A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

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Dear Frantic One

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Welcome to the Homeschool Review Crew’s Summer Blog hop.  In this blog hop you will find five days of encouragement as we head back to school.  You’ll see our overall topics posted in the image.  I’m going to be working this day by day so it will be a surprise eh!  🙂   Some of the topics I have no clear leading on and others I have an idea in the works but sometimes, those ideas go in directions different than what I plan.   Let’s walk through this week together, do some good reading, and be encouraged.  Day One is about encouragement for the school year.

back to school blog hop

I write today’s post quite honestly with me in mind.  My thinking is that if I am feeling a certain way, others will be as well as God’s word tells us that there is nothing new under the sun.

Right now I am feeling a bit frantic.  My son has a goal in mind for what he wants to learn about with this schooling this year.  He wants to learn about the great wars and he wants to make it as all inclusive as he can.  So he will learn geography, science, art, music etc all around the idea of the the wars and their time periods. Not only that, he’d very much like to study how Canada was involved in the wars.  So that’s where I am at, and here’s what I want someone who’s been there done that to say to me.

woman looking over lake, text dear frantic one

Dear Frantic One

Calm yourself.  This is your child you are schooling.  Do you think he’s going to freak out if you don’t have everything organized or if you have to delay for a day or two as you catch your breath before you dig in?  Did you raise your child to fret or to think schooling is more important than people?

Calm yourself, talk to your child.  Do they envision a certain way for their schooling to happen?  For instance, do they want research projects or papers to write?   Does he envision art projects or science experiments?  Would videos and making a report on them fill their desire to know more?   Can you work around the desire to not have to write things down by focusing on narration or hands-on efforts?

Calm yourself, think about what you have. Do you have create a whole program?  Are there things you have at hand that will do the job?   Can you tweak what others have done to make something that will suit your child better?

Calm yourself, do you have to have all the answers for September  4th (or whatever day you start)?   Are you going to go all in right from the start or will you ease your way slowly in?  Is a delay going to ruin your entire year or can you work a bit more five days throughout the year if you aren’t quite ready yet?

Calm yourself, if you are a person of faith, have you taken the time to talk to God?  Have you committed your day and year to him?  Have you discussed your plans with him?

Calm yourself, have you talked with your partner   Have you talked about your  worries?   Have you listened to advice?  Sought his/her help?

Calm yourself and remind yourself, this is something YOU can do.  Just take your time, grab your moments, and figure it out.  You can do it!   One small step at a time and before you know the whole year will be over.  A child to teach, experiences to share, and life to live well.  🙂 

Some of the participants:

Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Angie @ Run Ran Family Adventures & Learning
Annette @ A Net in Time
Ashley @ Gift of Chaos
Brenda @ Counting Pinecones
Carol @ Home Sweet Life
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses
Christine @ Christine Howard

Nicole @ Bless Their Hearts Mom
Patti @ Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy
Rebekah @ There Will Be a $5 Charge For Whining
Rodna @ Training Children up for Christ
Stacy @ A Homemakers Heart
Wendy @ Life at Rossmont
Yvie @ Gypsy Road



Watch the “ings”

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Have you ever thought about your “ings”?    How do you use them?   Do they strengthen or weaken the verbs that you are using?  Do you use the right amount or do you need to modify them?

write better, watch the ING words

English is a language of inflection.  Adding an -s or -es to a noun makes a plural, whereas adding an -s or -ed to a verb distinguishes present action from past.  Adding -ing changes the verb to progressive as in they began shooting the film, the wave washing across the pavement, etc.

Consider this passage: 

Wilting under the strain of weeks of blistering heat, the children set about complaining to family members that their was nothing to do and would school ever start again, and rallying their moms and dads to send them off to summer camp or letting their friends come and visit. 

How many ING words do you count?   Are they making the sentence better or weaker?

Are they weakening the verb or strengthening it?

Consider these problems: 

  1. Adding “ing” adds an extra syllable to the word, this can change the sound of the word, almost making it different than what it really is.
  2. After a while all those ING words start to look and sound the same.  They lose their punch. 

