We have been busy sorting, cleaning, decluttering, rearranging, and brainstorming as we have begun preparing our learning environment. We are taking a portion of the unfinished part of our basement and transforming it into our school. For our family, and my sanity, it is important to have a designated learning space. While I have no doubt that projects will ultimately take place all over the house, it is crucial for us to have a space designated just for schooling. 

Over the last week we have been consolidating boxes and moving furniture in hopes of creating an environment that will be cheerfully conducive to learning for all four kiddos. John and Madi are each looking forward to their own space and I am looking forward to creating a toddler corner for the munchkins.

As soon as the dry erase boards are hung, the maps are on the walls and the last crate is in place I will try and snap a couple of pictures. I'm now off to the basement! 

The boxes have arrived...

Let the fun begin!!!

Time to Get Organized!

I absolutely adore this time of year, all of the planning and preparing in anticipation of a new school year makes me giddy. My kiddos think I'm nuts, but I just love it. Almost everything is already done with the Calvert curriculum, but there are a few things that I will be adding to round out our experience. Today I will tell you about just one of our additions.

One of the reasons I love homeschooling is because it provides me an opportunity to teach my children the gospel in more depth than I am often otherwise able to. I have found that if I plan out and prepare each child's gospel study course first, everything else seems to fall into place. I want the kiddos to know that the gospel comes first, no matter what. That's why I plan it first, we study it first in our day etc. Hopefully somewhere along the way the message will stick.

John, who will be a new deacon in a few weeks, will be using the new Book of Mormon seminary home study course. I picked up the new Seminary Teacher manual and am excited to work through it with him. Some of you may be thinking that I am jumping the gun on this, but I have come to the conclusion that this gospel is a gospel of repetition and what he picks up this time around will be far different from what he will experience when he starts seminary in a few years.

I just finished putting together a Book of Mormon curriculum for Madison. It is a combination of the Primary Book of Mormon manual, scripture journaling and some fun correlating activities from Sunday Savers. I am pretty excited about this one as I am hoping Madi will run with it.

The babies will be continuing their nursery lessons and Book of Mormon stories as we head into the school year.

Reality Check

We just got back from a 12 day vacation to Colorado and Utah. Maybe visit is a better word because with two very nearly two year old toddlers, there really wasn't any thing vacationy about it. For some reason the babies had a really hard time on this trip and it took the joint efforts of my husband and myself to keep them slightly grumpy (which was apparently the happiest they were able to get). This coupled with our post vacation detox has caused me to panic a little about how in the world I am going to give my children the intense, rigorous education we are planning as well as keep two almost two year old toddlers happy. I have a little less than two months to figure it out. Thank goodness for inspiration and revelation. I am counting on it.  

Book of Mormon Stories for Toddlers

Book of Mormon Stories for Toddlers

We LOVE Book of Mormon Stories for Toddlers! I came across these via Pinterest (how I love my Pinterest) and was intrigued. It was just what I had been looking for! So many of the resources I all ready had (flannel people, books, etc.) were just a little too grown up for my littles. They needed something short and sweet for their short and sweet attention spans. I downloaded set one (very reasonable price), printed the stories, laminated and put magnetic strips on the back of the figures and we were ready to go. The babies love playing with them after we go through the story twice. We are excited to download the next set this week and are even happier to see that set three is in the making!

"...our individual responsibility is to learn what we should learn, to live as we know we should live, and to become what the Master would have us become...The overarching purpose of Heavenly Father's great plan of happiness is to provide His spirit children with opportunities to learn. The moral agency afforded to all of Father's children through the plan of salvation and the Atonement of Jesus Christ is divinely designed to facilitate our learning... The Holy Ghost is the teacher who kindles within us an abiding love of and for learning."

Elder David A. Bednar

Classical Education

I am a die hard classical educationist. Is that even a word? I wholeheartedly believe in the classical education model as described by Susan Wise Bauer in The Well Trained Mind. I have read and reread our copy so many times there are portions I could recite from memory - almost. 

