Antiquities Adventures 2020-2021 KickOff

We had fun this weekend with our Antiquities Adventures KickOff!

We enjoyed antiquities themed treats and had a fun time discussing all of the projects we are hoping to do this year.  Art/craft projects, food, setting things on fire, and yes - this year we plan to mummify a chicken!  (Ok, totally a cornish game hen because it is smaller, but close enough)  Here are a few pictures from our themed dinner kickoff!

In true Indiana Jones fashion, our dinner would not be complete without Chilled Monkey Brains.  

Antiquities Adventure! 2020-2021

Our theme for this next school year has been chosen!  We will be on an "Antiquities Adventure" though the Ancient Times!  We will be channeling our inner Indiana Jones as we explore and discover our way though the 2020-2021 school year!  We are excitedly looking forward to learning about Ancient Egypt through the Fall of Rome.  I will share more about the curriculum we have chosen this year in a different posting.  

Kayley is achieving a major milestone this year as she moves into...gulp...High School!  

This 9th grader is adventurous and ready for new challenges, including starting early morning seminary!  (Good luck getting her out of bed - she is NOT a morning person).  Her favorite subject is science while her least favorite is Language Arts.  She loves to read, draw and write her own stories.  Her favorite color has always been blue...and is still blue.  Her favorite food is "Papa's Noodles."  When she grows up she wants to be a dental hygienist.   

Maggie is a 5th grader this year making the jump from elementary to middle school.   She claims she likes "all subjects" but tends to like science and history a little bit more than the rest.  Her least favorite subject is math (can you blame her?).  Maggie is an early bird that loves to get up and study her scriptures first thing.  She loves craft projects, sewing and reading.  Her favorite food is ice cream (mine too!) and her favorite color is purple.  When she grows up she wants to be a chef.

Another great school year is coming up soon!

Miscellany

I know it has been a long time since I blogged!  It just seems that life keeps getting busier and busier!  

Over the last couple of months the girls just keep plugging away at school in our quieter pockets of time while we have stayed extremely busy in other pockets!  

They have enjoyed doing several science experiments. 

Kayley transformed herself into a unicorn. 

We went to the Kids Safe Expo again this year.  

We always enjoy it! 

The girls enjoyed meeting Abby Dyer from KY3.

They also had an opportunity to learn some gun safety and practice shooting at a target. 

We found this random turkey egg in our backyard.

At least, we think it is a turkey egg! 

Kayley also had a chance to go roller skating for the first time.

She was pretty good at it! 

She also made about 247,982 batches of cookie dough for her girls camp fundraiser!

We also enjoyed a great family workday cutting down trees and splitting firewood!

Pioneers & our 2018-2019 Curriculum Choices

Our theme for this school year is "To Be a Pioneer!"

You don’t have to push a handcart,

Leave your fam’ly dear,

Or walk a thousand miles or more

To be a pioneer!

You do need to have great courage,

Faith to conquer fear,

And work with might for a cause that’s right

To be a pioneer!

LDS Children's Songbook, 218

We all share a history of pioneers...whether our ancestors participated in the great western migration or immigrated from other lands, pioneers demonstrated amazing qualities of courage, conviction, faith and sacrifice.

President Monson told us:  “Can we somehow muster the courage and that steadfastness of purpose which characterized the pioneers of a former generation?... Can you and I, in actual fact, be pioneers today? A dictionary defines a pioneer as ‘one who goes before, showing others the way to follow.’ Oh, how the world needs pioneers today!”

We are excited to get started in a new school year!

We will be doing a few things a little differently this year.  We had originally planned to do Heart of Dakota, but after much reflection we decided we didn't need the stress that comes from trying to keep up with a curriculum that is so FULL.   It is a great curriculum but, we wanted to minimize a little this year...  and I have been reflecting often lately on this quote:

“The question is not, – how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education – but how much does he care? and about how many orders of things does he care? In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?”-Charlotte Mason

Wow.  I spend each year trying to throw everything at my kids because I want them to be "smart."  But, what good does that do?  I don't need children who can remember what they need for a test, or to show-off.  I need children who CARE.  Children who love others.  Who appreciate God & His creations.  Who recognize His hand in all things.  I want kids who want to read because it's fun.  Who want to learn because it is rewarding.  Who thirst for knowledge.

According to Dr. Perrin of Classical Academic Press, we need to teach our children "to love that which is lovely...and cultivate affection for that with is true, good, and beautiful." 

So, we are seeking simple beauty and virtue in our homeschool this year...and it required some shuffling of curriculum.  After a year apart we opted to use a curriculum that brought us back together.  Oh how I have missed the family style learning!  I'm so excited and I am looking forward to my 8th year homeschooling!

So without further ado, here is our curriculum lineup!



We are excited to do The Good & The Beautiful for both History and Science this year!  We will be doing these 2 subjects as a family.  We will be using History Year 1 & supplementing with some reading from The Story of the World series.  For science we will start the year with Kingdoms & Classifications.  We will decide a bit later what topic to pursue next based on where our interests take us.  The Good & The Beautiful science is geared toward K-6th with extensions for 7-8th graders.  We are really looking forward to using a microscope for the 1st time in our homeschool!  It's on order and should be in soon!

