Monday, October 29, 2012

Trivium Tuesdays-Classical Link-Up #30

Welcome to another week of Trivium Tuesdays!  If this is your first time here, this is a link-up aimed at encouraging and informing other homeschoolers who use the Classical model of teaching.  Here we can share with each other and learn from one another.

Don't forget to visit the All Things Classical Blog Post Index if you are trying to remember a post that someone linked up or are just looking for encouragement or help on a specific topic related to Classical homeschooling.  I have organized most of the posts that you have linked up here at Trivium Tuesdays so that you can easily find posts on the topic you are looking for.

This week I am featuring Ancient History- Maps from Highhill Homeschool.  I was just thinking earlier today about how much I used to enjoy making maps in middle school.  I think I used to put my paper up to a window and trace...or did I just freehand it?  I don't remember, but either way, I like this method from Highhill Homeschool much better!  If you missed it last week, take a minute to check it out!



Now onto this week's link-up!

Here are the rules:
  • Your post must have to do (in some way) with classical homeschooling (any age children).
  • Your post may be from your archives as long as you only post it one time on this link-up.
  • Please link to your direct post, not your blog in general.
  • Please place my Trivium Tuesdays button (found on my right sidebar) on your blog post so others can learn about this link-up!
  • It may be helpful to state in your link description what stage of the trivium or what subject your post is about, if applicable, so others can easily find posts they are interested in looking at.
  • Remember, everyone loves comments =) So don't be shy, and tell someone if you liked their post!

I reserve the right to remove any link-up that does not have to do with classical homeschooling.         If you are a regular here at Trivium Tuesdays and have something to share that is a little off topic, but still would be an encouragement to the readers here, please still share it =)  I'm referring to people who are just trying to get their blog more exposure without following the rules above.

I will visit each of your blogs this week and feature my favorite link-up for all to see next week!  Also, if your blog has a button I will place it on my sidebar (under Friends to Visit) for the week until it is replaced by the next week's favorite =)

Happy Linking!

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The Genius of Ancient Man - Review


I just spent hours today pouring over The Genius of Ancient Man by Don Landis.  The subject matter is just fascinating!  This books sets out to support the Biblical position of man being created intelligently, and of Babel being the origin from where people spread out across the earth.

People with an evolutionary mindset believe that man started out simple and has progressively gotten smarter and more advanced.  Even Christians typically assume that we are the most advanced that any civilization has been since the beginning of time.  Mr. Landis sets out to change our mind on the subject.

He explains how Adam and Eve were the smartest people ever on the earth because they were created first, perfectly, in God's image, and with no mutations or sickness like we have now.  They also had communion with God, so they probably had access to infinitely more knowledge than we do.  After they sinned,
man's abilities and intellect slowly decreased as the fallen world took a toll on their bodies and minds.  Mr. Landis speculates that by the time of the flood, ancient man may have been very, very advanced (there was about 1500 years between creation and the flood, after all, and think about all that we have been able to accomplish in just the past couple of hundred years!)  There is no way to prove this, because everything was wiped out in the flood and then Noah and his family had to start from scratch again.

Mr. Landis goes on to show example after example of how ancient civilizations in different areas of the world shared similarities early on, pointing to a common starting place (Babel).  He also shows many examples of advanced things that researchers have found, but cannot explain because they do not think that ancient man was very advanced or intelligent. 

This book is filled with interesting information and great pictures.  One of my favorite parts is a six page timeline showing advances attributed to different civilizations.  I cannot recommend this book to you enough!  If you have a high schooler who is studying ancient times, this would make a great read for them.  If you have younger children you are teaching about ancient times, this would be a great book for you to read before you begin.  If you are an adult just looking for an interesting read, this is for you too!




If this book looks interesting to you, you can read other people's reviews and watch an interview with Don Landis at nlpgblogs!

I was given this book for free to review by Master Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing.  I was not required to give a positive review.  All opinions are honest and my own!


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Sunday, October 28, 2012

The True Account of Adam and Eve Review



We have been studying ancient history this year, so I was excited to get the chance to read The True Account of Adam and Eve by Ken Ham.  If you are familiar with any of the Answers in Genesis materials, then you have an idea of what this books is about.  It essentially walks you through the creation account in Genesis, giving incredible insight to each event along the way.  It gives you a great look into what their daily life might have been like. 