In a perfect world I would follow The Well Trained Mind model exactly, crossing every T and dotting every I. Unfortunately my world is not perfect and for this upcoming academic year I will be unable to do so.

Why? 

We simply don't have the funding. 

While the classical education outlined in The Well Trained Mind isn't outrageously expensive per say, we are at a point in our family life (nearing the end of my husband's residency after almost 13 years of training, only two left!) where money is tighter than ever before. Sigh. 

So when my husband and I both felt the prompting that our children needed to be homeschooled, we struggled at first, not knowing how we were going to afford this endeavor. We were serendipitously led to the point we are at now. 

Our school district works in conjunction with a charter school that offers the Calvert Homeschool curriculum and all other necessary supplies (computer, printer, internet, etc) at no cost to those enrolled. Yep, that's right, free. And the beauty of this virtual charter school is that my kids can still go to their public schools for their electives if they so choose. John will be able to continue his beloved orchestra and Madi will be able to choose which electives she would like to do. There was much rejoicing in the land when the kids realized they would still be seeing their friends at school. Not that they haven't spent almost every second of this summer running around with their neighborhood friends already, but apparently seeing their friends at school is important to them. :)

While it isn't the Well Trained Mind, I do like the Calvert curriculum. It follows the classical model and is so far above and beyond what my children were being asked to do in public school, how could I not be pleased? After researching what Calvert has to offer, I am very excited for John and Madi to begin this journey.

And, frankly, I am also thrilled that there will be very little prep work on my part. Our two little whirlwinds keep me so busy I'm not sure I would be able to prepare adequately enough for the older kids. 

So that's our plan, we'll see how it goes!

I wrestled for a long time before I decided which path to take with the babies (who are 21 months today). I have always felt that it is important to engage children in meaningful activities as well as provide an environment that is conducive to exploratory play. My personality type is not one that does well with all day free for alls. For many families that path is perfect, but our family has always needed something a little different. I will be the first to say that one way isn't right and one way isn't wrong, I firmly believe it is a matter of seeking what is best for your family at that time. Back to the wrestling...

After much study, thought and prayer I decided to do a hybrid of sorts. We have a sit down (albeit about 4 min) lesson from the Nursery manual every morning followed by two Primary songs that the babies enjoy with fun visuals. Then it's off to stations in the playroom - I set out different toys (blocks, little people, play mats etc.) for them to play with every morning so they don't tire of their toys too quickly. When it's snack time (they sit longer while they're eating!) we do Book of Mormon stories. I have found a great resource - Book of Mormon for Toddlers - that we have a great deal of fun with. I will talk more about that in a later post. After their naps we start storytime (again with snacks). Here's where the hybrid comes in - should we do themes? circle time? lap books? etc. etc. etc. I have opted to take favorite books and create a storytime theme that lasts about three storytimes. Something like Five in a Row, but more adapted to my children. 

We started this week with one of their all time favorite books - The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Here's an outline of yesterday's storytime -

Welcome Song (same every time) - Here We Are Together
Fun Song - Wheels on the Bus
Story - The Very Hungry Caterpillar 
Song - I Wish I Were a Little Butterfly
Story Retell - Bulletin Board Set (I found the above bulletin board set at Joann's. Perfect for retelling the story! 50% off coupon and we were set!)
Fingerplay - Caterpillar to Butterfly
Book - How Many Butterflies?
Musical Instruments (same every time) - Follow the Prophet
Closing Song (same every time) - Zip a dee do dah

For each Very Hungry Caterpillar story time I have one or two different activities that I will add in. The Tot Packs on 1+1+1= 1 have some great free printables that I've enjoyed using.

We have art time right before dinner, during which we have made little projects that coordinate with storytime - hand butterflies, fingerpaint caterpillars etc. I, then, try and use those projects in the next storytime. For example, we used the hand butterflies in our Caterpillar to Butterfly fingerplay.

