For the ladies at Ambleside Online....

Here's the requested pics of my two old books I found today! :-)  For anyone not on Ambleside, I took some books to a used bookstore in my town today and got some credit to use.  I was buying books for next year (Les Miserable, poetry by Keats & Byron, Beowulf and more) when I found an 1899 copy of Scott's "Lady of the Lake" and a 1911 copy of Kipling's "Under the Deodars: The Phantom Rickshaw: Wee Willie Winkie".  Yay!!  Here are the books.

The Lady of the Lake

Kipling!

 

What's your favorite book deal you've gotten recently?

Now in Unit Two

Well, we finished the first unit of Year 1 in Tapestry of Grace and are starting the third week of unit 2.  I have to admit, I'm somewhat disappointed.  I was under the impression that there would be more "living books" and that has not been the case.  More books than not have been the dry, textbook style, and my kids are NOT enjoying that part of it.  There are a few good books, but not near what I was looking for. 

I started looking for something to move Little Bit--my youngest--to next year and found Ambleside Online, a Charlotte Mason homeschooling site.  It's totally free other than the books, but a lot of them can either be read or downloaded online for free--and it's totally based on living books!  I really struggled as I didn't want to move the older kids yet AGAIN, but ultimately, it was decided that starting next year, all of the kids will move to AO.  I've been collecting books as I can as I definitely prefer hard copies to e-books.  We have a lovely used bookstore here in town that will let you trade in books for credit or cash.  I got a nice stack of books there Saturday.  I was thrilled to get a hardcover (with dust jacket still intact!) copy of "The Story of Painting" by H. W. Janson that most of the girls will need next year for only $1.50!!  I've found a couple of good websites for used books where I can get a lot of books for $3-$4 including free shipping, so that is a blessing!

Speaking of Little Bit, she's doing great in school.  She's officially up to counting to 19 (in her workbook--she can count much higher on her own) and adding up to 6, and very rarely gets her answers wrong.  She's reading more and more.  Tuesday she'll finish the first of three workbooks each in Phonics, Reading and Penmanship.

Munchkin (DD 12) is doing good.  We had some issues with Math early on, but things are going much better now.  She is dialectic level, so her books seem to be a bit more interesting than the older two, but she's definitely excited about moving to AO next year.

Bluestocking (DD 13) is moving right along.  We've moved her to 9th grade this year as she was doing so well.  She's taking Pre-Algebra (TT) in half a year before moving straight into Algebra I.  She completely tested out of almost the first half of the Pre-Algebra book.  She's loving Biology with Bookworm (DD 14).

Speaking of Bookworm, she is also enjoying Biology this year, which is nice as Science is not one of her favorite subjects.  She's really looking forward to Anatomy either next year or the year after, but Chemistry is NOT exciting her at all!  Algebra I has it's ups and downs.  She's trudging through it.  Bookworm and Bluestocking are both really looking forward to AO next year as well. 

How is your school year going so far?

FREE Geography Course!!

FREE Geography Course from Brookdale House!  "Drawing Around the World: Europe" is yours for free just by clicking the link below!  Over 250 pages, this looks like a great resource for you homeschooling mamas.  Enjoy!!

http://homeschoolgiveaways.com/HSE/?c11441Le

Craziness of Life

Well, life has continued its crazy journey.  I'm so very thankful to say that the plumbing DID get fixed, though it took several more days and a trip to Lowe's for a longer snake!  My dh and I got to go away for the weekend to Gatlinburg, which is where we honeymooned, towards the end of August.  I love my kiddos, but it was really nice to get away, just the two of us, for a couple of days.  I was able to take said kiddos up to my parents for nearly a week right after that and attend the family reunion from my Mom's side.  I hadn't been able to go for several years, so it was great to take a week off school and visit with family.  My parents and I were able to can 25 quarts of tomato juice while I was there, which they kindly shared with me.  I opened a jar earlier, and now the smell of homemade marinara is wafting through my house as it. 

Home-grown tomato juice!

