OLD HOMESCHOOLERS NEVER DIE . . . THEY JUST WRITE CURRICULUM


"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants."

Deuteronomy 32:2

Courses of Study

To view the Course of Study for each grade level, you can click on the "Course of Study" label
or "Search This Blog" for the specific grade level you wish to see.
To date, I have courses of study completed for kindergarten through fourth grades.

Newsletter Articles

In 2013 the Lord started me producing a newsletter for the homeschool group we are a part of. Every other month I write an article on a topic the Lord has put on my heart. I've decided to add these articles to this blog. I hope you will find encouragement through some of my ramblings. You can click on the label "Newsletter" to find the articles.

Sunday, June 27

"B" is for Betsy

This is the first book Carolyn Haywood wrote. On an historical note, it is interesting that in this book (written in 1939) the children's first year of school is first grade, but in Betsy's Little Star (written in 1950) the first year of school is kindergarten.

We really enjoyed "B" is for Betsy. It is full of fun with some suspense. K.'s favorite chapter was "How Betsy went to pick violets and got into trouble". One thing I really like about Carolyn Haywood's books is that the children call the adults Mr. or Mrs. It is really nice to read books that reinforce that.

Wednesday, June 23

Taffy and Melissa Molasses

This is one of my favorite books by Carolyn Haywood. Taffy and Melissa live on a farm and have a variety of wonderful adventures with Jonathan (Here Comes the Bus) during their summer vacation from school. From the surprise of a pony being born to being locked in the summer house during a rain storm to picking blueberries to being stranded on a rock their adventures this book are fun, realistic, and exciting.

Reading this book was the first time K. has ever said, "Read the next chapter". Her favorite chapter was about the 4th of July -- we've read it over a couple times. With the 4th just a couple weeks away it was quite appropriate to read this book now. Isn't it so neat how God orchestrates even what book I pick up to read!

Monday, June 21

Memorization

"Memorization is not for impressing others, but for impressing the memorizer's heart."

This is a quote from Educating the Whole Hearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson. I think I will make it into a big poster to help me remember and evalute what to have K. memorize.

Is memorizing all the presidents of the U.S. in order, the 13 times tables, or the tallest mountain on each continent to impress others, or to impress my child's heart? Are those really things my child needs to memorize or things she needs to be exposed to and understand? Am I educating my child to be a contestant on Jeopardy or a contender for Jehovah?

Hello, Star

Hello, Star, by Carolyn Haywood, is a quick read with only eight chapters. It is a look at Star's visit to her Grandparent's farm during her fifth summer, but it isn't about the farm. Star and her cousin Jerri (boy) have adventures involving racoons and swans. The main idea of the book is that wild animals are fun to watch, but you should not try to make them pets.

Saturday, June 19

Independence Day

I picked up four books from the library to read to K. about the 4th of July.
  • Independence Day by Helen Frost
  • Independence Day by Ann Heinrichs
  • Independence Day by Robin Nelson
  • The Declaration of Independence by Melinda Lilly
I like parts of each one, but one skipped over the Revolutionary War and another talked more about how we celebrate today, and . . .

So I took the parts of each one that I liked, put it in my own words, and wrote my own book. I added clip art and scanned pictures from the books so it really looks pretty good. Here is the text from the book. If you like it, you can make your own!

We celebrate Independence Day every year to remember how the United States of American became a free country. Independence Day is on the 4th of July. Independence Day is the birthday of America. It is the day we decided to become a free country. Today the United States has 50 states, but the country used to be much smaller. It began with only 13 states. But before they were states, they were called colonies. The 13 colonies belonged to Great Britain. Great Britain is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. King George III was the leader of Great Britain. He made laws for the 13 American colonies. Many people in America thought the laws were unfair. They decided Great Britain should not rule America. The American colonists wanted to govern their own land. They colonies' leaders had a meeting called the Continental Congress. They talked about America being free. John Adams asked Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence says that all people are equal. They have the right to be free and to rule themselves. It says the colonies should be free states. When Jefferson was through writing he took the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress. Members of the congress liked what Jefferson wrote. They voted yes on July 4, 1776. The colonial leaders at the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence. Great Britain did not want America to be free. They fought for six years, but in 1783 the colonists won the Revolutionary War and their freedom. Every year Americans celebrate their freedom on Independence Day. We display flags and decorate with red, white, and blue. Families and friends celebrate Independence Day. They have picnics at parks and homes. Many people eat hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon, and apple pie. Communities celebrate Independence Day. They have parades during the day and firework displays at night.

I ended the book with a portion of the poem 'The Flag Goes By' by Henry Holcomb Bennett.

Friday, June 18

Penny and Peter

We finished reading Penny and Peter by Carolyn Haywood yesterday. I'm not sure which chapter was my favorite, but K.'s was when the crabs were crawling all over in the train. Penny and Peter got into some interesting scrapes and this book had us laughing a lot. It does celebrate Christmas, but there is no mention of Santa Claus.

There were some incidents that were so familiar that I'm sure I read this book when I was in elementary school. Did you know that Carolyn Haywood wrote one book almost every year from 1939 (B is for Betsy) to 1987 (Hello, Star)!

Pre-Writing Activity

Yesterday we did this really fun pre-writing activity. K. and I made a batch of bisquit dough and then formed it into numbers. We did 0 through 9 and still had some dough so we added 10, 11, 12, and 13. Then we ate them for dinner!

Letter Cards

If you choose to write the letters of the alphabet on 3 x 5 cards, here are a couple tips.
  1. When writing each letter, place the card over something that is divided in thirds so each letter will have the same baseline and words, such as bag, will be straight and not go uphill.
  2. Write the vowels on a different color of card than the consonants. I didn't think of this until I was done, so I doodled a colorful border on the vowel's cards.

