tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76164632024-03-08T15:47:16.569-08:00homeschooling adventures the wright wayA right or wrong way to homeschool? There really is no such thing but it is definitely an adventure! We're the Wrights and hope you'll come along and join us as we journey on ahead.
"All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education." Sir Walter Scottbarbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1145916032598090122006-04-24T14:59:00.000-07:002006-04-24T15:00:32.613-07:00New locationI have moved this blog to a new location but will leave this one up for archives. You can now find us here:<br /><br /><a href="http://lvbirders.homeschooljournal.net/">http://lvbirders.homeschooljournal.net/</a><br /><br />Hope you'll come visit :)barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1145583353230577542006-04-20T18:16:00.000-07:002006-04-20T18:35:53.316-07:00April - National Poetry Month<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=1590782895"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=1590782895" alt="" border="0" /></a>Josh and I had a fun time with a picture book I found in our library and used to celebrate April as National Poetry Month. The book is titled Paint Me a Poem: Poems Inspired by Masterpieces of Art by Justine Rowden. One side of the book is a picture of a masterpiece and on the other side the author has written a poem inspired by that painting. Some of the poems were silly and fun and some were more thoughtful. Some rhymed and some were free verse.<br /><br />I had Josh try his hand at doing this very same thing. As we were ending our study of the painter Jan Vermeer, I had him write a poem about his favorite Vermeer painting, A Lady Writing. (We became very familiar with this painting after reading the book Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett.)<br /><br />Here is his poem:<br /><br />Letters can hold secrets just like the thick gray fog.<br />Sometimes smothering secrets<br />That make you want to hide yourself in that thick gray fog.<br />But still others can hold secrets that make that face of yours<br />turn a cheery red,<br />That make you want to jump out of that thick gray fog and<br />Smile to the unknowing world<br />That does not know what secrets lay just behind that pleasant face of yours<br />That made that smile so.<br />Now before I go,<br />I would like to ask you,<br />What secrets wait for you in this letter from me.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1145563031738959312006-04-20T12:52:00.000-07:002006-04-20T12:57:11.736-07:00Word of the Weekexpeditious: <br /><br />adjective<br />1. characterized by or acting with speed and efficiency<br /><br /><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/">http://dictionary.reference.com/</a>barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1145499101716566682006-04-19T18:35:00.000-07:002006-04-19T19:11:41.960-07:00Life-long LearnersThere has been alot of talk lately on homeschool blogs and groups about the different philosophies/methods of homeschooling and the implementation of said methods. This has led me to do some inward searching regarding our own journey.<br /><br />Looking back at the progression after 8 years now of "doing this" it is interesting to see how we have evolved in practice especially. My reason for homeschooling has never wavered from the beginning; I want my children to be life-long learners. I want them to be interested, passionate and excited beings about life and all we learn from it. I want them to have the skills/abilities to go in search of information/answers to questions they have. I still want that for all of my children today, even the ones who are no longer "in school". When we first began homeschooling people would ask question after question about "how we did this thing" and more importantly "why?". My answer was that, for our family, learning new things was just "par for the course" as they say. We are a family that is constantly reading, watching, doing, in any and all aspects of life. I thought it was only right that we continue this. Why did it have to change just because my children were "school age"? I had begun to think outside the box and have stretched that thinking more and more each year we continue on.<br /><br />We have tried many a "practical" way of doing things. I have found that for us it seems to be an ebb and a flow type of learning and living. I mean this in the sense that at times we look more structured and at others we look more "unschooling". It works for us. I know my son and am able to see what he needs at that particular time of his life, thus the ebb and flow. This not only applies to him but also to me as his mother and guide/mentor. I do not use the term teacher because for us many times my son is the one who ends up teaching me!<br /><br />I have found many of the philosophies of Charlotte Mason very much in tune with my own thinking. It is important to me that whatever we are looking into at the time that my son "make it his own". He sometimes gets something totally different from myself and in sharing these things with each other we are both enriched. Neither is right or wrong. We take from them those things that speak to us as individuals.