Some questions that the book addresses are:
  • Why was Adam told to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
  • How could Adam have named all the animals in just one day?
  • How did people and animals interact with each other in the garden?
  • How could the world be just over 6000 years old when we have fossils that 'prove' the world is much older?
  • How do we make everything right again?


I love how the book gives such high credibility to the Bible and how it interprets it literally.  You can trust that you are getting solid info in this book!  I completely recommend having your older children read this for them selves, and reading it aloud to your younger children.  At first I started just reading it myself, thinking that it would be too difficult for my four year old, but within a few minutes he was in my lap wanting me to read it to him.  The pictures are just stunning, which helps keep the little ones interested =)

Take a look for yourself!



Want to read what other people have to say about this book?  Check out the link up at nlpgblogs

If this books looks interesting, I'm sure you would be interested in other books published by Master Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group.

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Friday, October 19, 2012

Grammar Stage Ancient History-Week 5



History is our spine, but I'm including everything that we are doing, so some of it doesn't have anything to do with history =)

Memorization

 Here is another cute poem from Primary Language LessonsTrevor caught on to it very quickly and just loves to say it!

A Secret

We have a secret, just we three,
The robin and I and the sweet cherry tree;
The bird told the tree, and the tree told me,
And nobody knows it but just us there.

But of course the robin knows it best,
Because she built the---I shan't tell the rest,
And laid the four little---somethings in it---
I'm afraid I shall tell it every minute.


Day 1


History Reading

Activity
  • Add events from A is for Adam lesson to our timeline

Reading/Writing

Day 2


History Readings

Activity
  • Re-visit the garden, see how things a growing.
 
Reading/Writing
 

Day 3


History Readings
 
Activity
  • Adam and Eve's family tree
    • Obviously we don't know what Adam and Eve's family looked like, nor do we know exactly how many children each person had, but I wanted to get across to my son how many people could come about from just two people.
    • On a piece of paper I drew two circles with a few lines coming from them (showing Adam and Eve, and the lines going to their children).  The lines went to more circles which had their own lines coming from them, and so on and so forth until the whole page was filled with circles.
    • I cut out tiny faces from a magazine and had Trevor glue them into the circles.
    • I showed him how just two people having a few kids (when in reality they probably had many, many children!), and those kids having a few kids, etc. could produce a whole paper (world) full of people!

Reading/Writing

Extra
  • Cursive lesson from HEV (Home Educational Videos)
    •  Trevor loves doing these lessons!  I was not pushing him to do cursive, but he is just fascinated by it and keep asking to do it.

Day 4


History Readings

Activity


  • Put off - Put on chart
    • We read about Cain and Able today, so we talked about how Cain made some bad decisions.  He should had "put off" his sinful thoughts and actions, and "put on" thoughts and actions that are pleasing to God.
    • I had the kids come up with their own ideas of things that they should put off in their own lives, and what they should put on instead.
    • We made a chart, and at the end I found little pictures for them to cut out and paste on the correct side of the chart.
    • Here's what they came up with (incase you can't read it well in the picture).  Put off punching, put on hugging and kissing.  Put off making Mackenzie cry, put on making her happy.  Put off taking things from Mackenzie, put on asking her nicely for things.  Put off hurting Mackenzie, put on protecting her.  Put off yelling, put on speaking nicely.

Reading/Writing

Read Alouds



Now that I look at it, this week was pretty boring =)  Oh well, I guess we all have weeks like this!  I'm starting to feel the itch for a little break.  Not because school is going badly (quite the contrary!) but because I always find myself not adequately prepared and I want some time to get everything ready and in order again.  In a former life I was the organized, prepared person in the group, but not so any more.  Maybe one day I will get there again!

I hope you had a productive week!