Our next book is another crowd favorite - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I am in the midst of making a fun retell prop, fingers crossed that it works!

Babies Summer Schedule

Our first official day of summer vacation and all is running smoothly, thank goodness.The kiddos have embraced their new schedules and all is quiet on the western front, for now. 

I am a planner, I must have a schedule to work within or I go nuts. I am not rigid in my scheduling, but I function  much better when there is at least a general plan in place for the day. I learned a very important lesson years ago when I was teaching elementary school - children thrive when there is structure. I have tried to implement this lesson ever since. 

So - yes - the babies (who are not really babies anymore) have a new summer schedule as well! To accommodate their short attention span I have broken up their focused, sit down time (ie storytime) into various segments throughout the day. 

Here is a break down of their summer days...

7:00 Wake Up! Get dressed, clean room, puzzles, trains etc.
8:00 Breakfast
8:30 Family Morning Devotional
9:00 Nursery Lesson/Stations
10:15 Snack/Book of Mormon Stories
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Nap Time
2:00 Snack/Storytime
2:30 Outside!
4:00 Art Project/Busy Bags
5:30 Dinner
6:00 Bath time
6:15 Family Scriptures
7:00 Bed Time

The babies do SO much better when they know the ebb and flow of the day. I have tried to coordinate their independent time with the times that the big kids will need my help in order to maintain some sanity. Sanity is critical.

Happy Summer!

Weekly Goal Setting

This summer, in an effort to teach the children personal responsibility, we will be instituting a weekly goal setting program. Every Sunday I will sitting down with the children and helping them set goals in four different areas for the week. After setting the overarching weekly goal they will then break down the goal into pieces they want to accomplish each day. I put together a simple printout for them to write their weekly goal and the daily implementation of that goal that they can use as a reference throughout the week. I am hoping to put these sheets in their own binders so that at the end of the summer they have a record of all that they were able to accomplish. 

John's four goal setting areas -

Personal Scripture Study
Boy Scouts
Family History Project
Priesthood Prep (He will be receiving the Priesthood at the end of August)

Madi's four goal setting areas -

Personal Scripture Study
Faith in God
Family History Project
Homemaking Skills

As I've mentioned before, we are making a huge transition from Mom driven goals to personally driven goals. Hopefully we will transition well!

Summer Reading Program

From How Does She

Our public schools are not out yet. This Friday is the kiddos last day and then they are home for the summer and beyond! Thank goodness. One thing I have always struggled with, when my kids have been in public school, is the necessary role I must assume of the 'Time Nazi'. We always seem to be rushed and I always seem to be the great enforcer of that rush. Not my favorite. I am thrilled that we have a few months of lazy summer days stretching out before us.

Now, that being said, our summer days are typically never lazy summer days, much to my childrens dismay. We have done workboxes every summer forever now, and it has been a great thing for them. However, we are going to try to give them up this summer and go a different direction.

We will be hitting the academics really hard this fall and I want the kiddos to have time to unwind from their public school experience before beginning our rigorous learning. It will be a huge change for them and they need some adjustment time.

I am also wanting the kiddos, now that they are getting older, to take more ownership of their education. I have a goal setting plan in place for the summer that will hopefully help them in that area this summer. I am looking forward to starting it and may post about the ins and outs later.

So instead of our normal summer math, grammar, reading, writing, history etc. we will be doing a summer reading program and they each will be given a family history research project to complete. That's it.

I hemmmed and hawwwed over what to do for a summer reading program. I ultimately ended up deciding to tweak this program just a little bit by adding in 8 book titles to the bingo card. I wanted a combo of a book list as well as a time commitment program - so I think this will work.