What happens in you change that sentence?

The children wilted under the strain of blistering heat.  With no energy to run around and discover their own activities, they have complained to their family members that they needed more to do.  They rally to their parents for summer camps, visits with friends or other activities to do. 

Which sound better or makes more impact?  Don’t you find the second cleaner and more precise?

This isn’t to say you can’t use -ing words, just play around with them a bit, see what fits better.  Use them judiciously, use them when needed to make your words more precise, clean and definitive. To call attention to action when it’s needed, not just for the sake of using them.  🙂

 

Want to practice?   Check out my free printable won’t you?

 

 

Big List of Unit Studies

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Next year my son wants to study the world wars. He wants it to be an all encompassing study for history, geography, spelling and what not. I have to admit, I find the idea a bit mind-boggling. I know I can do it, I just struggle with knowing where to start and what to do. I was talking with a fellow homeschool mom and she said “just plan six week unit studies”.

Although I feel overwhelmed by the whole idea yet, partly because I haven’t found the time to adequately start planning and coming up with good work and ideas for the lad, breaking it up into six week segments is doable you know?  Or even two week segments.

To that end I thought I’d do some research into unit studies and working with them, to share with you some places to go for free unit studies, and to understand the benefits of using them.

picture of four books, words big list of unit studies

What is a unit study?

A unit study is a collection of learning activities tied to a theme.  I used to do them when my lad is younger… we’d study, for instance, George Washington and end up learning math, science, history, geography and then do some art.   It was fantastic!  It’s a hands-on, filled with rabbit trails way of learning and can work really well.  In fact, my son still remembers the Terrific Tigers study that we did. 

How do you make a unit study?

Good question!  This is where research comes in and talking to your child and knowing what will and will not work for them comes into play.  For instance I won’t plan wordsearches as a way to help my lad learn vocabulary since he hates them.  You can find some good methodology at All the Homeschool Things has a good plan for doing unit studies as well as Lisa at Canadian Homeschooler has put together a unit study planner.  Proverbial Homemaker and All the Homeschool Things have planners as well. 

But seriously, how does one make a unit study?

  1. Decide on a topic or theme. …
  2. Select a starting date and length of time for the unit. …
  3. Choose books, DVDs, and other media resources. …
  4. Plan activities for your children’s ability levels. …
  5. Decide how you’ll record your unit.
  6. Plan a final activity. 

What subjects can you include and how?

Sometimes you need to think outside the box to include everything you want in a unit study, sometimes you just can’t.  Consider your students, what they need to learn and how you can help them connect pieces together.  Teach Beside Me gives some hints. 

  • Math: Create math problems at your child’s level. 
  • Language Arts: Reading, comprehension, grammar, writing skills.  Although you don’t need to include all of this in every unit study that you write, most units do ask students to write a little bit about the topic. 
  • Science: Sometimes a unit study shines in science. Other times you may need to work a little. 
  • Social Studies or Geography: Much like science, social studies may be your main topic, or you may need to work some information into the topic at hand. Some questions you may keep in mind as you work: Where was your topic first seen or invented? What culture surrounded the time or event? Where did this take place? What are the residents associated with your topic used to?
  • Art: Draw. Build. Act. Design. Create. Make. Sculpt.
  • Music: Can be easy or hard to fit into a study.  Fit it in if you can. 
  • History: Can be complicated or easy, depends on the study you are doing. 
  • Physical Education: This may need some creative work. Like I’m thinking for our world studies to get the lad on an exercise program just like the soldiers would have had to be on. That actually might be good for both of us. 🙂
people moving in front of free sign
Photo by William White on Unsplash

Look for something that might already be out there.

Seriously, if someone has already done the work, why replicate it?  You can always adapt if you need to, for instance, currently we are reviewing Home School in the Woods World War 2 timeline.  I want to spend more time exploring what caused the start of world war two than they devoted to it.  So when we look at this study again, I can add to it.

