesting things. Brainstorm some sounds they might hear and build some excitement about remaining quiet during their nature walk this week. Take your walk and if they get rowdy, use the universal finger over your lips sign to get them to quiet down. Set a good example and be quiet yourself, modeling how to listen carefully."

I really like how she incorporates language building skills:

"After your walk, challenge your children to come up with words to describe the following things:
One word to describe something they heard. (For example: rustling, snapping, crunching or chirping)
Two words for something they saw. (For example: tall trees, frozen water, red birds)
Three words for something they felt. (For example: freezing cold wind, rough sticky pinecone)" 

Zachary has always been extremely observant anytime we've gone outside into nature.  The point of these challenges is that each time we take a nature walk, he will develop more and more vocabulary that will trickle down into into his nature journal and into his ability to communicate his thoughts about nature verbally. Also, once we start identifying, discussing and journaling about objects we see on our nature walks, he should easily be able to remember the specific names of plants, trees, and birds.

Follow up with discussion and the opportunity for a nature journal entry.

This is Barb's view on journaling:

"I always leave it as an option for my boys and I would say about half the time they draw. I feel like the nature walk and the discussion is the meat of our nature study and that it is the most important part of what we do. "No child should be compelled to have a notebook." HNS page 14 "

This really took the pressure off of me to try to convince my son to journal about everything we saw on our nature walks. He, like her boys, would choose to journal about half of the time. But, if I leave it up to him, when he does choose to work in his journal it is an enjoyable experience for him and that is really what it is about for me.

This is what I found him doing, all by himself, on a Saturday morning 

at our dining room table!

Here are some easy ideas for nature journal pages other than drawing:
 

1. Make leaf rubbings.
2. Tape small flat things into the nature journal. (leaves, flower petals, seeds)
3. Print out a photo that you took while on your nature walk and let the child write the caption.
4. Press flowers or grasses between pages of a book and later add it to the journal. (We will learn more on that in a future challenge this spring.)
5. Outline an object with a pencil and then color it in.

Important to Remember:

"Nature journaling is meant to be a follow-up activity and not a replacement for your time spent outdoors. Please feel successful in this challenge whether you end up with a nature journal page or not. If they don’t draw this week, maybe they will want to make a page next week."



So get on out there this fall season, it's the perfect time to start a new habit with the kids and accept Barb's challenge to get out into nature for just one hour a day.


Blessings,
Vicki

Versatile & Stylish .... wow, who knew?

Versatile & Stylish .... wow, who knew?

It was so sweet for Danielle from Raising Little Rhodies to give me two blogger awards. I've been lurking around Danielle's blog for ages and she's awesome - she's like a cyberspace STAR to me! So, it was especially exciting for me, because this is the first day I went "live" with my blog. Thanks, Danielle, for thinking I'm a Versatile & Stylish blogger!!

 

The Rules

• Thank the person(s) who nominated you and link back up them.
• Tell Readers 7 things about yourself.
• Pass this award onto your favorite newly discovered bloggers and let them know.

Seven Things About Me

Wow...I didn't realize how much I hate talking about me! 

1 – I traveled to Hong Kong with a missionary family to home school their four boys when I finished high school at 17 years old.  

Little did I know that 25 years later, I'd be home schooling my own little one!

2 – I traveled with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) to Switzerland for discipleship training and then to Kenya for a 3 month missions trip. 

What an awesome experience!!

3 – I wanted to be an architect before changing my major to interior design.

4 –I met my husband at a bar while in college at Auburn, University. 

War Eagle!!

5 – I'm a beach bunny. 

I grew up in Florida and still love to get back there every chance I get.   

6 – My friends mean the world to me!!!

7 – My hope is that my home will be a place of peace, love and laughter.

I want it to be the kind of place family, friends and strangers

can feel God's love and acceptance, the kind of place 

you just want to sit down, kick your shoes off and stay awhile.

Tag You’re It

I’m gifting the following ladies with both The Versatile Blogger & The Stylish Awards because these are newer blogs I read and really enjoy!  Please check them out and see why I've chosen them to receive these awards.

Adam Ant Academy - Our Science
My Special Gifts from God
Serenades and Solace