John's (age 11) eight books are -

Number the Stars
Sing Down the Moon
Dude, Don't be a Lemuel
Tuck Everlasting
Aaronic Priesthood
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Robinson Crusoe
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Madi's (age 9) eight books are -

The Goose Girl
How to be Totally Miserable
Pippi Longstocking
Caddie Woodlawn
The Long Winter
Alice in Wonderland
Nancy Drew
The Princess and the Goblin

Of course the kiddos will be reading other books. They absolutely devour series books in the summer and both of them already itching to get going in that direction. These are just the books they will need to read to earn their coupons.

I am not sure what books we will be reading together as family yet this summer. Some of my fondest memories are of the kids and I curling up on my bed with a bowl of popcorn and reading Harry Potter on one of those summer days in Houston where it is too hot to even be alive. I so very much do not miss those. We are currently in the middle of Anne of Green Gables. I'm not sure what direction we will head after that.

Happy Reading!

Our Return

Our family certainly has changed since our last post! We are in a different phase of life, living in a completely different part of the county, and, having added our twins, have a different number of children entirely.

It has become time for us, once again, to take the road less traveled.

Beginning this fall all four of our blessings will be continuing their education at home. Though the reasons have been many, of which further posts may illuminate, our decision can really be stated in one sentence - we feel that this is what is right for our family.

I am hoping this blog will be far more interesting this time around then last, but I make no guarantees. It will, very simply, be a record of our journey in taking the road less traveled.

We've come to the end of our journey.

John and Madi are officially enrolled in our new elementary school. When we had started our journey we had expected to homeschool the children through our transitional year and then reevaluate when we arrived in Michigan. When we realized we would be doing our transitional year in Houston our plans changed. It's interesting how the Spirit works, really. We had gone out to a celebratory lunch with Corey's family right after the match and as we were excitedly talking about where we would be heading I knew, I just knew that the kids needed to go back to school. I remember being very surprised as the words were coming out of my mouth to my mother-in-law, but Corey and I just knew it was what needed to happen. We then began to plan accordingly and were able to move into a fantastic fine arts and Vanguard magnet school zone that all four of us are simply giddy about.

Some observations on homeschooling from someone who has spent a year in the trenches...

1. Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart.

Homeschooling is tough. While many of the social stigmas of the past have lessened, a family who homeschools must be prepared to always be the odd one out. For me it wasn't such a big deal, I've spent my whole life being the odd one out. It was harder for me to see that my children were treated differently simply because they were homeschooled. However, they didn't seem too bothered by it.

2. Homeschooling is an around the clock job.

Planning and preparing never really stops. I always had something that I was working on, a topic I was studying, a problem I was trying to solve, activities I was trying to pull together etc. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it - but there was always something that needed to be done.

3. Never, ever, ever try to homeschool when you are trying to sell a house.

Selling our home was tremendously stressful, I think in large part because of the fact that I was trying to educate in the home I was trying to sell. I don't think we had a normal school day once the house went on the market. We showed the house almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day and often I was only given very short notice before people showed up. As I am one of those crazy people who had to have all the vacuum lines perfect, everything sparkly, a candle burning and soft music playing every time the house showed - our ability to spread out our papers, start an art project etc. was severely limited. I also lost our designated school room when we put our house up and had to move our little academy to the kitchen table. Not having a specific school zone was a challenge.

In fact, we have been doing school all summer to make up for the days we lost in the house selling process. When the kids get a little grumpy I remind them that they had their summer vacation in April and May.

4. Homeschooling is tremendously isolating.

Now, let me just preface that it doesn't have to be isolating. It just happened to be for us. We were the only family that we knew well who made it the entire year homeschooling. Many homeschooling co-ops/groups exist - and we even joined one for a time. Our local homeschooling group welcomed us until they found out we were LDS. As I very quickly realized the rather large problem that this was, even for people who had come to know my children well, I very rapidly excused ourselves from the group. It was rather sad really, but an important learning experience for me.