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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Oral Narration Re-Visited

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This past summer I wrote a series called Early Grammar Stage Focus.  In it, I took a close look at the article 10 Things To Do With Your Child Before Age 10  from Trivium Pursuit and challenged myself to do better in the areas that they highlight.  It is been a few months, and school is in full swing, so I want to check back in and see how I have done in each of the areas.  Each week I will re-visit one of the 10 topics, so come back next week for more!

You can get this "10 things..." article plus SO much more information in the book Teaching the Trivium from the good people at Trivium Pursuit.

Last week we talked about Reading and Writing again, and this week we will re-visit Oral Narration.  I won't go into detail about what the article says on this issue (you can read my full thoughts in my first post on Oral Narration), but basically it is having your child tell back to you what you have just read them. 

Last time I was just introducing this concept to my 3 year old son.  His skills were pretty weak, but that was to be expected =)  From reading the 10-things...article, I realized that I needed to approach this more as training than just expecting him to catch on.  I had three goals for myself last time.  I'll share them again here, and then tell how we have been doing for each one...

Goals

  1. Ask for narration after smaller chunks of reading.
  2. Ask questions to prompt narration (remember that we are training!)
  3. Model narration as storytelling.

My first goal was to train the skill of oral narration by having my son (now four years old) narrate after only one or two paragraphs.  This was something easy to change.  I realized that I was overwhelming him by expecting him to narrate after an entire story.  Having him summarize a paragraph or two at a time was much more manageable for him.  After a little while of practicing that, he can now do pretty well at narrating a few pages of a story.  This will typically be a history reading, or short chapter in a read-aloud book.

My second goal was to remember to ask him questions to prompt his narration.  This was another easy change.  After I read the section to be narrated I will start him off by saying "What happened in this story?  One day there was a...." or something like that.  Then after he says something about the beginning of the story I would prompt again saying something like, "And then he went to..." and continue like that until the end.  This has proved to work very well!

Last, I wanted to model narration as storytelling.  This was a new idea to me, but it made sense!  Telling a story back is the first step to being able to tell a story (well) yourself.  I accomplished this by using the questions that I did in the above goal.  Also, sometimes if he is struggling with narrating a particular passage, I will do it for him, showing him an example of how it should sound.  When I do this, I try to tell it like a story.  I think this helps him learn the basic flow of a story, "One day....then....later on...finally."


Do you have your children narrate stories back to you?  It's a difficult task (have you ever tried it yourself?!?) but I think it is well worth it!


This post is a part of the following series:



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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Trivium Tuesdays-Classical Link-Up #28

Welcome to another week of Trivium Tuesdays!  If this is your first time here, this is a link-up aimed at encouraging and informing other homeschoolers who use the Classical model of teaching.  Here we can share with each other and learn from one another.

Don't forget to visit the All Things Classical Blog Post Index if you are trying to remember a post that someone linked up or are just looking for encouragement or help on a specific topic related to Classical homeschooling.  I have organized most of the posts that you have linked up here at Trivium Tuesdays so that you can easily find posts on the topic you are looking for.

This week I'm featuring Developing Independent Learners from Not Consumed.  As classical homeschoolers, a big part of what we are trying to do is to teach our children to be able to learn on their own.  We want the vast world of knowledge to be open to them.  This is impossible if we are constantly holding our children's hands through the learning process.  Obviously this looks different at different ages.  Kim, from Not Consumed, offers a great, thought provoking post on this subject!  Take a minute to read if you missed it last week!




Now onto this week's link-up!

Here are the rules:
  • Your post must have to do (in some way) with classical homeschooling (any age children).
  • Your post may be from your archives as long as you only post it one time on this link-up.
  • Please link to your direct post, not your blog in general.
  • Please place my Trivium Tuesdays button (found on my right sidebar) on your blog post so others can learn about this link-up!
  • It may be helpful to state in your link description what stage of the trivium or what subject your post is about, if applicable, so others can easily find posts they are interested in looking at.
  • Remember, everyone loves comments =) So don't be shy, and tell someone if you liked their post!

I reserve the right to remove any link-up that does not have to do with classical homeschooling.         If you are a regular here at Trivium Tuesdays and have something to share that is a little off topic, but still would be an encouragement to the readers here, please still share it =)  I'm referring to people who are just trying to get their blog more exposure without following the rules above.