<br /><br />There has also been much talk about the whole notion of "strewing" or a laying out of things that may interest your child. I have found for our family we have a very "direct" way of strewing with each other. Each of us will find something that they think is interesting and wishes to share. Another member of the family may find it also very interesting and go off to find out more or may listen and that is enough. There is much discussion and such sharing that goes on in our family as a daily part of our lives. If any of us just set things out they would probably go unnoticed but in this direct way of sharing we broaden ourselves and each other in many areas. I have to laugh when adults ask my son, who just turned 12, how he got interested in birding at such a young age. Let me explain that this interest has turned into a life passion for him at this time and he is much the more knowledgable one than any other member of the family. The reason for the laughter; when asked this question he proceeds to tell them that one day his mom was reading a book on Thoreau (someone she is very interested in and who she was using as a main character of a children's book she was beginning to write). She shared a bit of information on how he became so familiar with the birds during his time at Walden Pond that they would come and eat out of his hand. This intrigued him and he went outside with some bird seed to see if he could do the same. Thus, an avid birder was born as a result of this "direct strewing/sharing" of something from another family member.<br /><br />Life-long learning - the homeschool journey that our family is on together sharing in our lives and interests daily.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1145030071507635232006-04-14T08:49:00.000-07:002006-04-14T08:54:31.520-07:00A Nail in My Pocket<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5374/477/1600/dsc00006.2.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5374/477/400/dsc00006.jpg" border="0" /></a>Our studies for the day.<br />A nail in our pocket.<br />As a reminder.<br />As a prayer.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1144685541071223232006-04-10T08:55:00.000-07:002006-04-10T09:12:21.700-07:00This morning we were paid a visit....<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5374/477/1600/100_6072.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5374/477/320/100_6072.jpg" border="0" /></a> by Peter the Rabbit. Well, at least that's who Josh and I say it was, as we seem to have Beatrix Potter "on the brain" lately. We are still enjoying Susan Wittig Albert's, The Tale of Hill Top Farm and it is such an appropriate read this time of year with Spring here and with Easter coming fast.<br /><br />Melissa Wiley, over at <a href="http://melissawiley.typepad.com/bonnyglen/">Here in the Bonny Glen</a>, has <a href="http://melissawiley.typepad.com/bonnyglen/2006/04/how_do_the_seas.html#comments">this great post</a> on "seasonal reading". We too find ourselves reading and re-reading certain books during the cyclical seasons of the year, hence Beatrix Potter and all her "little" books including Peter the Rabbit at this time of year say "Spring" to us!<br /><br /><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5374/477/320/100_6068.jpg" border="0" />barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1144618963521740392006-04-09T13:50:00.000-07:002006-04-09T14:42:43.743-07:00Shakespeare Studies in our Home<a href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0789493330.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0789493330.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Following Charlotte Mason's advice on studying Shakespeare has been a truly enriching experience for my son and I. We generally start off with reading a version of E. Nesbit's, <a href="http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=nesbit&book=shakespeare&story=_contents">Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare</a> or a Lamb's, <a href="http://www.eldritchpress.org/cml/tfs.html">Tales from Shakespeare</a>. Both of these versions are retellings that can easily be understood by children. These give a basic understandign of the story line of the play.<br /><br />I found a wonderful resource at the library, DK's Essential Shakespeare Handbook, that has added much to our play studies. This book by Leslie Dunton-Downer and Alan Riding is a comprehensive overview of each of the plays along with background information on Shakespeare's own life and the writing of his plays. For each play you are given; background information on the history of the play itself as well as actual historical events that may pertain, a listing and explanation of the play's characters, a plot summary broken down into each act with actual quotes from the play scattered through each act's summary, examples of performances of said play as well as video recomendations. Each play also has sections titled Reading the play and Beyond the play.<br /><br />Josh and I just finished Henry V and had a wonderful time with it. We used lines from the play as copywork and dictation. We watched a video version of the play and had to laugh when at first we had a hard time with the language and yet by the end of the video we were able to understand more and more. The difficulty of the language of Shakepeare's plays sometimes can be very daunting and yet I find that the more we read them the more we come to understand and recognize this rich and beautiful language. We also studied the history of Henry V and compared actual historical accounts to Shakepeare's play. As we were reading another book for fun, The Tale of Holly How by Susan Albert Wittig, which I talked about in <a href="http://homeschoolingadventuresthewrightway.blogspot.com/2006/03/homeschool-sick-week.html">this earlier post</a>, we came across a section in which Josh was pleased to recognize Henry V's, St.Crispin's Day speech, albeit the wording had been changed a little. Had we not ever studied Henry V he would have not been able to make such a connection.