Week Three Recap

I had enough "demo-skipping" when I was in school.

We are using AmblesideOnline curriculum, Years 4 and 6.

Dad brought home a super-fancy little scale home from work that would measure in grams so that Peanut could do one of her science demonstrations. The demonstration did not work out as planned, I think maybe the scale was too sensitive. She actually has had a few demonstrations this year. We try to always do anything mentioned in our book. I had enough "demonstration skipping" when I was in school. I am sure we did less than 10 hands-on projects in science, and that counts watching something the teacher did, at least up until high school.

We got an audiobook of Robinson Crusoe. It is better that way, I don't have to stumble over words, etc.

We did some nature study at the local park. Each kid picked a tree. We took samples of the leaves home for identification, then by the time we all got time to look ours up, the samples had deteriorated quite a bit. Ooops. Guess we'll repeat next week. We did see a ground squirrel sticking his head up out of his little hole, so that was fun. I am not a fan of ground squirrels and moles, but this one was at the park, so I can live with that.

This is not the one we saw, it's just a picture off the ol' Internets. We couldn't get to our camera quickly.

Printing Public Domain E-books at a Low Cost

Since we follow a Charlotte Mason-inspired curriculum, many of our books can be found online as downloadable public domain e-books. This saves quite a bit of money, but reading the texts can cause a problem. The books can be read off the computer screen, but this isn't always convenient, and usually involves some special set-up by mom to get the margins at a convenient width and get the brightness adjusted to it is comfortable to read for a longer period. Another problem is that the computer will be tied up sometimes because our math curriculum (Teaching Textbooks) requires computer use.

We don't own a Kindle or other electronic reader, and that is not in the budget for our school.

Last year, I printed off a couple of texts with our ink jet printer, and that worked pretty well. I finally calculated the cost of that, and found that I would have been better off buying a used book!

This summer, I came across some good directions* for printing e-books at a low cost. This website is focused on the Robinson Curriculum, which also uses many public domain books. A black and white laser printer will print these books for a much lower cost, so I researched and found a printer on sale this summer for $60. I calculated the cost according to their method, and found that in almost every case, I could print a book for less than I could buy it used. I make my books half-size, as they recommend.

A tip that I have learned is to format all your printing on MS Word (or your similar software) and do not change any printer settings except for asking it to duplex, either manually or automatically. Print small samples of just a few pages to make sure your printer is going to do what you want.

I am currently experimenting with different binding methods to find what works best for my family. More on that later.

*I have found that these directions work for almost everything, except poetry and Shakespeare's plays. For that, you are better off printing as-is on half-sized paper. If poetry is included in the text, you will have to manually format it.

Kindergarten graduation

Several people I know have kindergarteners in traditional school (public and private.) They are having little graduation ceremonies complete with caps and gowns.

I have never done anything for my kids when they were done with their first "real year" of school. It seems very silly to me, but maybe I am strange. To me, it is an extra "thing" to put kids through, as well as the expense of a cap and gown for a quick photo opportunity.

I have a fifth grader, and her friends are also "graduating" from fifth grade. I don't understand why you would do something like this. I mean, no one is going to stop at fifth grade (I hope.) You have seven more years of school! And that is just for someone who is not continuing their education.

Maybe this year we will go to the park or some other pretty outdoor spot and have a photo session, and maybe some ice cream to celebrate the beginning of summer. But that is all that is "beginning" right now. She still has a long way to go.

Burgess Books Online

Here is a list I have compiled of all the Thornton Burgess books I could find that are available for free online.


If you have read any of the Burgess stories, I know you have fallen in love with the little characters. We always look forward to hearing about nosy Peter Cottontail, mischievous Sammy Jay, and wise Grandfather Frog. For me, the best thing about them is reading them aloud. The dialog is charming, and I love doing the different voices.


I know that Ambleside Online curriculum recommends some of them, as do other homeschool curricula. They are wonderful stories which teach morals and values while exploring the world of wildlife.


