Thursday, December 17, 2009

Norah's First Solids/Second-Hand Stores and "Haves/Needs Lists"

Thinkin' about it...

Um..."Mom, what is this stuff?"

"Me likey!"

"Great stuff Mom!"


The other night, we started Norah on her first solid. She had some rice cereal with mashed up bananas. With Avonlea and Lincoln, I only gave them cereal, but after actually tasting the stuff, I decided to give Norah some flava! I mashed up a piece of banana and threw that in. Although she really hasn't got the hang of it (the swallowing) just yet, she does like it. We give it to her at dinner time each night and we'll work our way up to giving her lunch, then a breakfast to add to the mix.


I was so excited because I went to a local, second-hand baby store today and found a STEAL (a buck and change a piece!) on some Fresh Baby storage containers (with lids) for when I start making baby food. I've never gone the route of freezing it before, but I am this time. I used to use empty yogurt cups with lids, but we splurged for the 'real deal' now. :)
Second-hand Stores
I think I'm addicted to second-hand stores, especially the awesome, clean one in our area. If you haven't searched for a good second-hand store in your area, you should. When you're done using something (baby bathtub, clothing, bottles, etc., etc., etc.), you can take it into the store and they'll give you credit towards your next purchase. Today, I took in my knock-off Mei Tai that I purchased online a few months ago, and they said they'd try to sell it for $19.99 which is more than I originally bought it for. More credit for me! Who-hoo! I bought my babyfood storage containers, some capris for Avonlea, some Cars pjs for Linkster and a baby seat for the bathtub for Norah. (I had some other credit stored up as well.) All for around $25.00 and I didn't pay a penny...store credit.
Haves/Needs List
Now, I do love to get store credit towards items I'll need in the future, BUT when I know of someone in need of something, I try to honor that need. We recently started a "Haves/Needs List" at our local Mom's group and we add and take off items that we have and/or need. We started with a large poster board and laminated it, using Expo markers to write on it. Now, we just e-mail each other, but it's a great way to give away or get free, gently-used items AND connect with other moms. Think about creating one in your Mom's group, or start one on your own!

video

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

A Thomas Edison Approach to School

Got the house cleaned up, dinner prepped and was researching a Thomas Edison approach to homeschooling on THIS SITE.

Thoughts anyone?

I got my list yesterday from this site and had a 'sticky note in my mind' to check it out. Although I do agree with MUCH of it, I'm not sure I agree with all of it. I don't know about letting my child learn on his/her own for the first 8 years of his/her life. Exploration and natural learning is HUGE, don't get me wrong, but my daughter has a natural desire to read. Should I not teach her? I love the Seven Keys of Great Teaching, but like I said, I'm not sure I agree with all of it.

I'm going to hunt around some more on this website and maybe see if our local library has any books about it. I'll probably take some from it (we're doing a lot of it anyway, focusing a lot on character qualities, making good choices and beginning leadership skills) and incorporate it into our family.

This is your chance to participate parents. I know you all check this blog. I can see the numbers. So, let's discuss! :)

Famous People That Were Homeschooled




I found THIS BLOG and thought I'd share. I did a copy and paste to my blog so I can't take the credit for this neat list. This is a list of just some of the famous people that were homeschooled.
There are a bunch of athletes that weren't added and Venus and Serena Williams (tennis) as well as Tim Tebow (football) are just three of them. Anyway, I thought it was interesting. =)

Constitutional Convention Delegates

* Richard Basseti – Governor of Delaware
* William Blount – U.S. Senator
* George Clymer – U.S. Representative
* William Few – U.S. Senator
* Benjamin Franklin – Inventor and Statesman
* Alexander Hamilton – Lawyer and Economist
* William Houston – Lawyer
* William S. Johnson – Columbia College President
* William Livingston – Governor of New Jersey
* James Madison – 4th President of the U.S.
* George Mason – Justice of Virginia County Court
* John Francis Mercer – U.S. Representative
* Charles Pickney III – Governor of S. Carolina
* John Rutledge – Chief Justice U.S. Supreme Court
* Richard D. Spaight – Governor of North Carolina
* George Washington – 1st President of the U.S.
* John Witherspoon – President of Princeton
* George Wythe – Justice of Virginia High Court


Presidents

* John Adams
* John Quincy Adams
* Grover Cleveland
* Jefferson Davis (the only president of the short-lived Confederate States of America)
* James Garfield
* William Henry Harrison
* Andrew Jackson
* Thomas Jefferson
* Abraham Lincoln
* James Madison
* James Polk
* Franklin Delano Roosevelt
* Theodore Roosevelt
* John Tyler
* George Washington
* Woodrow Wilson