I will visit each of your blogs this week and feature my favorite link-up for all to see next week!  Also, if your blog has a button I will place it on my sidebar (under Friends to Visit) for the week until it is replaced by the next week's favorite =)

Happy Linking!


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Friday, October 12, 2012

Waterproof Bible Review and Giveaway


Kids, especially boys, are messy.  Kids don't always think before they act.  Kids love water.  For all these reasons, I always get a little nervous when I let my children look at one of our 'adult' Bibles.  I hate the thought of ruining such a precious book because of one spilled glass of water or a page turned too forcefully.  So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that there is a Bible that can take my worries away!  Have you heard of the Waterproof Bible from Bardin Marsee Publishing?  Their vision is for you to "take God's word into all of His creation, regardless of the weather or circumstances."  Now granted, this Bible was created with the adventurer in mind, but I think that 4 year old boys are adventures in and of themselves, coming with their own self-made weather and circumstances, so I was excited to try this out!

I wanted to see if this waterproof Bible could stand up to a day in the life of a 4 year old boy.  What do you think?  Spoiler Alert: it does!  But continue reading to see everything that this Bible made it through in 24 hours and enter to win one of your own!

A Day in the Life of a Four Year Old Boy

 



First up, breakfast.  Sounds safe enough, but with juicy watermelon and sticky syrup, I wouldn't have let a regular Bible anywhere near him!  No fear here, though. Since the Waterproof Bible's pages are made out of synthetic materials, any liquid (even sticky syrup!) wipes right off.  Looks like it passed the breakfast test...check!




Next on the schedule, play time.  Of course the easily distracted 4-year-old boy would take the Bible to play with him by the hose...and leave it there for his 2-year-old sister to have her way with.  Is it going to stand up to a 2-year-old with a hose?




I guess she wanted to perform a test for some real scientific comparison.  Results?  The coloring book paper was useless after being sprayed with water (obviously), but the Bible was as good as new!  It passed the playtime test too...check!




The day is almost done, but there's still time for one final, ultimate test...some underwater Bible reading!  I mean, if the Waterproof Bible can withstand this, it can withstand anything!  My son thought this was a hoot!  Check out the video below to see how the Bible fared after it's bath.




My only slight critique is that when the Bible was submerged in water for a few minutes, it took a little while for it to completely dry off.  The pages didn't turn as cleanly until it was fully dried, but once it was dry it was back to normal!

 

About the Bible


Some extra info about the Waterproof Bible:
  • 100% waterproof inside and out
  • Made from synthetic materials
  • The pages do not rip (believe me, my son tried!)
  • The writing is super clear and you cannot see through the pages
  • Dirt wipes right off
  • You can throw it in a diaper bag or backpack with a bottle or sippy cup and have no worries
  • It is available in many different versions (NIV, NKJV, KJV, ESV, NLT, and NASB) and colors/designs
  • You can write and highlight on the pages

Learn More and Connect:

 

Try One For Free!


I think this Bible is fantastic for any parent, child, or adventurer to have in their home!  If you would like to have one (and I think you should =) you can enter to win one for free right here!  Also, if you would like to purchase one, you can use the code freeship3 for free shipping (code good until Dec. 31, 2012).  I noticed that there are even some of these Bibles on clearance for about 50% off right now, so hurry and check them out!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rules: The winner must contact me within 72 hours of being notified that they won.  Open to United States and military addresses only.  Must be 18 years of older to enter.


To see what some other great ladies thought of their Waterproof Bible and to enter their giveaways, check out the following blogs:


Disclaimer: I received this Waterproof Bible for free and was compensated for the time I invested to thoroughly test and review it.  All my opinions are honest and I was not required to post a positive review.

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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Grammar Stage Ancient History-Week 4


History is our spine, but I'm including everything that we are doing, so some of it doesn't have anything to do with history =)

Memorization

 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you;  in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the fields.  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."  Genesis 3:17-19

We also began memorizing the books of the Old Testament.  So far we are about half way through.  There are a few song out there to help with this.  We found one Trevor thought was catchy and now we all sing it together!