<br /><br />We have studied other plays and with each find something unique for that play whether it be a picture book about the play such as Bruce Coville's wonderful <em>William Shakepeare's Hamlet </em>or being able to go to see a production of Macbeth at his sister's high school.<br /><br />We both have enjoyed Gary Blackwood's, Shakespeare Stealer Series, a series of three juvenile fiction books about Shakespeare and a young boy who joins his troop.<br /><br />The study of Shakepeare has not only enriched our homeschooling studies but our lives as well.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1144530312827985582006-04-08T13:47:00.000-07:002006-04-08T14:08:01.506-07:00The Most Incredible, Unbelievable Roller Coaster Ever<a href="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/homeschool%20blog/d406a863.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/homeschool%20blog/d406a863.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />...which no one would ever ride probably.<br /><br />Not a problem for master design/structural engineer, Josh Wright. :)<br /><br />This was a result of some of our studies in physics this week. After watching the Nova video, Roller Coaster, and reading from various books on roller coasters and the physics involved with them I let him have at building his own coaster. He had a great time, even at one point designing a coaster that<br /><br /><br />"jumped track (tube)" AND actually worked as the engineer tested each design, including the jumped track one, using a bead through the tube.<br /><br /><p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/homeschool%20blog/daebebbb.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>This idea was in the Dec/Jan 2000-20001 issue of The Mailbox - Intermediate. This is a magazine for teachers in the classroom but many of their ideas can be easily tailored to homeschoolers. Josh had a great time and spent the rest of the afternoon in this "masterly inactivity" as Charlotte Mason would say, all of his own choice. </p><p>Can't ask for better "schooling" than that, I say. :)</p>barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1144082735625120852006-04-03T09:29:00.000-07:002006-04-03T09:45:36.730-07:00And this one belongs to the Reds!<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5374/477/1600/dsc00003.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5374/477/320/dsc00003.jpg" border="0" /></a> We are hoping to hear those words today on Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds baseball season which starts today. We will be watching on tv this morning and rooting our hometown team on.<br /><br />That is one of the things I miss most about not living in my hometown now. Even though our family lives and breathes ice hockey during its season we will always have a special place in our hearts for baseball, after all we are from Cincinnati, the city that hosts the first major league baseball team ever! I have great memories of baseball and my childhood: watching games all spring, summer and fall with my dad, listening to Marty and Joe on the radio announcing games and eating hot dogs with mustard and relish and Grippo's potato chips, those Straight A tickets for good grades and trying to figure out who I would take with the extra ticket, watching them on tv during high school classes because hey they were in the World Series at the time and even the teachers are big fans there and then getting OFF school when they won :)<br /><br />One of our family's favorite movies is The Sandlot. I have a feeling we will be watching this one today ;)<br /><br />For studies today we'll be doing a baseball mad lib for grammar and math will consist of score keeping during the game and LOTS of statistics discussions. We'll read <em>Casey at the Bat </em>for poetry (it is an annual tradition on this day). We will in essence let our love of a game be a part of our homeschool journey today.<br /><br />So with all other baseball fans we will be listening in anticipation of those words that officially begin spring in our minds:<br /><br />PLAY BALL!barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143735773329173762006-03-30T08:08:00.000-08:002006-03-30T08:26:22.646-08:00Vocabulary and Our Word of the Week StudyIn <a href="http://homeschoolingadventuresthewrightway.blogspot.com/2006/01/happy-word-nerd-day.html">this</a> earlier post, I explained about a vocabulary study we started in which we signed up to receive a new word a day from an <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/">online dictionary site</a>. This has been alot of fun for us and we have had so many connections to the words that we are studying. They seem to be popping up everywhere! We have modified this study to just once a week. It has filtered to other members of our family as Josh's older brother remarked on a word Josh had told him about when he himself came across the word in some reading he was doing. Just the other day, Josh called me excitedly over to the computer to read something to me. He then proceeded to read a sentence which used one of our earlier words, pugilist, in it. And in what context was this word used you may be wondering? He was reading an article on the NHL (ice hockey) website lol. He knew EXACTLY what they were talking about.