Statesmen

* Henry Fountain Ashurst
* William Jennings Bryan
* Winston Churchill
* Henry Clay
* John Dickinson
* Pierre du Pont
* Benjamin Franklin
* Patrick Henry
* William Penn
* Daniel Webster


Military Officers

* John Barry – Senior Navy Officer
* George Rogers Clark – Revolutionary War hero
* Nathanael Greene – Revolutionary War hero
* Nathan Hale – Revolutionary War hero
* Stonewall Jackson – Civil War General
* John Paul Jones – Father of the American Navy
* Robert E. Lee – Civil War General
* Douglas MacArthur – U.S. General
* George Patton – U.S. General
* Matthew Perry – U.S. Naval Officer
* John Pershing – U.S. General
* David Dixon Porter – Civil War Admiral
* Joseph Bradley Varnum – Revolutionary War hero


U.S. Supreme Court Judges

* Charles Evans Hughes
* John Jay
* John Marshall
* John Rutledge
* Sandra Day O’Connor


Religious Leaders

* Joan of Arc
* Dietrich Bonhoeffer
* William Carey
* Jonathan Edwards
* Philipp Melancthon
* Dwight L. Moody
* John Newton
* John Owen
* Hudson Taylor
* John & Charles Wesley
* Brigham Young


Explorers

* William Clark – Lewis & Clark Expedition
* Meriwether Lewis – Lewis & Clark Expedition
* John Wesley Powell – Colorado River Expedition
* Sir Ernest Shackleton – Antarctic Expedition


Scientists

* Wilson A. Bentley – “The Snowflake Man”
* George Washington Carver – agricultural research
* Pierre Curie – discovered radium
* Albert Einstein – theoretical physicist
* Paul Erdos – Hungarian mathematician
* Michael Faraday – electrochemist
* Pierre-Gilles de Gennes – French physicist
* Oliver Heaviside – electromagnetism researcher
* T.H. Huxley – biologist, zoologist, Darwinist
* Ruth Lawrence – mathematician
* Gilbert Newton Lewis – physical chemist
* Ada Lovelace – founder of scientific computing
* Benoit Mandelbrot – pioneer in fractal geometry
* Blaise Pascal – French mathematician
* Joseph Priestley – father of modern chemistry
* Samuel C. C. Ting – Chinese American physicist
* Konstantin Tsiolkovsky – Russian rocket scientist


Inventors

* Alexander Graham Bell – invented the telephone
* John Moses Browning – firearms inventor/designer
* Peter Cooper – built the first modern skyscraper, the first commercial locomotive, and patented the first gelatin dessert which was later named Jell-O
* Thomas Edison – invented the stock ticker, mimeograph, phonograph, and electric light bulb
* Benjamin Franklin – invented the lightning rod
* Elias Howe – invented sewing machine
* William Lear – airplane creator
* Cyrus McCormick – invented grain reaper
* Guglielmo Marconi – developed radio
* Eli Whitney – invented the cotton gin
* Sir Frank Whittle – invented turbo jet engine
* Orville and Wilbur Wright – brothers who built the first successful airplane


Artists

* William Blake – painter, engraver, poet
* John Singleton Copley – American Colonial painter
* Evelyn De Morgan – Pre-Raphaelite painter
* Christian Grew – American Painter
* Donal Hord – San Diego sculptor
* Akiane Kramarik- 10-year-old art and poetry prodigy
* Claude Monet – French Impressionist
* Grandma Moses – American folk artist
* Charles Willson Peale – American portrait artist
* Lu Pinchang – ceramic sculptor
* Leonardo da Vinci – Renaissance artist, sculptor
* Andrew Wyeth – American realist painter
* Jamie Wyeth – American realist painter


Composers

* Johann Sebastian Bach – Baroque
* Irving Berlin – Patriotic
* Anton Bruckner – Symphonies
* Noel Coward – Musicals
* Felix Mendelssohn – Romantic
* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Classical
* John Porcaro – Experimental
* Francis Poulenc – Choral
* John Philip Sousa – “March King”