Day 1


History Readings

Activity
  •  Pull some weeds outside, plant a seed, or harvest some food.  The point is to get outside and show the child how it takes work to make food now!  Explain how before Adam and Eve sinned, they didn't have to work like this and deal with thorns and weeds.



Reading/Writing

Extra
  • Harmony Fine Arts lesson "A Girl with a Watering Can"
    • This is really neat fine arts curriculum to go along with classical education (or any plan that studies history chronologically).  We are starting with the introduction to fine arts curriculum, though, so that is why it has nothing to do with ancient history =)

Day 2


History Readings
  •  Genesis 2:22-24 (re-read whole chapter)
  • A Is for Adam - N
  • Heroes of Israel - chapter 1
    • This book is included in the Young Reader curriculum from Heritage History.  This is a great company to check out if you haven't already!

Activity
  • Make a flaming sword like the angels used to  guard the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve were kicked out.
    • My kids loved scourging around the finding items that would look like fire to glue onto our sword (empty wrapping paper tube).
    • They practiced being like the angels and guarding our Garden of Eden that we had made 2 weeks ago



Reading/Writing


Day 3


History Readings

Activity
  •  Make a doll outfit with cotton balls
    • I just drew a person an a piece of paper and the kids glued cotton balls onto it.  
    • You could get more fancy or even use leather...anything to show how animals now had to be used as covering for Adam and Eve's bodies.
Reading/Writing

 

Day 4


History Readings

Activity
  • Add events from  A Is for Adam lesson to timeline.
    • We added "Fall" "Flood" and "Cross"
    • I just used clip-art and Trevor practiced his scissor skills cutting them out.




Reading/Writing

Extra

Friday Fun



This week we enjoyed a trip to the zoo with some dear friends.  Why is it that the kids like climbing on the statues more than looking at the real animals ;)


Read Alouds

This is the point where I am starting to get sick of the first three chapters in Genesis (I feel bad saying that!) A Is for Adam  really hammers the points home, which is fantastic for the kids!  I am ready to move on, but they are asking to read the book every day =)  If I were doing this with children a few years older I don't think I'd stay put so long, but for us it is working well.  And honestly I am seeing and learning things that I never knew before!
I hope you all had a great week!  What did you learn about?

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Monday, October 8, 2012

Trivium Tuesdays-Classical Link-Up #27

Welcome to another week of Trivium Tuesdays!  If this is your first time here, this is a link-up aimed at encouraging and informing other homeschoolers who use the Classical model of teaching.  Here we can share with each other and learn from one another.

Don't forget to visit the All Things Classical Blog Post Index if you are trying to remember a post that someone linked up or are just looking for encouragement or help on a specific topic related to Classical homeschooling.  I have organized most of the posts that you have linked up here at Trivium Tuesdays so that you can easily find posts on the topic you are looking for.

This week I'm featuring The Importance of Memorization in the Elementary Years from Intoxicated on Life.  I have truly gotten to enjoy and appreciate this blog over the past few months.  This post is no exception.  Tricia shares their system for memorization, why they place an importance on it, and what they are memorizing this year.  I wholeheartedly agree with everything she shares in this post, and I know you will be encouraged by reading it as well!



Now onto this week's link-up!

Here are the rules:
  • Your post must have to do (in some way) with classical homeschooling (any age children).
  • Your post may be from your archives as long as you only post it one time on this link-up.
  • Please link to your direct post, not your blog in general.
  • Please place my Trivium Tuesdays button (found on my right sidebar) on your blog post so others can learn about this link-up!
  • It may be helpful to state in your link description what stage of the trivium or what subject your post is about, if applicable, so others can easily find posts they are interested in looking at.
  • Remember, everyone loves comments =) So don't be shy, and tell someone if you liked their post!

I reserve the right to remove any link-up that does not have to do with classical homeschooling.         If you are a regular here at Trivium Tuesdays and have something to share that is a little off topic, but still would be an encouragement to the readers here, please still share it =)  I'm referring to people who are just trying to get their blog more exposure without following the rules above.

I will visit each of your blogs this week and feature my favorite link-up for all to see next week!  Also, if your blog has a button I will place it on my sidebar (under Friends to Visit) for the week until it is replaced by the next week's favorite =)

Happy Linking!