Thursday, June 17

Phonics, Step 3

When I decided to go ahead and start teaching K. to read, I figured I could probably find everything I needed for free on the internet. The problem I ran into was that there was too much information, and I became frustrated. My goal here is to give you a simple sequence in which to present phonics instruction, keeping workpages to a minimum.

Step 1 was to teach the sounds of the letters. If this is the method you are using, you should either choose only pictures of items that have the same sound (cat, church, and ceiling all start with c, but they don't sound the same) or have a different folder for each sound of that letter.

Step 2 was to start sounding out three letter words using the short vowel sounds. Originally I made the lists, but I've decided that a better way to go is to write each letter of the alphabet on a 3 x 5 card and use them to "build" words. I wrote a five page book with sentences for her to read and some for me to read. This allows the story to have more complete thoughts without having to introduce words K. hasn't learned to read yet. The book has colorful pictures I pulled from clip art to make it fun and interesting.

Step 3 is to introduce the consonant blends: br, cr, tr, fr, dr, gr, pr, bl, pl, cl, fl, st, sn, sm, and str. I'm using the 3 x 5 cards to build words. Because K. sometimes wants to do "homework" (the influence of college aged siblings), I've made three workpages for her to do, matching the blends to pictures of items that begin with that blend. After we've practiced the blends well enough, there will be another "book" for her to read.

Saturday, June 12

Betsy and Mr. Kilpatrick

Oh, this was a fun book full of twists and funny happenings! In Betsy and Mr. Kilpatrick, by Carolyn Haywood, Mr. Kilpatrick, the policeman who has always seen the children across the street to school, has received a promotion and will be replaced by a lady officer. They children are sad to lose Mr. Kilpatrick and want to do something special for him.

Thursday, June 10

Improvising

Sometimes you may not have exactly what you need to do an experiment (or something else) the way the book says to. We needed a balance scale. The book said to use a yard stick and told how to make a base for it. I didn't have a yard stick, but I did have this piece of wood left over from some project. I didn't have the materials to make the stand, so I walked around our home looking for a place to put a screw. I noticed that there was an existing hole in the end of the banister that was just the right size for the screw I had. Our balance scale worked great and it was the perfect height for K. to use. I put a screw in our utility closet so I can hang the scale out of the way, and when we need to use the scale, or K. wants to play with it, it is easily installed on the banister.

Science

Here is an example of a story telling activity that integrated with the unit on Magnets in Science Experiences for the Early Childhood Years. We turned a shoe box over and cut off one side. Then we made people from chenille wires and put their "feet" in a large paper clip. Using magnets on the underside of the box allowed us to move the people around while telling a story. K. still likes to pull this out and play with it every so often.
Here you can see the magnets on the underside of the box.

Thursday, June 3

Here's A Penny

We really enjoyed reading Here's a Penny by Carolyn Haywood. It is about a young boy, Penny, who was adopted. Having an adopted child (K.), I loved the way she presented it. The book initiated some questions and good conversations. Penny is a lovable, adventurous boy who has some trouble with getting a pet kitten and wants an older brother.

More About Little Pear

We just finished reading More About Little Pear by Eleanor Frances Lattimore this morning. It was a fun book to read, introducing some Chinese customs and ideas. The story begins on Little Pear's last day of school and ends when it is almost time for school to start again. Little Pear gets into some mischief, which allows for discussion. Except for one episode at the end of the book he isn't intentionally bad, just curious and adventurous.

Agriculture

Are you interested in teaching your children about gardening and animals? Here are links to a couple websites that can give you a boost in that direction.
These are public school resources, so be sure to "walk circumspectly".

Wednesday, June 2

The Four Year Old Game Plan, part 2

When I was writing the first post I was going by days and since Bible and Music don't have their own day, I forgot them. Bible we do every day and Music is just when K. is in the mood.

Bible
  • Memorizing the verses for the Wordless Book; after the verses are memorized we will work on the dialogue that goes with them. An idea that I really like to go with the presentation is nesting cans spray painted the corresponding colors. There was a website where you could purchase them, but I'm working on collecting appropriate cans.
    • Romans 3:23 - black page
    • 1 John 1:7b - red page
    • Psalm 51:7 - white page
    • John 14:2 - gold page
    • 2 Peter 3:18 - green page
  • Reading Little Visits with Jesus by Mary Manz Simon with corresponding Scripture.
  • Reading lots of Bible Stories
  • Acting out Bible stories. Some of K.'s favorites to act out are Mary and Martha, David and Goliath (which sounds simple to do with 2 people, but you need David's father and brothers, and King Saul), the Ten Plagues and Crossing the Red Sea, and Jesus bringing the little girl back to life.
Music
  • Understanding that each note on the page has a name and each key on the piano has a name and they correspond to each other.
  • Sing, sing, and sing some more!

Tuesday, June 1

Memorial Day

To learn about Memorial Day I picked up the book Memorial Day by Geoffrey Scott from the library. It does a really good job of explaining the history of the day. How it grew out of the Civil War and was called Decoration Day. It also narrates a Decoration Day celebration in a small town in 1878 describing what the children did in school, the food, the people, the parade, and decorating the graves.

We had a good time making these patriotic placemats. I folded the blue construction paper in half and drew a line 1-1/2-inches from the open end, then used our paper cutter to cut the slits for weaving the red and white strips. I was surprised that K. (at 5 years) did a very good job weaving and was determined to complete her placemat by herself.