Writers

* Louisa May Alcott – author of Little Women
* Hans Christian Anderson – fairy tale writer
* Margaret Atwood – Canadian novelist, poet
* Fawn M. Brodie – biographer
* Pearl S. Buck – Nobel prize-winning author
* William F. Buckley, Jr. – conservative writer
* Willa Cather – American novelist
* Agatha Christie – mystery author
* Samuel Clemens – a.k.a. Mark Twain
* Charles Dickens – British novelist
* Robert Frost – Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
* Charlotte Perkins Gilman – early feminist writer
* Alex Haley – African-American novelist
* Sharlot Hall – poet, writer, Arizona historian
* Joshua Harris- pastor and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye
* Bret Harte – frontier California journalist
* L. Ron Hubbard – science fiction writer
* Helen Keller – blind and deaf author and lecturer
* Rose Wilder Lane – journalist, ghostwriter, daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder
* C.S. Lewis – Christian writer and apologist
* Amy Lowell – Modernist poet
* Gabriela Mistral – Nobel-prize winning Latin American poet
* Sean O’Casey – Irish author
* Thomas Paine – political writer during the American Revolution, author of Common Sense
* Christopher Paolini – teen author of Eragon
* Isabel Paterson – conservative political author
* Beatrix Potter – author of Peter Rabbit Tales
* Jedediah Purdy – author of For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today
* Kenneth Rexroth – poet, translator, critical essayist
* Carl Sandburg – American poet
* George Bernard Shaw – Irish-born playwright
* Mattie J. T. Stepanek – 11-year-old author of Heartsongs
* Rosemary Sutcliff – historical novels for children
* Rabindranath Tagore – Bengali poet, essayist, dramatist, songwriter
* Leo Tolstoy – Russian writer
* Mercy Warren – American Revolution eyewitness
* Phillis Wheatley – African-American poet
* Walt Whitman – American poet
* Laura Ingalls Wilder – children’s book author
* Virginia Woolf – English novelist


Educators

* Amos Bronson Alcott – innovative teacher, father of Louisa May Alcott
* Catharine Beecher – co-founder of the Hartford Female Seminary
* Jill Ker Conway – first woman president of Smith College
* Erik Demaine – associate professor of Computer Science at MIT
* Timothy Dwight – President of Yale University
* William Samuel Johnson – President of Columbia College
* Horace Mann – “Father of the American Common School”
* Charlotte Mason – Founder of Charlotte Mason College of Education
* Joyce Reed – Associate Dean of the College, Brown University
* Fred Terman – President of Stanford University
* Frank Vandiver – President of Texas A&M University
* Booker T. Washington – teacher and founder of Tuskegee Institute
* Noah Webster – “Father of American Christian Education”
* John Witherspoon – President of Princeton University


Medical Practitioners

* Clara Barton – started the Red Cross
* Elizabeth Blackwell – first woman in the U.S. to receive a medical degree
* Florence Nightingale – Nurse
* Susan La Flesche Picotte – first American Indian woman physician
* Albert Schweitzer – Physician
* Mary Walker – Civil War physician; recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor


Business Entrepreneurs

* Andrew Carnegie – wealthy steel industrialist
* Amadeo Giannini – Bank of America’s founder
* Horace Greeley – New York Tribune founder
* Soichiro Honda – creator of the Honda automobile company
* Peter Kindersley – book illustrator and publisher
* Ray Kroc – founder of McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain
* Jimmy Lai – newspaper publisher; founder of Giordano International
* Dr. Orison Swett Marden – founder, Success magazine
* Adolph Ochs – New York Times founder
* Joseph Pulitzer – newspaper publisher; established Pulitzer Prize
* Colonel Harland Sanders – started Kentucky Fried Chicken
* Dave Thomas – founder of the Wendy’s restaurant chain


Others

* Abigail Adams – wife of John Adams; mother of John Quincy Adams
* Ansel Adams – photographer
* Susan B. Anthony – women’s rights leader
* John James Audubon – ornithologist and artist
* Alyssa Buecker – director, Milbo Productions
* John Burroughs – naturalist
* Jennie Chancey – historical costumer
* Davy Crockett – frontiersman
* Edward Curtis – photographer
* Robin Lee Graham – youngest person to sail around the world at age 16
* Alex and Brett Harris – twin teen writers and conference speakers for “The Rebelution,” a Christian ministry/youth organization
* Eric Hoffer – social philosopher
* Sam Houston – lawyer; first leader of Texas
* Abraham Kuyper – Dutch politician, journalist
* Mary Leakey – fossil hunter
* Charles Fletcher Lummis – journalist, historian, photographer, founder of the Southwest Society
* Harriet Martineau – first woman sociologist
* Margaret Mead – cultural anthropologist
* John Stuart Mill – free-market Economist
* Charles Louis Montesquieu – philosopher
* John Muir – naturalist
* Raymond Parks – Civil Rights activist, husband of Rosa Parks
* Sofia, Susan, and Judit Polgar – chess masters
* Bill Ridell – Newspaperman
* Will Rogers – Humorist
* Eleanor Roosevelt – wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt
* Bertrand Russell – Logician
* Drew Ryun – co-founder of Generation Joshua, director of Jim Ryun Running Camp
* Ned Ryun – co-founder of Generation Joshua, president of American Majority
* Deborah Sampson – female soldier in the American Revolution
* Emerson Spartz – 12-year-old internet entrepreneur (MuggleNet)
* Herbert Spencer – philosopher, sociologist
* Gloria Steinem – founder of Ms. magazine
* Timmy Teepell – chief of staff for Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana
* Lester Frank Ward – Father of American Sociology
* Martha Washington – wife of George Washington
* Frances E. C. Willard – educator, temperance leader, and suffragist
* Frank Lloyd Wright – architect
* John Lloyd Wright – architect, toy designer, inventor of Lincoln Logs
* Sho Yano – gifted child prodigy
* Elijah ben Solomon Zalman – Jewish scholar