I was lonely much of the time. I felt like I was trying out so many new things without anyone besides my cute husband to bounce ideas off of, without anyone to tell me to 'take a deep breath, you're not ruining your children' etc.

In the end, I think the kids were lonely too. While they had plenty of socializing experiences throughout the week, they missed the peer interaction they received at school. Both of them have mentioned that this is what they are most excited about as the head back to school in a few weeks - they can't wait to make new friends.

5. Homeschooling is emotionally and physically exhausting.

I was totally and completely spent at the end of the day. I was always the most tired on Fridays - which meant that often our date nights were simply enjoying the treat of going to bed early. I think a lot of my exhaustion stemmed from the fact that I worried that I wasn't giving my kids the education I felt they deserved. Even on our very best days there was always the little nagging voice in my mind - 'Are you teaching them everything they need to know?' 'Are you ruining them?' 'How are you going to teach _____?' 'Are they thriving and excited about learning?' It was absolutely exhausting - and to be honest, it wore me completely and thoroughly out.

Enough of the negatives! On to the positives!

1. Homeschooling taught me a great deal about my kids.

I learned so very much about my children this past year. I came to have a much clearer understanding of how they learned and what made their brains tick. I learned how to move beyond what I thought would work to seeing the world from their eyes to better understand what really would work.

2. Homeschooling brought us closer as a family.

We made a lot of memories this year. When you are with your family 24/7 funny things are bound to happen which have left lasting impressions on our minds. John and Madi also became much, much closer this year. They interacted and played together much more then they did before. Now along with this closeness also came more fighting - but you can't have your cake and eat it too, right?

3. Homeschooling taught ME a lot.

Delving into world history, chemistry, Latin etc. was not only a learning adventure for the kids, it was a learning adventure for me. I learned so very much this year! Homeschooling reignited my desire to expand my horizons and study more of the world around me.

4. Homeschooling is wonderfully flexible.

We were able to do so many fun things this year without any real restrictions on our time - such as going to Disney World when no one was there. It was great to be able to vacation when we wanted, go on field trips when we wanted, sleep in when we wanted, visit with family when we wanted etc. I will seriously miss our flexibility this fall.

5. Homeschooling = no busy work

In our home we didn't have homework. Enough said.

With all the positives and negatives, would we homeschool again?

If the occasion arose I wouldn't hesitate to homeschool again. The first year is always the hardest with just about everything, I imagine that homeschooling is no exception. We have made the commitment as a couple to do whatever is in the best interest of our children academically and if homeschooling is what needs to happen, that's what it will be.

I really did love homeschooling. The Spirit directed us on this journey and taught us so much along the way. I will miss it as the kids start their new school in the fall. But life is an adventure and we're ready for our new twist in the road.

Blocks are such a timeless toy. My children have been playing with this particular set for many years. Yesterday morning, before school, the kids wanted to build a block city. John has been especially interested in attempting asymmetrical buildings, experimenting with balance and proportion. When the city was completed it was determined that half of the city would be under siege by a variety of Star Wars figures while the other half of the city would be a great place for a Lego police chase. John begged to leave the block city up until his Dad could see it that night. I agreed, as long as we didn't have to show the house.

Ten minutes later the phone rang.
We had to show the house.

Because of this...

our schoolroom has moved from here...

to here.

It's been an adjustment to now have our school days in the kitchen. The kids seem to be doing fine, I'm the one with adjustment issues. I'm not a big fan of clutter - especially in my kitchen. So to have my kitchen overflowing with books, papers, etc. has taken some getting used to. Oh well, we'll do what it takes to get the house sold.

workboxes part 2

Hello!

How do we use workboxes in our school? (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, see my post over on There's No Place Like Home)

Before we get into the how - let's get into the why. A few weeks ago John made the comment that school wasn't that fun anymore. As I thought about it, I realized the child was right. We hadn't really been having all that much fun. It had been taking all my time and effort to get through the necessaries and unfortunately some of the spunky fun was getting left behind. I thought, researched, and thought some more. And I was led to the workbox system. It was just what we needed to put some of what the kids think is just plain fun (and sneaky Mom knows that it's really educational fun) back into our school day.