 School as been going well.  Weeks two and three were somewhat rough as there was a LOT of reading for my two rhetoric students.  They are extremely strong readers, so when they struggle with the amount of reading, I know it's pretty bad!  We pared a little, but mostly I just gave them the space they needed to get it done.  Some chores might not have gotten done exactly when they normally would, but it's all about give and take.  Things are going much smoother now.  My oldest still hates algebra, but it's not a tearful battle each day now!

My youngest is learning to read!!  I love seeing the look of wonder on her face when she sounds out a word for herself, and it does funny things to my heart when she jumps up and down clapping and shouting, "I'm reading! I'm reading!".  Yes, there are times when I want to pull my hair out when she isn't really listening, or just doesn't want to do her work, but it is more than made up for at these moments.

How is school going for you?  I hope everyone is having a great year so far!!

One of those weeks!

Did you ever just have one of those weeks?  We're definitely in the middle of one of those MONTHS right now.

The kitchen drain is backed up.  We thought we got it fixed last night, but it backed up again.  (Yes, I'm typing this as I procrastinate going to the basement and snaking the second half of the pipe!!)  One of the girls took the dog out and the handle fell off the front storm door!!  The battery died on the van, the truck is messing up, allergies are driving us crazy.....the list goes on, all while trying to homeschool with a new, rather intense curriculum.  How do you react to those weeks?  Tears, anger...laughter?!?  I drive my husband nuts at times.  I end up laughing.  Not a cute giggle, or a light laughter--nope, it's more the "I'm so tired that everything's hilarious and I can't stop belly laughing for anything" kind of laughter.  After all, when it's either laugh or cry, why not choose laughter?!?

All right.  I'm off to snake a drain.  Let's hope there's no more maniacal laughter in my near future!

Question Time!!

What is your absolute favorite non curriculum supplement for your basic subjects: Math, Science, History, Geography, or English/Literature?

I love using movies to supplement history and literature, and my girls love Google Maps for fun.  We're studying Ancient Egypt right now in TOG, so they've already watched a couple of short movies on Moses and/or Exodus.  Now we're getting ready to watch "The Ten Commandments".


Jump in and share your favorites!

And so, the year begins!

Well, technically, we began July 28th.  As usual, I'm a tad late getting on here and posting.

First day of school!

It's been an interesting couple of weeks.  We're still trying to get used to using TOG, and it's not helping that weeks 2 and 3 are heavy weeks reading wise in history.  Some of the book are really hard for my girls to get into, but some of them they are thoroughly enjoying.  My freshman has decided she'll be happy to never talk about Ancient Egypt once we get past it!  There has been some frustration...and a few tears...but I just keep reminding them that this is a) a new curriculum and b) unfortunately, there's a couple of really heavy weeks right off the bat.  I really think once we get past this week, things will start settling out.

As always, there is tweaking going on.  TOS had a sale of a whole bunch of books, etc for $19 that also included a full year of Live Online Math video course, so we switched our freshman to that instead of Landmark's curriculum.  I unexpectedly got Writing Aids when I bought my TOG curriculum, so we're using that instead of the Write With Ease and Igniting Your Writing, though the 7th grader wants to try to use Igniting Your Writing as well once things level out.  As long as she's doing her other work, I'm great with that!  Italian is being a tad slow getting back into it, but as we started so early, and these first few weeks are harder getting settled in and the heavier load, I've given them a break and not made it mandatory until next week.  We're doing a combination of Rosetta Stone (they're starting Level II) and Duolingo which I love!  I think both programs have strengths and weaknesses, and I feel they really compliment each other well.

Little Bit is doing great in kindergarten.  We have our moments, but overall, I'm very happy with her progress.  I'd forgotten how...interesting it can be homeschooling one her age! lol  Things I'm SURE we'll struggle with we fly right through (see photo below), and things I think will be easy...are NOT!!  Who knew you could have so much trouble with ONES and fly right through the FIVES?!?

First time trying with NO help!

Well, time if flying on, and Little Bit is ready for me to help her in phonics. 

HAPPY HOMESCHOOLING!!