<br /><br />Our word for this week:<br /><br />autodidact:<br />noun- 1. one who is self-taught<br /><br />A very good word for a homeschooler don't you think :)barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143468519202295802006-03-27T06:04:00.000-08:002006-03-27T06:09:46.980-08:00We are celebrating a family weddingMy oldest daughter is getting married in August and has given Josh and I a research project for our studies. She has asked us to listen to and recommend pieces from classical composers for the ceremony. This should add some extra incentive to our composer studies :) Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. We're allowed help she says :))barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143315058701568522006-03-25T10:52:00.000-08:002006-03-25T11:54:54.786-08:00Picture books<a href="http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=1570911509"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=1570911509" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-1570911509-0">What's Your Angle, Pythagoras</a> by Julie Ellis</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This book helps to make learning the Pythagorean Theorem at a basic level fun and easily understood.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-1589803000-0">The Battle of New Orleans: The Drummer's Story</a> by Freddi Williams Evans</p><p>I had to laugh when we began to watch a History Channel show last week when Josh was sick. The show was on the American Flag and it's origins, refurbishing and such. They discussed the War of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans in this context. This book was sitting on our bookshelves from a find in the new books section at our local library. Needless to say we read it that day :) </p><p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 177px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 217px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="240" alt="" src="http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=1589803000" border="0" /></p><br /><p></p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-0802852297-1/">Music for the End of Time</a> by Jen Bryant</p><p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 171px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 177px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="236" alt="" src="http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=0802852297" border="0" /></p><p>Another good find in the new section of the children's books netted me this book. The cover peeked my interest and upon reading the inside flap knew that this would be one to interest Josh, after all, it spoke of a nightingale and anything that has to do with birds is usually an instant hit lol. Little did I know what a treasure this book really is upon that first glance. Reading it, we learned the story of the French composer, Olivier Messiaen, who composed and performed for the first time, his famous <em>Quartet for the End of Time,</em> while in a German concentration camp during WWII. Messiaen may become Josh's favorite composer, for while doing further research on his life and music, we found out he was, as well as being a deeply religious man, also an avid bird-watcher and incorporated bird songs into his works. We listened to some of quartet, which is written in eight parts for 4 pieces; the piano, the violin, the clarinet and the cello, and is based on a passage in the Revelation of St. John. The opening notes were inspired by a nightingale's song.</p><p></p><p></p><br /><p></p><p></p>barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143135595835513372006-03-23T09:39:00.000-08:002006-03-23T13:07:24.576-08:00Tuesday Teatime<a href="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/homeschool%20blog/dsc00000.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/homeschool%20blog/dsc00000.jpg" border="0" /></a> Tuesday's are always a favorite day for Josh and I. This is the day we have our tea time. It is also the day that we cover our poet, artist and composer studies. Today was designated as a Beatrix Potter Tea per a request from Josh.<br /><br />As I have said in an earlier post, I have been reading the book The Tale of Holly How by Susan Wittig Albert to Josh. These are light mysteries in which Beatrix Potter is the main character of the story. Since I began reading it, Josh has been craving scones and so today we made chocolate chip scones for our tea time using a recipe from a book I got from our library titled, Beatrix Potter's Country Cooking by Sara Paston-Williams, as a basis while improvising a few things. We decorated the table with some cut out illustrations from a box of Beatrix Potter chocolates I bought at Target a few weeks ago in the dollar section. We also enjoyed a few of the chocolates along with our scones and Earl Grey tea. :) We put a few of the books we have been reading about Beatrix Potter on the table. These included: The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller and Countrywoman by Judy Taylor and At Home with Beatrix Potter by Susan Denyer. Of course we had to read a few chapters from The Tale of Holly How too.<br /><br />It was an usually rainy, grey, chilly day here in Las Vegas earlier in the day and just perfect for tea and Beatrix Potter.