Now, on to the how. The kids work through their workboxes while I am tutoring their sibling. So while I am tutoring Madi in math, John is busy with his workboxes. By the time the end of our school day rolls around, the kids each have a folder or two left which enables me to get things recorded and wrapped up in the classroom. I have even found time to, you are not going to believe this, do some of my own studying. Can you believe it? I'm having a hard time believing it myself, but it is true.

What do we fill our folders with? I'll list for you what we have filled our folders with the last three days.

John Day #1

#1- Usborne art project
#2 - Journal
#3- Spelling
#4- Puzzle of 50 states
#5- Latin
#6 - Vocab
#7- Piano Theory Game (15 min on computer)
#8 - Handwriting
#9 - Read chp. of Farmer Boy
#10 - Recitation
#11 - Free Read (20 min)
#12 - Build something from history with blocks (He built a fine looking Trojan Horse)

Madi Day #1

#1- Sort the Seasons activity
#2 - Journal
#3 - Spelling
#4 - Write spelling words with magnets
#5 - Handwriting
#6 - Recitation
#7 - Read two books to dolls (she actually squealed with delight when she opened this one)
#8 - Dot to Dot
#9 - Piano Theory Game
#10 - Pattern Block Design
#11 - File Folder Game
#12 - Build with Lincoln Logs

John Day #2

#1 - Review Latin Vocab 3 times
#2 - One page from Look and Find
#3 - Vocab
#4 - Usborne Art Project
#5 - Read chp. of Farmer Boy
#6 - Handwriting
#7 - Journal
#8 - Crossword Puzzle
#9 - Recitation
#10 - Free Read (20 minutes)
#11 - Spooky Mansion computer game (15 min)
#12 - Graphing counters

Madi Day #2
#1 - Handwriting
#2 - Usborne Art Project
#3 - Puzzle
#4 - Recitation
#5 - Spooky Mansion (15 min)
#6 - Read to dolls
#7 - Worksheet on antonyms
#8 - Journal
#9 - Look and Find
#10 - Tell glove puppet story to dolls
#11 - Educational DVD
#12 - Work on stitching sampler

John Day #3

#1- Read designated book and make list of main characters
#2 - Spelling
#3 - Read designated book and look up corresponding website
#4 - Read chp. of Farmer Boy
#5 - Listen to story on CD
#6 - Recitation
#7 - Vocab
#8 - Art Project
#9 - Journal
#10 - Work on Cub Scout requirement
#11 - Free Read (20 minutes)
#12 - Free Time!

Madi Day #3

#1 - Listen to story on CD
#2 - Spelling
#3 - Read to dolls
#4 - Paint from history
#5 - Recitation
#6 - Read designated book and identify setting
#7 - Graph teddy bear counters
#8 - Journal
#9 - 15 min on designated website
#10 - Sampler
#11 - Dot to Dot
#12 - Free Time!

The kids really like knowing that there will be a few fun things mixed in during the day. They also enjoy the suspense of not knowing exactly when these fun things will happen.

This probably sounds like a lot of work. It really isn't. It just takes a few minutes at the end of the day to assemble the following day's workboxes. I am surprised that in the same amount of time it was taking us to complete all of our school work, we are now accomplishing so much more.

But do you know what the best part is? The smiles on the faces of my children reflecting their excitement at starting a new day of school.

Drills

One of our favorite parts of the day are our drills. We do drills every morning to wind up our morning meeting. I will call out a drill and then the kids will see how fast they can complete the drill. For example - today we drilled the 50 states (with the Fifty Nifty United States song - always a hit), definition of a pronoun, list of pronouns, the books of the Old Testament, books of the New Testament, books of the Book of Mormon, Latter-day Prophets, and the current Apostles. Most of these are just the songs from the Primary Songbook, but the kids love to sing them as fast as they can.