The majority of the Burgess books that you can find online are at Gutenberg.org. There are a few more out there, however, that are not included on Gutenberg. Most of these are not available in text format, because they are scanned images. They do include the color illustrations by Harrison Cady.


Burgess books on Gutenberg.org
Burgess Bedtime Stories from an old calendar.
The Adventures of Peter Rabbit
Bobby Coon’s Mistake
A Great Joke on Jimmy Skunk
The Neatness of Bobby Coon
A Merry Coasting Pary
Paddy’s Surprise Visitor
The Three Bears
Reddy Fox’s Sudden Engagement
Grandfather Frog Stays in the Smiling Pool
A Robber Meets His Match
Peter Rabbit Proves a Friend
Young Flash the Deer


Additional Link: Podcast of Old Mother West Wind by Lori K. Brooke. There are audio versions of some of the Burgess books available at Gutenberg.org and Librivox.org, but I wanted to share these because they are different, and not as easy to find. The woman reading them has a grandmotherly, sweet voice, and there is background music added which gaves them a relaxing, bedtime feel.


Please comment if you know of any other Burgess stories available online, and I will add them.

My 2008-09 School Schedule

Psalm One School's Eclectic Plan

This is my second year of making up my own curriculum. I try to stay a week or two ahead of the kids in my specific planning. Any more than that, and I end up making so many changes it's not worth it.

I will try to update every week or two, so be sure and check that out to see how it's going.

We have two children that are school-aged: "Peanut" is a 9yo girl and "Junior" is a 7yo boy. "Bubby" is our little one who will turn two in November. He is homeschooled too, but of course none of that is written down on paper. Sometimes we use Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready for him.

Bible	Day-By-Day Kids' Bible. Read one day's reading each day of school.We are using various references as needed. For activities, we often use the book, 1001 Ways to Introduce Your Child to the Bible.We include hymns and choruses during Bible time as appropriate.
Memory Work	Usually a Bible passage. We try to use entire chapters as we are able, but do add some shorter passages, 1-2 verses at a time. We use the Simply Charlotte Mason system to keep up with what we're doing.
History	We are following Heart of Wisdom's Year 3 schedule. We did Ancient History and Middle Ages with Sonlight 1&2, and were ready to move on. We are not doing "Explorers" as that was part of our last year's study. Heart of Wisdom doesn't really have a planned out "Year 3" to sell, but in their e-book, The Heart of Wisdom Approach, they give guidelines for planning your own lessons, so we are doing that.For the Colonial Era, we are using the unit study called "Colonial Times" from Homeschool in the Woods. We are considering using their Revolutionary War study.
Read-alouds	We are using some Read-alouds recommended by Heart of Wisdom. I don't use Sonlight anymore, but I love the idea of doing read-alouds that go along with the era of history we are studying. Sometimes our read-alouds don't match up, but it's great when they do.
Readers	Junior (7) is using readers that we already had when we did Sonlight with his older sister. Peanut (9) is using various books that are on her reading level. Bonus points (for me!) when they correlate with the era of history we are studying. I got a good list from the Heart of Wisdom e-book I mentioned above, and I have also used some books recomended by Sonlight.
Science	Delight-directed. The kids choose their own topics for study. Heart of Wisdom has a set of topics laid out for each year, but we've decided that at this young age, we do not need to check off a list of topics that have been studied.First, Peanut wants to do a project about growing plants on the moon, available from the NASA website. Second, Peanut wants to learn about the human body. Junior want to learn about the forces of buoyancy. We will use library books and do demonstrations.
Math	We use Singapore Math.
Language Arts	Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLATL)Junior (7) The Red Book (old version)Peanut (9) The Orange Book (new version)
Spelling	Junior (7) He was working in Sequential Spelling 1 last year, we will continue this year.Peanut (9) We are going to try a Charlotte Mason approach to spelling (copywork, dictation) this year.
Music	We are planning 12 week composer studies per Charlotte Mason. Last year we did Bach, Handel, and Mozart. We will start that again in September. I am not sure which composer will be next.I am teaching the kids piano. We are going through as many primer books as we can find, as advised by my mother and another piano teacher. They say to stay in the primer levels to get really grounded in the fundamentals.The kids are also in beginner homeschool band. Daily practice on piano and band instruments is a part of our school schedule.
Art	Currently, we are not doing anything formal
Home Arts	We have a simple chore list and we are practicing being diligent with that.