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143135453545238352006-03-23T09:31:00.000-08:002006-05-18T11:51:55.216-07:00A Homeschool Sick Week<a href="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/homeschool%20blog/339c09c7.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/homeschool%20blog/339c09c7.jpg" border="0" /></a> Josh has been sick with a case of a stomach bug this week so our homeschool studies have consisted of:<br /><br />- Being prostrate on the couch, sipping 7 Up and ginger ale while nibbling on crackers and watching LOTS of the History Channel.<br />- Birding out the family room window while lying on said couch.<br />- When feeling up to it checking on the Iditarod Race on the computer and while there checking the NHL webiste too.<br />- Birding out the front window while on said computer and yesterday morning spotting a roadrunner (yes I did say roadrunner) sitting on top of our neighbor's roof across the street.<br />- Commiserating with oldest sister each morning as she stops by and who is dealing with this very same stomach bug.<br />- Listening to mom read MANY times throughout the day from a fast becoming favorite book, The Tale of Holly How (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter) by Susan Wittig Albert.<br /><br />I have read both books in this new series and have shared a few things from them. Josh was interested, as he loves a good mystery - The Hardy Boy series is one of his favorites and asked if I would read from one of them. This is actually the second in the series but no matter. The author, who also writes two other mystery series, is also the author of many young adult novels. While browsing her website I read comments on how she wanted these books to be appropriate for that audience also as well as adults. The main character is as you may have guessed the famed children's author, Beatrix Potter. Albert has done meticulous research on the life of Beatrix Potter and incorporates many factual items in the fictional stories. Josh is especially enjoying the way in which Albert incorporates the animals of the village into the story.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">"Normally, I'm a disciplined writer who controls her material, but in this case, the material took control. To my surprise, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle began to talk about herself, and about The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, and about Miss Potter, and the other animals all chimed in.</span><a href="http://www.tstar.net/~china/Beatrix/beatrix.html#6"><span style="font-size:85%;">6</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> I immediately realized the value of these characters to the story, and to the whole series, and began to incorporate them, not as mere "colorful" characters, but characters who are instrumental to the plot, and who may even have plots of their own. And I used this franchise to create other animal characters—animals that live at the farm, in the village, and in the countryside. Galileo Newton Owl and Bosworth Badger XVII are two of my favorites. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">In this imaginative effort, of course, I am following the model Beatrix herself followed: stories featuring animals whose interesting adventures usually point up some sort of important moral lesson, a kind of Aesop's fable. I am also following models of contemporary mystery writers such as Lillian Jackson Braun, Rita Mae Brown, and Carole Nelson Douglas, all of whom have introduced animals into their mystery fiction. (Of course, I had to get permission from Frederick Warne & Co., the owners of Beatrix's copyrights, in order to incorporate Beatrix's creations into my fiction.)<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Bringing the animals into the books also broadened the audience, for with a little extra work, I could make the series suitable for a middle-grade and young adult audience, as well as adult readers. These would be books that could be read and enjoyed by whole families, in fact."</span><br /><br />This is a quote from Albert's <a href="http://www.tstar.net/~china/Beatrix/">website</a> about her experiences in writing these tales.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143135026765913772006-03-23T09:28:00.000-08:002006-03-23T09:44:09.333-08:00A Homeschooling Day in March<a href="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/homeschool%20blog/5f9e7cab.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/homeschool%20blog/5f9e7cab.jpg" border="0" /></a> Friday it SNOWED (well for all of 10 minutes or so lol) here in the desert of Las Vegas. Josh and I had already been up to the park for our birding walk, a VERY cold walk - well here in the desert 40 degrees IS cold :) especially with the winds that accompany it. When it began to snow we went back up to the park for yet another walk.<br /><br />Were we glad we did! We ended up getting some great looks at a <a href="http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Flicker.html">Northern Flicker</a> on the second walk. The flicker pictured in the link is a yellow-shafted flicker while here we have a red-shafted flicker. There are just a few differences between the two but you can get a good idea of what we saw from this.<br /><br />Charlotte Mason would have been proud of us out and about even in this weather.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143134844231757092006-03-23T09:24:00.000-08:002006-03-23T09:47:16.766-08:00Iditarod XXXIV - The Last Great Race<a href="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/e270f314.