Places to look for FREE unit studies.

Some paid options would be

Some Randoms

I mustn’t forget to tell you about a really cool unit study I’m reviewing right now. The Canadian Homeschoolers Time Capsule of Canadian History. Making Canadian interesting and exciting.  Combine on-line learning with hands on fun.  Never has Canadian History been so interesting.

The Canadian Homeschooler Learning Centre

Belgian Nursery

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My son has had a love affair with cacti for quite a while now.   I told him that when I lived in Kitchener I would sometimes go to Belgian Nurseries just to walk through their cacti gardens.  He was immediately intrigued.  One day when we had to go Guelph for some reason so we dropped in for a visit.

belgian nursery rows of cacti

My lad was delighted by the rows and rows of cacti, so many different varieties…. how delighted could a cacti loving lad be?   He was amazed.

belgian nursery cacti

We learned that a lot of their cacti came from Colassanti’s so when we went up to Point Pelee, our friends also took us to Colassanti’s for lunch and let the lad wander through their cacti display.

This picture doesn’t do justice to the size of these cacti.  The lad was quite impressed and thought it would be neat if he could grow a cactus this large.  

belgian nursery cacti

Belgian Nurseries doesn’t just have a great cacti display but numerous other plants as well.  I can often find plants there that I can’t find at other nurseries.   I urge you, if you are ever in the K-W area, stop in at Belgian Nurseries.  Spend a good hour (or more) wandering through the greenhouses.  Be delighted and amazed at the sheer variety of plants available.  And bring home a cactus or two… I know we did!  🙂

belgian nursery cacti

Review: Northwest Treasures

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Northwest Treasures is a company that is new to me. Their focus is on geology with an emphasis on seeing the Christian faith (or the bible) in the study of geology, they have a number of courses that they do.  Over the past while we’ve been able to watch their Dinosaurs and the Bible series and my son has been captivated.  We also had a chance to watch their Mystery of Geology Video. 

Northwest Treasures Review

Taking the Mystery Out of Geology Video

Taking the Mystery out of Geology, northwest treasures

An approximately 20 minute video of slides with terms interspersed with full colour images, overlaid with audio teaching.  We have a three month access to this online video available on Vimeo. 

“I learned about that while I was learning about Ancient Greece” Pause video… lad explains the rock cycle to me.  I loved how he was able to connect the pieces.   Having my lad explain things is wonderful. 

A number of geologically important terms were defined.  Science, History, Philosophy, Uniformitarianism, Evolution, Creationism, Bible, Geology, Rock Cycle, Rock Types, Tectonics and Orogeny, Geological Time Scale and Fossilization.

Laughter from the lad at times. I found speaker stressed defining what is or is not science.  He defined terms well and used good definitions to show flaws in how secular geologists think. 

Son’s reaction: “It was okay”, which from the lad is praise indeed.  He is often quick to point out what he doesn’t like about something and he didn’t point anything out to me.

Dinosaurs and the Bible

Dinosaurs and the bible, northwest treasures

We spent the bulk of our time with Dinosaurs and the bible.   Six lessons, which we get to use for six months, giving us ample opportunity to listen to them again.   

Each video comes with a worksheet.  It took me a fair while to figure out where the worksheets were located.  When you have a list of the videos you can click on them to pull up a description of what the video is about, on the description will be a link to the video worksheet, this downloads as a PDF from Dropbox.  You only have to download the answer sheet once. 

The Lessons are as follows:

  1. How we got our Modern view of Dinosaurs – running time 18.26
  2. The Classification of Dinosaurs – running time 18.24
  3. Dinosaurs and the Bible, the Great Dinosaur Rush – running time 16.55
  4. The Extinction of Dinosaurs – running time 16.23
  5. Dinosaurs and the Ice Age – running time 17.51
  6. Fossils, Age and Soft Tissue – running time 21.38

Northwest Treasures

How did we use it?