The first two weeks - Part II

Thanks for bearing with me on the continued post.

History - We are using Homeschool in the Woods' Time Travelers Colonial Life unit study. The kids pick the activities that they want to do. We made some notebook pages and projects to go along with what we are learning. For one project, Peanut and I dyed cotton, wool, and linen samples using raspberries, blueberries, and red cabbage. She still wants to try mustard greens, so that is waiting for us this week. I am pretty sure the color will disappoint, though I haven't said anything. The other colors turned out pretty, however.

Language Arts - Right now, all we are doing is the copywork assignments from our unit study. They use Washington's Rules of Civility. For Junior (7), I just have him copy some of the words, as the assignments are a little heavy for a kid his age still working on mechanics. I try to have him do most of the punctuation, and write the words that I feel like he can learn to spell on his own soon.

Math - My kids use Singapore Math. This has been working well for us.

Read-Alouds: The first week, we read Pedro's Journal by Pam Conrad. This is a book about Columbus, but we missed this book last year when we studied Columbus, so this is a catch-up book. It was interesting to me, but the kids just tolerated it.

After that, we started The Warrior's Challenge by Dave and Neta Jackson. This started out slow, but it is picking up excitement. I am getting the feeling that it is going to be a sad book.

Reading: Junior read Hill of Fire, and started Nate the Great. He always reads them aloud to me. Peanut read Our Strange New Land from the My America series, and started on The Skippack School by Marguerite d'Angeli. Peanut enjoyed the My America book, it is similar to the American Girl books. The Skippack School is a higher-quality book. She did not like it at first, she said it was too hard. I don't think it is a difficult book, but it uses some dialect like German immigrants would use, and that may be what she was talking about. About three chapters in, she started liking it. I took turns reading outloud with her on this book, until she got more interested. She usually does her reading on her own.

We will start science in the coming week. We are delight-directed in science, so I let the kids pick their own topics.

First two weeks - Part I

We have completed the first two weeks of our new school year. Thought I would blog about how it's going. I need to split this post up into two parts, since it was getting rather long.

The home is not falling apart. There are moving boxes in the dining room, which I wish were not there, but other than that, things are staying decent. (We are not moving, nor have we recently moved. The boxes are for some things that will have to go up to the attic, but they just haven't moved yet. I guess I'm anticipating putting up summer clothes, but I think we are about a month away from that, so I should get them out of the way.)

We will be adding a few things in the next two or three weeks, such as science. I started with the "bare bones," to keep it simple while we started, so we will have to add some things as we go.

Bible Time: We are starting out with Bible time and allowing more time to really get into the Word. Last year we did more of a devotional or character trait each day. Now we are reading from The Day by Day Kids Bible. We read one day's reading per day, but we won't get through it in one year since we do not school 7 days a week. I read the selection aloud, usually pausing after each paragraph or two and alternate asking the kids to narrate back that portion. Peanut (9) is doing well with that, Junior (7) is not doing as well.

From my reading of other homeschoolers' experiences, I believe that is typical for his age. I try not to make a big deal about it when he is not able to. There is the natural competition between the two of them, however. My new plan is to read a longer passage when it is Peanut's turn, so she will be more challenged, and the differences between them will not be so obvious.

We have been using the book, 1001 Ways to Teach Your Child About the Bible by Kathy Reimer. This book was recommended by Heart of Wisdom. I am really liking it. One day we talked about how King Ahab prayed to Baal for rain. Elijah told King Ahab that he had made God angry by doing this, and that it would not rain for three years. After reading that story, we did a science experiment about how rain clouds form. Another day, we talked about how through Elijah, God helped a widow to never run out of oil and flour. We made a cake from a cake mix that called for oil. Not Biblically accurate, but fun!

Tomorrow I will finish posting about the rest of our first two weeks.