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/e270f314.jpg" border="0" /></a> Yesterday was the official start of the <a href="http://www.iditarod.com/">Iditarod </a>Dog Sled Race in Alaska. For many years our family has followed this race and incorporated it into our homeschooling studies. As you can see we have collected a few items surrounding this, The Last Great Race :)<br /><br />This year we will be rooting for our favorite musher, Dee Dee Jonrowe, who is making another attempt to win that elusive first place finish. We will also be following Gary Paulsen, a favorite children's author of ours. If you look closely at the picture above you'll see we have a few of his books that are about the Iditarod.<br /><br />Not sure what this race is all about? Here are a few resources besides the official site linked earlier in this post to get you started:<br /><br />Websites -<br /><a href="http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/">Cabela's</a> Iditarod site<br /><a href="http://www.dogsled.com/">Dogsled.com</a><br /><a href="http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/iditarod/">Scholastic</a><br /><a href="http://www.oregontrail.net/~prassembly/iditoutl.html">Iditarod Unit Study</a><br /><a href="http://www.adn.com/iditarod/">Anchorage Daily News</a><br /><br />Picture Books -<br />Dogteam - Gary Paulsen<br />Kiana's Iditarod - Shelley Gill<br />Mush! - Patricia Seibert<br />Akiak - Robert Blake<br /><br />Juvenile Books -<br />Woodsong - Gary Paulsen<br />Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northers - Gary Paulsen<br />Iditarod Dream - Ted Wood<br /><br />Adult Books -<br />Winterdance - Gary Paulsen<br />Iditarod Dreams - Lew Freedman and Dee Dee Jonrowe<br />Iditarod Classics - Lew Freedman<br /><br />So, what are you waiting for... MUSH :)barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143134225710172662006-03-23T09:15:00.000-08:002006-03-23T09:17:05.713-08:00Lent Begins<a href="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/1ecaf0f1.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/lvbirdermom/1ecaf0f1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, our family began it's observance of Lent by attending church in the evening and also by creating this Lenten Cross earlier in the day.<br /><br />While browsing through Lenten activities I came across an idea for a Lenten Cross on <a href="http://www.archspm.org/family/lr_res_ap_least.html#jesus_tree">this site</a>. Since one of my favorite traditions during Advent is the lighting of our advent candles I knew this would be a great idea for our family for Lent. I used modeling clay for the cross, sculpting it into a free form and then pressed the candles into the clay. There are 7 candles total - one for Ash Wednesday and then one for each Sunday in Lent. At Easter we will remove the lenten candles and replace them with a larger white candle which we will decorate as our Easter Paschal candle. It will sit in the middle empty space of the cross.<br /><br />Surrounding our Lenten Cross are 40 small crosses I cut out of purple construction paper. These represent the 40 days of Lent. Each day Josh will say a special prayer, perform an act of kindeness or one of sacrifice. He will then take a cross and place it into the basket. These visuals will act as reminders both to the time of Easter approaching and for Josh the acts that he has done in preparation during this most holy time of the church year.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143134076249588892006-03-23T09:14:00.000-08:002006-03-23T09:14:36.250-08:00Today's studieshave been postponed until tomorrow.<br /><br />Big brother home sick from work with strep throat + Olympic Men's Hockey games starting this morning and on TV for more than 8 hours = Time well spent on other things in life :)<br /><br />After all, everyone in this family tells me that Hockey itself is Education! lol<br /><br />With my older son having played for eleven years and Josh for eight, I have to agree with them that during hockey season, hockey = life (at least for this family lol) I also don't have the heart to pull Josh away as this is the first year he hasn't played himself since he was three years old. Cost of playing traveling hockey here in Las Vegas and being a one income family just doesn't allow for it anymore unfortunately.<br /><br />So today we will enjoy watching Olympic hopefuls and spending time together.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143134038744424102006-03-23T09:13:00.000-08:002006-03-30T08:07:36.413-08:00New VocabularyI had to laugh this morning. I overheard Josh telling his older brother (who is home from work for the week because of a bad case of strep throat) about our <a href="http://homeschoolingadventuresthewrightway.blogspot.com/2006/01/happy-word-nerd-day.html">Word of the Day Study</a>. The study has been modified to Word of the Week. Josh and I are having great fun with it and keep seeing words we have studied pop up in our things we are reading. These are words such as ineffable, dubiety, sussuration etc. He then proceeded to tell him about an "adventure" he had last night when he couldn't get to sleep. He came out to the front room and grabbed the dictionary. Taking it back to bed with him he proceeded to look up words for the fun of it. He came across what he now says is the "coolest word ever"!