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

You Asked For It, You've Got It...Why We Homeschool and Two-Year-Old Curriculum

Lincoln trying out his counting and alphabet posters

This book as been through my years of teaching preschool, Avonlea, now Lincoln and I'm sure I'll use it for Norah. It's a great book to teach colors, especially if your child is into trains like my son.
Our homeschooling shelf. This box is the one we keep Lincoln's school things in.


Here's what's inside: puzzles (a few pieces were missing or in the bottom of the box still), blocks (we use these for learning colors and basic fine motor skills), books, books and more books. Books on ABCs, counting, colors, nursery rhymes, etc. We pull out this box when Avonlea is working on independant school work OR sometimes, if he wakes up early from his nap, I lug the box into his bedroom and we play together and read from items in the box.


Okay, so you asked for it and you've got it! The poll the right-hand-side of my blog is for where you can cast your vote on what you'd like to see more of. The leading vote is for homeschooling curriculum and ideas. I'll start with a little background of why we homeschool, my two-year-old son and what we do with him. I'll move onto more details with Avonlea another day, maybe tomorrow.


A little background...
I'm no expert, but prior to staying at home with my little guys, I taught preschool for roughly 4 years, interned and substituted for just about every elementary grade when I was student teaching, also student taught in an ESOL classroom as well as spending a semester teaching handicapped and special needs children. Special Education was originally what I was attempting to major in in college, but after much prayer, I knew that wasn't what God was leading me to do. So, I majored in Elementary Education. I then got a great job at a Christian school teaching middle school English for 3 years. When I learned I was pregnant with Lincoln and Avonlea was 15 months old, Rob and I decided that I should stay at home and raise our kids. Can everyone do this? No. Am I grateful for this opprotunity? Hands down, yes! Not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for it.


In terms of why we homeschool
, the number one reason is plain and simple. I refuse to fork out hundreds of dollars a month for daycare. Number two reason: I'm home with Lincoln and Norah anyway. Number three: I also have an education degree. This is my passion in life, teaching. I may not be a great singer like my husband. I may not be great at sports or a doctor and heal people, but I love to teach. I love to see lightbulbs go off in children's brains when the "Ah-ha" moment is there and I had a part in it. I love children, even when they're having an 'off day'. We all have 'off days'! Number four: I honestly don't know how we would squeeze in daycare right now. Avonlea is involved in a classroom setting 3-4 times a week already at church or at homeschool group and she loves it. Kids are too involved these days anyway. Sometimes, they just need time to play at home and be uninvolved.

What are our future plans? For now, we're homeschooling. I don't know what the Lord has in store for us in the next few years, but this is definately what He wants us doing now, without a doubt. My desire is to homeschool our children through elementary school, but we'll see if the Lord provides for that. Either way, I'm so thankful that I have a teaching degree and hopefully, I'll be able to teach at the school my children attend, when I return to the work force.


It's not a competition who's kid can read the fastest or who's kid is the smartest. Sure, we all take pride in our children's accomplishments and want to share, but my goals as a mother and teacher have always been to nurture the teachable moments and feed a child's desire to learn. When you're in a classroom setting, you're not always going to be able to hit each child's 'nitch' or what they're interested in. You have a classroom of 20+ kids, it's just not possible! BUT, (I know, never start a sentence with 'but') when you're homeschooling, you CAN! You can feed those desires to learn and achieve. If Avonlea is interested in insects, we can go outside and capture insects, observe them, make graphs and learn in that way. If Lincoln is interested in garbage trucks (this is a true story), we can take him to the city dump and observe it kinesthetically, not just from a book. Now, can you do this all the time? No. There must be a time for sitting still and learning as well. This is why we use textbooks and things we can do at the table.