We’ve had access for the past four weeks, and today my son, when I mentioned that the review was due today,  said “MOM!   We have to make sure we finish watching all the videos!”  He knows I’m apt to forget about finishing a review once it is off my radar, this one he wanted to make sure he finished.  A good thing that eh?

Previous to today, our normal routine was on Wednesday at supper I’d put a video in and we’d discuss it over our meal.   Gave us a time to chat while dad’s away at work.  I’d simply cast it to the TV and we’d have our bowl of chili or a sandwich and watch.  I’d have the PDF open so I could stop it and ask questions as we went through the lesson.

Dinosaurs and the bible, northwest treasures

We had the option to print off the PDF files (one for each lesson) but chose to just keep the file open and talk through the answers and take any rabbit trails as we went along.  Each lesson averaged 10 questions.

Dinosaurs and the bible, northwest treasures

I did the same thing with the final exam.  Just asked questions, the lad came over a couple of times to read the multiple choice answers when he didn’t’ know the answer off the top of his head. 

We did take a couple of rabbit trails.  The lad was curious about Lyell, so we did a bit more research on him.  We talked about who Darwin was as well.  Isn’t it nice when a program is so enjoyed by a lad that he actually WANTS to learn more?   It’s a good thing that!

Dinosaurs and the bible, northwest treasures

The course is laid out with a series of slides with Patrick Nurre teaching in the background.  The lessons are laid out on Vimeo and I’ve learned to let them buffer before starting to play. They are geared for grades 5 and up, and play time averages about 20 minutes.  Picture quality is good and audio is excellent as long as I let it buffer. 

My Thoughts:

Well done, learned a lot. I loved having the PDF’s for questions/answers. One thing I wished for was that occasionally he would put a cut out of himself talking in the corner of the video, adding a more personal touch. I would also love to see a PDF that has blanks in it so as you go through the video you can write things down. Or even a PDF listing the main points so notes could easily be taken. There is SO MUCH information contained in these videos that it’s hard to remember it all. 

I found it fascinating to learn that dinosaurs have been pictured on rocks and such.  This was new information to me.  Kinda speaks to dinosaurs being around with people eh?

My Son’s Thoughts:

“I like it, I enjoyed it. I liked everything about it. The lesson on the ice age really interesting.”

Dinosaurs and the bible, northwest treasures

In addition to the online classes, Northwest Treasures also offers physical courses such as the high school level Northwest Treasures Curriculum Project or for younger students the Geology for “Little Eyes” series.

Northwest Treasures

northwest treasures

 

Dinosaurs and the Bible – six lessons
Taking the Mystery out of Geology – 20 minute Video
Northwest Treasures
ages 5+
Geology, Online, Science, History, Geology Class
Video series on Vimeo (on demand)
Purchasing information can be found here.

 

 

If you have a membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com Patrick Nurre has a geology course on there called Rocks and Minerals.  It is just as interesting as the Dinosaurs course.   Check out the course, see if you like it, and then sign up for courses from Northwest Treasures. 🙂 

75 members of the crew reviewed various programs from Northwest Treasures:

Dinosaurs of the Bible
Volcanoes for Little Eyes
Geology and Apologetics
Fossils, Dinosaurs and Cave Men
Rocks and Minerals for Little Eyes

These programs are just a sampling of the variety of materials offered by Patrick Nurre and the Group at Northwest Treasures. I urge you to check out their kits such as their Fossil Identification Kit (which intrigue me) as well as their other offerings.    Click here or on the image below. 

Northwest Treasures

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GeologybyNorthwestTreasures/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/northwesttreasu/boards/

Vacation Bible School Week

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I ran out of time last week to do this post, so I figured today was as good as any day right?  It’s summertime and though my tendency would be to homeschool all year round, sometimes there are bigger things to do you know?  This past week that was Vacation Bible School.    A church that we occasionally attend was hosting a vacation bible school and needed folks to help out.  To my son’s horror I signed him up!  🙂

Vacation Bible school, children singing

Much to his surprise he completely enjoyed himself.  We ended up with the preschoolers which wasn’t my first pick but when more littles are signed in then you anticipate… one pitches in.