<br /><br />Utilitarianism: noun<br />1. The belief that good and evil should be measured by usefulness of actions in contributing to human happiness and welfare.<br /><br />According to him it is the "coolest word ever" because it is interesting. Hmmm... I forsee "interesting" discussions on this :)<br /><br />So what is your "coolest word ever"?barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143133948454438762006-03-23T09:12:00.000-08:002006-03-23T09:23:40.833-08:00Persuasive enough?<a href="http://images.syndetics.com/hw7.pl?isbn=0060765496/MC.GIF"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://images.syndetics.com/hw7.pl?isbn=0060765496/MC.GIF" border="0" /></a> Since the Narnia movie came out in December, Joshua has LIVED in this world. He read ALL the books, a few of them twice. He has read about C.S.Lewis. He has seen the movie FOUR times lol and begs to see it again. We have had MANY discussions on the symbolism in the movie and book and also the differences between the two mediums. He has asked to see it one last time, again lol, before it leaves the theatre and before it comes out in DVD, April 4.<br /><br />So.... this morning for his writing process piece I ask him to write a persuasive paragraph. The topic.... you guessed it.<br /><br />If you can be persuasive enough then we will go see the movie one last time at the theatre tonight. Why should I take you to see Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe again when you have already seen it four times before?<br /><br />This is his response:<br /><br />I believe that you should take me to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe tonight because it is simply a great movie that makes you feel on a number of levels, spiritually and emotionally. The movie is a fantastic film. It doesn't feel as if you're in a theatre. It feels like you are fighting alongside High King Peter for Narnia, Aslan, and all that is good in the world. The movie is more like a journey than a film. It makes you feel like you were one of the Pevensies stumbling out of the wardrobe and landing in a magical world and being that world's only hope. And I also believe that you will enjoy it immensely.What was it you said to me after the last time we saw it? Hmmm let me think... Oh yeah! "That movie is so good I could just watch it over and over again and not get tired of it." Once again I believe you should take me to the movie tonight because it is an amazing movie and you will enjoy it yourself.<br /><br />So what do you think? Persuasive enough?barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143133846902635722006-03-23T09:09:00.000-08:002006-03-23T09:10:46.903-08:00Our birding blogLast March we began a journey into a new world; the world of birding. This journey has taken us on many new and exciting adventures and we have learned so much in this time.<br /><br />As a way to remember our experiences I began a <a href="http://southwesternbirdingtales.blogspot.com/">blog</a> to document them. If you visit you will see much more birding goes on than documenting unfortunately. I am trying to be better about this though. Here is part of my latest entry to that blog:<br /><br />This morning Josh and I headed up to our neighborhood park to bird. We have been trying to do this a few times a week and keeping track of what is there each time. In January we were able to finally see the Burrowing Owl that we had been told by neighbors that lived in the wash sandwiched in between our park and a golf course. He was such an amazing sight. Josh and I stood there hardly daring to breathe for the first few minutes. We have since been blessed to see this bird again numerous times and this morning was no exception. Josh and I smile just thinking how lucky we are to have this species living within a few minutes of where we ourselves live. :) The park has been fairly quiet in the winter but we have enjoyed watching the different behavior of many of the birds. This is another aspect of birding that is fun for Josh besides identifying new birds he hasn't seen before.There has been a tremendous amount of birding that has gone on in our house but we are much poorer at actually documenting it here.In the middle of December we participated in our first Christmas bird count and had a great time! For Christmas, Josh was given a surprise birding trip to Monteray, California with his dad. Then in January, Josh and I were able to go on our local Audubon group's trip to San Diego. My goodness. Between the two trips Josh added over 50 new life birds! We had such a great time with the small group of people that we went with to San Diego. It never ceases to surprise me how generous of their time and knowledge seasoned birders are and how blessed we are as a result. Josh is now up to 266 life birds and he still hasn't closed in on his first year of birding yet!<br /><br />We hope you'll visit our "bird world" sometime.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143133704756099622006-03-23T09:07:00.000-08:002006-03-23T09:21:47.546-08:00Observing Black History Month<a href="http://images.syndetics.com/hw7.pl?isbn=0763625922+%3A/MC.GIF"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://images.syndetics.com/hw7.pl?isbn=0763625922+%3A/MC.GIF" border="0" /></a><br />In the past we have done unit studies during Black History Month. This year because of medical complications of an older brother and as a result driving taking up a HUGE part of my day, I thought we would end up losing out on this wonderful learning opportunity this year. I should have known and trusted Him. :) While at the library the other day, I was perusing the new picture books "when what to my wondering eyes should appear" - no not Christmas books :) - but FOUR books to use as read alouds during this month for Black History.