On to homeschooling a two-year-old...

For a two-year-old, they learn SO much just through creative play (pretending, playing outside, with blocks, puzzles, artwork, cooking, etc.) that a tight-knit school schedule isn't necessary. They're just learning about how to communicate with others, feelings, emotions, fine and gross motor skills and more. However, don't underestimate these little minds. They'll surprise you right and left at what they pick up. Use this to your benefit. Buy educational toys and activities. Turn off those electronics and have them do a puzzle or some artwork! Do my kids watch tv? Yes, but only when I'm cooking dinner and sometimes in the morning, after chores are done.

I recently decided to start Lincoln on learning his alphabet. Avonlea had hers memorized by this age and was actually learning the sounds. Lincoln likes to learn more kinesthetically (hands-on), so I have to be more creative with his learning style. Anyway, I found these posters at the Dollar Store (don't you love this place?) and they have the alphabet and a number chart all for a buck! We taped them on Lincoln's wall next to his bed and now we say the alphabet (pointing to each letter) and do some counting before his nap and bed time. When he has the actual letter memorized, we'll move on to saying, "Ah in apple", "Buh in bear", making the sounds (short sounds for the vowels). He's still working on the colors, but Freight Train by Donald Crews has saved us. Lincoln LOVES trains right now and so this book has been great at teaching him his colors. In terms of counting, it's hard for little ones at this age to coordinate putting their index finger on an object and counting it. That's why it's important to do this in repitition, counting and pointing over and over again. You can count apples, bananas, cars, balls and my kids' favorite, marshmellows. =)

Good luck as you're learning at home with your two-year-old and let me know some things or ideas that have worked for you! I LOVE hearing others' comments and ideas, so please share.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Musical Monday

Listen to the lyrics!!! Merry Christmas everyone!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Friday Post and Pictures From Dad's Garden

For some reason, this week has seemed long. Really long. Not sure if it was because we were 'glued' to our house (the kids and I) for two days straight, because my 'good sleeper' is now waking up during the night now (teething?) or because Rob was out of town yesterday all day. He's never out of town (I thank God for this all the time), so on the days when he is, it makes it hard for the kids and I, BUT we do get through it. Went to Mom and Dad's last night for dinner to try and keep our minds off missing Daddy. We had ham, steamed potatoes and fresh salad from Dad's garden...yummo! Daddy got home safe and sound and we're looking forward to a 'Daddy Day' tomorrow. Just us as a family.

I'm not one to use the term "It's not fair", but I'll use it today. Dad's garden is so lush and mine is...well...ug. I do water, fertilize and 'love on' my garden, but this fall, many people have had problems. Mostly with mold or blight. Dad's trying to convince me to visit the horse stables with him in the next few weeks to get horse manure. Yes, horse poop! It's gross, but it's amazing for gardens! I think I posted pics of Dad's garden awhile back and how lush and green it was after he used this miracle food. I even had great compost this year (I've been working on it for months), but apparently, it wasn't enough. Oh well. We have a few green tomatoes growing in as well as green beans, peas, broccoli and I'm hoping the sweet potatoes are growing underground, but you can never tell unless you pull 'em up. Come spring, we'll see what we've got. Here are some pictures I took of Dad's garden a few weeks ago.

lettuce
lettuce and Pok Choy (not sure of spelling)

green beans (left on poles), corn in the back

tomatoes and corn

broccoli

rosemary (my favorite herb that I use in cooking)

lettuce

The kids and I went to a park today that has a bunch of old homes and such from the 1800s. There's a Victorian house, an old school house, a fire house, a train station, a church and even a log cabin. It gives the history of the building, who lived in it, the date is was erected and some even contain actual pictures of the original owners. I've been twice before, once for a craft show and once last year. The kids enjoy the hands on activites, washing the clothes and hanging them out to dry, practicing Morris Code in the train station, serving tea in one of the old homes, working with real tools, etc. It's very neat. Forgot my camera this morning though, so no pictures. We'll be back again. I've heard of many local homeschooling families volunteering to be tour guides and tell all about the homes/buildings to guests. I remember the last time we went, there was a boy, about 8 years old that gave us an entire speech about how the house was built and MANY more details. I was astounded. That may be us in a few years. We'll see. =)

Well, company coming tonight so I need to pick up a little and bake some goodies. Yum. Kids are sleeping and it's gorgeous outside today. I think our high today is 64 degrees. There's 'winter' for ya in Florida!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Blog Frog...

Join me on The Blog Frog! =) This thing is too neat.

find your friends at theBlogFrog.com