Maggie, Grade 3

Math-U-See Gamma

The Good & The Beautiful Language Arts Level 2

The Good & The Beautiful Typing 1

Song School Latin 1

Discover the Scriptures: Book of Mormon, Gr 1-3

Piano & Cake Decorating

The Good & The Beautiful Creative Arts 

Kayley, Grade 7 

Math-U-See PreAlgebra

The Good & The Beautiful Language Arts Level 6

The Good & The Beautiful Typing 1 

Lively Latin, Big Book 1

Discover the Scriptures: Book of Mormon, Gr 4-7

Sewing & Calligraphy

Our Joy Basket (tentative) rotation this year includes:

Poetry:  

Semester 1:  Simply Charlotte Mason - Carl Sandburg

Semester 2:   Robert Frost

Artist: 

Semester 1:  Simply Charlotte Mason - Marie Cassatt 

Semester 2:  Frank Lloyd Wright

Composer:  

Zeezok Music Appreciation - Hayden

Character Studies:

Character Concepts - Profiles of Valor

*includes scripture memory work

50 Things Every Young Lady Should Know

George Washington's Rules of Civility

Shakespeare:

Nesbit's Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare

Natural Science:

Simply Charlotte Mason Learning About Birds

Semester 1:  Astronomy/Star Gazing

Semester 2:  Cave Exploration

Other:

Of course, I delight in throwing other random items in our Joy Basket...you just never know what else might end up in there!

You can probably tell that we are trying out many more units from The Good & The Beautiful.  We used TG & TB Language Arts & Science last year.  We purchased the history and took it for a short test-drive over the summer and my girls LOVED it.  So, we are going all in this year and really hoping (fingers crossed) that this is a wonderful, relaxing school year and a lot less stressful than last year.  (Heart of Dakota kept us hopping).  This more laid-back, "teaching from rest" style of curriculum should leave plenty of time for following rabbit trails and interests.  

We have just a couple more weeks of Summer then we begin!  

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Homeschool Safety Week {Field Trip!}

We decided to take some time off last week to enjoy a Homeschool Safety Week!  We had a great time...  We used The Good & The Beautiful Safety Unit as a jumping off point and discussed the importance of everything from Internet Safety to Stranger Danger and Fire/Evacuation, etc. 

The Jenny Phillips units have been great for all ages and the .pdf download is only $10! 

Thanks to Papa for being instrumental in the Fire Safety day!  

(No children were harmed in these activities...LOL)

After intense lecture we went out "into the field" to test our skills.

Each girl needed to feel confident about getting their window open, screen removed, and escaping from their room.  Kayley is on a 2nd floor so this was a little tough, but once she was out the window, she kicked off successfully and landed quite comfortable on the ground.  We really felt that, in the event of a true emergency, she would know with certainty that she COULD do it. . 

Maggie's was a bit easier but still exciting to give it a try... 

They also had to escape the house blindfolded (smoke) and get to the front door.   

We also discussed propane and natural gas and had them give it a sticky whiff so they would know what they were smelling. 

We finished out our week with a trip to Springfield's Annual Safe Kids Day expo...

We learned about putting babies "back to sleep" with Mercy. 

Identifying chemicals and drugs from candy and juice.  

It was tougher than you would think!

We goofed off with the highway patrol... 

Learned about electrical line safety... 

And toured an ambulance.   

Learned basic CPR.

I didn't get nearly enough pictures, but we had a great time and enjoyed a week of learning about the importance of being safe!

Thanks for Swinging By!

Goodbye February! Hello March!

It's crazy how fast time flies.  Sadly, I don't blog as much when I do not have deadlines to meet.  I enjoy participating in the TOS Crew because it encouraged me to blog a lot more...  I didn't go back for this season because...oddly enough...I was having trouble blogging as often as I should.  LOL.

Well, February is done and gone, but here are a few highlights of our month!

My nature girl enjoyed getting outside and doing some of her favorite things... she started constructing a native american longhouse... 

And even found an arrowhead in our backyard!

She made this Algonquin purse-thing as part of her history project.

We have made a switch back to Heart of Dakota for the rest of the year, but that is a long story...and I'll save it for another blog post.

Maggie still works diligently at piano, practicing often and without prompting.

It's awesome! 

In our Literature Studies the girls both did hilarious interviews of book characters... 

Kayley built a glider in science that actually flew! 

We also enjoyed our poetry tea at the beginning of March!

We did a Dr. Seuss theme.

Crazy hats were essential. 

We also stepped out last Saturday and did a road clean up with our neighbors!

These cows thought we were crazy and stood there and moo'd at us for quite a while.

In Maggie's history lesson (also Heart of Dakota) we learned how the pioneers pulled their wagons up and down the mountains.  It must've been really challenging! 

I do believe that catches us up a bit.  

Thanks for swinging by!