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Friday, October 5, 2012

Grammar Stage Ancient History-Week 3


History is our spine, but I'm including everything that we are doing, so some of it doesn't have anything to do with history =)

Memorization

This is the first poem we have memorized, and honestly I almost skipped over it because I thought it was just so pointless/silly.  I'm so glad we didn't because my son picked up on it really quickly and loves to recite it!  I'm excited now to add more poems to our memory box!


If I Knew (Primary Language Lessons - lesson 4)

If I knew a box where the smiles were kept,
No matter how large the key
Or strong the bolt,
I would try so hard,
'Twould open I know, for me;

Then over the land and sea broadcase
I'd scatter the smiles to play,
That the children's faces might hold them fast
For many and many a day.

If I knew a box that was large enough
To hold all the frowns I meet,
I would father them together, everyone,
From nursery, school and street;

Then folding and holding,
I'd pack them in,
And turning the monster key.
I'd hire a giant to drop the box
To the depths of the deep, deep sea.


Day 1


History Readings
Activitiy
  •  Taste test tropical fruits, imagine what the fruit on the tree of knowledge of good and evil might have been.
Reading/Writing
Extra

 

Day 2


History Readings
Activity
  •  Show stages of life and how sin causes our bodies to get old and sick (baby, child, adult, elderly person, etc.)
 Reading/Writing
 Extra
  • Cursive - lesson 2 from HEV.com (Have you heard of this website?  They have a great collection of videos to help homeschool families!)


Day 3


History Readings
Activity
  • Make clothes from leaves in our garden like Adam and Eve did.
    • The kids and I walked around our yard and found the biggest leaves we could find and also some long thin grasses that I could use to 'sew' the leaves together.  I fully intended to make something for both kids, but boy was it hard to get it to hold together!  You can see the picture of the final product on my son in the picture up top =)  We really have it easy today!
Reading/Writing
Extra
  • Music Time!
    • Good old fashioned sitting in a circle, singing silly songs while playing symbols, bells, triangles, etc.  We try to work on keeping a steady beat and mimicking patterns.

Day 4


History Readings
Activity
  •  Take a nature walk to look for thorns and weeds.
    • My son likes to notice the thorns on our rose bushes and tries to come up with reasons for why they are there.  All this talk about the fall is helping him understand!
Reading/Writing
Extra
  • Nature Journal - garter snake
    • We found a garter snake in the back of our property this week and it was perfect timing with all the talk of serpents in the Garden of Eden.  Daddy was able to catch him, and we put him in a garbage can to watch him for a while!  We read up on these snakes a bit and Trevor completed a page in his nature journal on them.


Supplemental History Reading



Read Alouds


 I know we are spending a lot of time in these first few chapters of Genesis, but honestly we are all learning a lot!  I feel like my son is really understanding the material (since we are going over it so much!) and honestly I am learning things that I've never known before!  This week didn't have very extensive projects to go along with the studies, so that is why we were able to fit in something extra each day.  We hadn't been doing much extra, so I'm glad we had a chance to this week.

What did you study with your children this week?




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Thursday, October 4, 2012

Reading and Writing Re-Visited

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This past summer I wrote a series called Early Grammar Stage Focus.  In it, I took a close look at the article 10 Things To Do With Your Child Before Age 10  from Trivium Pursuit and challenged myself to do better in the areas that they highlight.  It is been a few months, and school is in full swing, so I want to check back in and see how I have done in each of the areas.  Each week I will re-visit one of the 10 topics, so come back next week for more!

 You can get this "10 things..." article plus SO much more information in the book Teaching the Trivium from the good people at Trivium Pursuit.

The first thing the article says to do is teach your child to read.  I won't go into detail like I did in my first post on the subject, but to sum it up, they stress learning via a phonics based program, starting an English Language Notebook, and using copywork to teach and reenforce.  We were already well on our way in these areas, but I did write down some goals that I wanted to aim for in the new school year...

Goals 

  1. Start an English Language Notebook for Mackenzie
  2. Expand sources of copywork for Trevor
  3. Compile Trevor's work into a binder instead of being loose in a file folder.