My son (who has had zero exposure to littles) learned the following:

  1. Preschoolers can be a tough crowd.  Missing mom or siblings is hard. 
  2. Preschoolers are FAST!   They swarmed him one while playing chase.  BOY, the stories he had to tell Dad when we got home. 
  3. Doing crafts with preschoolers is fun!   They need help, they take suggestions and they will let you help!
  4. Learning new songs and keeping an eye on littles that just want to run off and play, isn’t for the faint of heart.  
  5. Cards from a preschooler can make you smile.

vacation bible school, maker verse

I learned, that I can still make unhappy littles, just a wee bit happier by being a silly goob.  🙂  That even if the preschool crowd isn’t my favourite age of younglins to work with, I can still have fun with them, and help them, and just perhaps let them see Jesus, even just a little bit. By the end of the week my quiet shy laddie (preschooler that is) rewarded me with a card and two stickers on my nose.  A good thing that eh?

vacation bible school crafts

 Not only did we do Vacation Bible School but the lad and I worked on cleaning construction dust from the house, each day taking a different part of the house to work on.   It’s sticky, icky dust that is a pain to clean. It is good at teaching us patience AND it’s another incentive to get rid of anything I don’t know how to clean well or don’t want to even TRY to clean.  🙂 (you can’t sense my frustration at all can you!).

In between it all we did some schooling.  Working on the dinosaurs review (coming soon by the by) and starting our WW2 study from Home School in the Woods.  (2 or 3 weeks from what I recall).  But not a whole lot since you know.. life happens right?

image of binder for home school in the words WW2 unit study

OH and Friday we went to the beach.  The water was freezing and rain was threatening but we had a lot of fun, met some nice people, and managed to get back a bit later than intended but I still sold my two bunnies (the purchaser made a run to the LCBO while waiting for us to return). 

picture of two bunnies

All in all it was a great week.  We learned much, sang a lot, touched lives, and got some cleaning done. This week promises to not be quite as busy YAY!  and hopefully we’ll get a better handle on how to feed my hubby with his new schedule (prayers for that would be appreciated), and get the guest room all completed. I want it done.  JUST DONE!  Here’s to making more progress eh?  🙂

Finding the “ah ha!” Moment

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You know when you are reading a poem and you hit a line in the poem that makes you go “ah ha!”?  You find a line that causes you to see the entire point of the poem or line of thought the author is trying to convey?   It’s like a touch of magic, is it not?  Stay tuned for free worksheet attached.

Boy looking surprised, needing to find the Ah ha moment in poetry

When you are writing, don’t forget to look for that line, the line that causes you as the author listening to your own poem to go “AH HA!”.

What causes that moment?

  • sensory detail that surprises the reader
  • a lingering note, a sound that rings
  • an odour that brings a memory
  • a change in the structure of the poem
  • a detail described in an unexpected manner
  • the unexpected that cements a thought

But how does one prepare for the unexpected as an author?   How can you build that into your verse? Can it be learned like how one used adjectives or adverbs better?  How can you find those moments (which can be different for individuals) that turn the light on in a poem?

You prepare by reading verse looking for what hits you emotionally, surprises you making you say “NO!”, changes the way you think, gives a picture you won’t soon forget and/or rings true in your heart.  Look for it, and in that looking, you’ll learn how to write it. Or if not HOW to write it, to at least be willing, to take risks in your art, to experiment with a new style of writing, and to be willing to even surprise yourself.

Don’t force it… just read, and write, and practice.   Bring out your own true thoughts and play around with how you put them on paper. have your moments be so real, so poignant that the memories linger in the minds of your readers. Write your words down, re-read them, bring out the emotion and paint your pictures, and let the surprise and wonder and lingering memories happen. 

Other writing posts can be found here.  The photo courtesy of  Ben White on Unsplash.

To practice this skill I’ve put together a worksheet that you might find useful.