Why drill? As Susan Wise Bauer states -

Classical education depends on a three-part process of training the mind. The early years of school are spent in absorbing facts, systematically laying the foundations for advanced study. In the middle grades, students learn to think through arguments. In the high school years, they learn to express themselves. This classical pattern is called the trivium.

The first years of schooling are called the “grammar stage” — not because you spend four years doing English, but because these are the years in which the building blocks for all other learning are laid, just as grammar is the foundation for language. In the elementary school years — what we commonly think of as grades one through four — the mind is ready to absorb information. Children at this age actually find memorization fun. So during this period, education involves not self-expression and self-discovery, but rather the learning of facts. Rules of phonics and spelling, rules of grammar, poems, the vocabulary of foreign languages, the stories of history and literature, descriptions of plants and animals and the human body, the facts of mathematics — the list goes on. This information makes up the “grammar,” or the basic building blocks, for the second stage of education (The Well Trained Mind).

At the school I taught at before I had John, we drilled every day. Throughout the year I saw, first hand, the benefits that drilling had for the students. As both of my children are firmly in the grammar stage, ready to absorb as much information as possible, drilling seemed a fun way to reinforce the facts that we are learning. The kids love it, I can't seem to keep up with their demand for new and exciting drills. So if you happen to be on my doorstep around 9:30 AM on a school day, don't be surprised if you hear us drilling loud and clear!

Time Lines

My oh my, do we love a time line around our little neck of the woods.

History is decidedly our favorite subject. On Mondays and Tuesdays we study world history (today we studied the Peloponnesian War), on Wednesdays and Thursdays we study American History (our emphasis being Colonial America at the moment).

Our time line is beneficial in so many ways. It helps us to not only view the sequential order of history, but it also allows us to see events that were happening at the same time around the world. It has been especially interesting to see the different historical events that were occurring throughout the world in relation to the different events in the scriptures. The increased historical knowledge has helped our appreciation and understanding of the scriptures tremendously. Our timeline also serves as a constant reminder/review of all that we have learned this year. It gives the children a sense of their place in the grand scheme of things and how important it is to learn from those that have gone before.

I am in love with our timeline figures from Homeschool in the Woods. This company offers fantastic timeline figures with a brief summary to help keep Amenhotep and Cyrus the Great straight. After we finish studying a particular event or person we simply cut out the figure and sticky tack it on our time line.

Who could have known a time line could be so much fun?

snapshots of our day

Veni, Vedi, Vici

Next week John will begin studying Latin.

Latin is a key component to a classical education. Why Latin? I appreciate the explanation Susan Wise Bauer gives.

"Why bother with Latin? It is, after all, a dead language (a pejorative phrase) - no literature is being produced in it, no one's speaking it or doing business in it.

We bother with it for a number of reasons.

Latin trains the mind to think in an orderly fashion. Latin (being dead) is the most systematic language around. The discipline of assembling endings and arranging syntax (grammar patterns) according to set rules is the mental equivalent of a two-mile jog. And because Latin demands precision, the Latin-trained mind becomes accustomed to paying attention to detail, a habit that will pay off especially when studying math and science.

Latin improves English skills. The grammatical structure of English is based on Latin, as is about 50 percent of English vocabulary. The student who understands how Latin works is rarely tripped up by complicated English syntax or obscure English words...

Latin prepares the child for the study of other foreign languages... The child who has been drilled in Latin syntax understands the concepts of agreement, inflected nouns, conjugated verbs, and grammatical gender not matter what language these concepts appear in (Bauer, The Well-Trained Mind , 189)."

It is recommended that a child begins to study Latin in third grade, and now that we've got a school semester under our belt, we're ready to start.

**Thank you, Julianne, for passing on your Latin curriculum. We are excited to begin.**