<br /><br /><br />Delivering Justice W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights by Jim Haskins<br /><br />Happy Feet by Richard Michelson<br /><br />Mr. Williams by Karen Barbour<br /><br />Rosa by Nikki Giovanni<br /><br /><br />Looking through Happy Feet I was pleasantly surprised to discover the book is about the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York during the Harlem Renaissance of the Roaring Twenties, THE very same time period we are studying for American History. :)<br /><br />Picture books are one of my favorite ways to start and build on the topics we study. For those of you who might be skeptical about using them with older children please let me reassure you that there are some beautiful illustrated books that are written in a sophisticated style and full of meaning. Many of these books are not "twaddle" at all. I can't count how many times our studies have been enriched by this genre of books.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143133590397896582006-03-23T09:05:00.000-08:002006-03-23T09:06:30.396-08:00Great Backyard Bird CountA little over a week ago, I received in one of my <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClickSchooling/">Clickschooling emails</a> information about the Great Backyard Bird Count.<br /><br />What is the GBBC?<br />The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all levels in counting birds and reporting their results to create a mid-winter snapshot of the numbers, kinds, and distribution of birds across the continent. Participants count birds for as little or as long as they wish during the four-day period and tally the highest number of birds of each species that they see at any one time. At the Great Backyard Bird Count web site, they fill out an online checklist to submit their counts.<br /><br />This explanation comes from their <a href="http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/">website</a> where you can get more information if you are interested.<br /><br />Josh and I will be birding and recording the birds in our neighborhood park. This is something we are in the habit of doing so the results will be put to good use. I sent away for an ambassador packet from Cornell University and it came the other day. In it are data sheets to fill out, promotional sheets and a ton of other information. You can get yours by emailing <a href="mailto:cornellbirds@cornell.edu">cornellbirds@cornell.edu</a><br /><br />After having participated in our first official Christmas Bird Count in December, we are excited once again in some way to be a part of helping our bird friends.<br /><br />The picture at the top of my post is of a burrowing owl. Josh and I are hoping to be able to include this species in our count as we have a resident burrowing owl in the wash that is a part of our park. We have seen him on numerous ocassions and have been blessed to be within 5 feet of him. A beautiful bird!barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143133466118542432006-03-23T09:04:00.000-08:002006-03-23T09:04:26.120-08:00Signs of SpringYesterday Josh and I were out on our back patio and he suddenly exclaimed, "Look mom. The second sign of spring!" I looked down to where he was pointing on the ground and let out a big sigh. There they were running to and fro.... ANTS. Now we await their annual invasion inside the house, in the pantry and bathrooms.<br /> <br />I will remind myself, in the event that I start to feel sorry for myself, about the ladybug invasion happening over at <a href="http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lapazfarm/">Theresa's place.</a><br /><br />And just in case your curiousity was aroused.... the first sign of spring was last week when we looked out and noticed Arnold, our Anna's hummingbird, having to fight off three bees from HIS feeder, poor guy.<br /><br />Don't know why these signs caught me by surprise as here in Las Vegas we really haven't had any winter to speak of this year. Guess we got spoiled by the snow once each year in the last two years. I'm still hoping though and adding more and more snowflakes (of the paper and craft variety) to our front window display in the hopes of enticing at least one winter snow fall. I think I may have to settle for the brief, and I do mean brief - after all it only lasted for about 2 minutes, of snow and sleet we had about a month ago.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7616463.post-1143133382927677872006-03-23T09:02:00.000-08:002006-03-23T09:03:02.930-08:00Putting into PracticeIn my last post I wrote about Karen Andreola encouraging us to take time for ourselves as mothers so as to encourage our own growth as women. One way to do this is to have a reading plan of at least 3 books of varying levels.<br /><br />Check out Dawn's post over on <a href="http://gentleartoflearning.blogspot.com/">Gentle Art of Learning</a> for a fantastic example of how to do just this. She calls this reading, "Cultivating Mother's Heart". Her latest post is Part 7 but she has links to the previous six parts so be sure to read them too. I hope you are as inspired by her as I am.barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17025950887925235995noreply@blogger.com0