Designing a home-centered life: learning, exploring, and creating with our five littles
When we begin Classical Conversations Cycle 3 in the fall, my littles will be ages 3, 6, 8, 10, and 11. This is our second time through this cycle and my oldest son's last time. I've decided to create a book list all my own this year. (As opposed to previous years where I've layered over an AO list.) I have consulted my best "book buds" - Five in … [Read more...]
Is it too late to wish you a happy 2015? I think I'm still surprised it's already here. But, it's here and I'm grateful. I'm also grateful for this past year of writing and sharing with all of you. 2014 was kind to me and so were y'all. Here is a wrap-up of my top 10 posts from 2014. Counting down... #10. Answering Your Questions … [Read more...]
My husband is a Philly area native and at a young age visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia. We've since taken our littles twice. But, at home we still use something he purchased on a trip there when he was a little boy. It's a replica of the Declaration of Independence. We read it this week, made observations about the … [Read more...]
Guess what? Life has gotten very busy - we're moving! I'm so glad I made a plan for simplicity for homeschooling this year. This week we've been reviewing our history sentence by reading one of the books from our book list, the Boston Tea Party by Pamela Duncan Edwards. It's a cute book with good drawings that traces the chain of events … [Read more...]
All of my ideas begin and end with Legos this week. Can you blame me? I'm surrounded by boys who love to build and are doing it all the time. I thought it would be great fun to use our Legos to try to build any number of things from our review: a Mayflower boat, the capital building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or the axial skeleton. Fun, right? I … [Read more...]
History - September 11, 2001 I found these lesson plans from The Cork Board and read this fact sheet to my children. It was hard for me to read all the way through without tearing up at the memories. Wow - I hope my children can understand that history doesn't just teach us so much, but was also lived by real people. Have you found a great way … [Read more...]
Each week, I'll post a fun idea or two related to the CC Cycle 3 memory work. In the past, I posted an idea for each subject, each week. But, it was a bit of overkill - at least for us and the time we have. I'm keeping it simpler this year. If you're keeping it classical, remember, the first goal is to memorize the memory work for each subject. … [Read more...]
Did you know September 13, 2014, marks the 200 year anniversary of the writing of The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key? I didn't! Until the mother/son team over at Classical Composers Monthly sent me the link to the free resource they're offering all about our national anthem. Follow the link to find a curated collection of short videos, … [Read more...]
As quickly as I can, I'll be sharing pictures of the Flat Littles' travels. I'm excited to follow them as they zigzag around these great United States of ours. First up, the Flat Littles traveled with the Hogan family through Virginia. The Hogans are Seth, Becki, Elijah, Ruthie, Isaiah and Gideon. They're part of our local … [Read more...]
Things sometimes take longer than you expect. Like home projects always or anything else with a newborn. :) But, despite taking longer than I expected, I have my littles' classical notebooks ready to go for this CC year - cycle 3. Here I'll share with you the printables I'm using and how our notebook is set up. I have a one inch three ring … [Read more...]