I was a little nervous as I sat down to write this, because I honestly hadn't taken the time to see what my goals had been at the beginning of the year (though they were swimming around in the back of my head.)  Much to my surprise and delight we have been doing each of these three things!

Goal #1 - Start an English Language Notebook for Mackenzie.  This sounds really formal for a two year old, but it's not =)  We have mostly been using the Letter of the Week curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  When we finish each day's papers, I put them up on a cork board for her to see and review.  Then at the end of the week, I hole punch them and put them into a binder.  I have not been active in flipping through the binder with her (good reminder for me!) but theoretically, we would flip through her previous work each week so she can remember the past letters and numbers that she has learned.  Of course this would look different for an older child, but I think it's just right for her.

Goal #2 - Expand sources of copywork for Trevor.  I have planned ahead each week to have copywork ready for Trevor.  It is part of our daily routine and he is learning to do it diligently.  We always copy whatever it is we are memorizing that week, whether it be a Bible verse or a poem.  Also, he has copied pieces from McGuffey's First Reader and Primary Language Lessons.  I am very happy with how it is going, and will be sure to continue to include a variety of sources of writing for copywork in the future.

Goal #3 - Compile Trevor's work into a binder instead of having it be loose in a file folder.  I have two binders going this year for Trevor.  The first is our history binder.  In it we will have his timeline (which is currently on the wall), any activities that we do related to history (that can be recorded on a paper), and any copywork that he does that is related to our history studies.  The other binder we have is for Language Arts/Fine Arts.  Here we put the rest of his copywork along with any art type things he does.


What do you think?  Do you do any of these things with your child?  Trevor is reading better and better each day.  I am so proud of him and the confidence he is gaining in his ability to read.  If you do not teach your children using a phonics based method, I really encourage you to look into it!  My favorite resource is The Writing Road to Reading if you want a place to start.

I'd love to know what you are working on this year and how reading and writing is going with your children!

This post is a part of the following series:



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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Trivium Tuesdays-Classical Link-Up #26

Welcome to another week of Trivium Tuesdays!  If this is your first time here, this is a link-up aimed at encouraging and informing other homeschoolers who use the Classical model of teaching.  Here we can share with each other and learn from one another.

Don't forget to visit the All Things Classical Blog Post Index if you are trying to remember a post that someone linked up or are just looking for encouragement or help on a specific topic related to Classical homeschooling.  I have organized most of the posts that you have linked up here at Trivium Tuesdays so that you can easily find posts on the topic you are looking for.

The post I am choosing to feature from last week's link-up is How to Hold a Reformation Day Celebration from I Choose Joy.  Not only is this timely (Reformation Day is October 31st.), but it is also a fantastic idea if you are studying the Reformation (no matter the time of year).  This is something that I really want to do this year for my family and hopefully some friends.  The tricky part is finding people who don't do Halloween and also want to go out on a weekday night...I'll let you know how it goes =)


Also, if you have been around here for a while, you have probably noticed posts linked up from Barb the Harmony Art Mom.  Her posts have always encouraged and inspired me.  If you've been to her site, you may have noticed that she sells her very own fine arts curriculum, Harmony Fine Arts.  What is fantastic about her program is that it is designed to go with a classical education!  There is a curriculum for each year, focusing on a different cycle of history, for each stage of the trivium!  I've never seen anything else laid out so perfectly for classical homeschoolers.  I am super excited to announce Harmony Fine Arts as a new sponsor, and completely encourage you to check it out if you are looking for a simple way to incorporate fine arts into your history plans!

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Now onto this week's link-up!

Here are the rules:
  • Your post must have to do (in some way) with classical homeschooling (any age children).
  • Your post may be from your archives as long as you only post it one time on this link-up.
  • Please link to your direct post, not your blog in general.
  • Please place my Trivium Tuesdays button (found on my right sidebar) on your blog post so others can learn about this link-up!
  • It may be helpful to state in your link description what stage of the trivium or what subject your post is about, if applicable, so others can easily find posts they are interested in looking at.
  • Remember, everyone loves comments =) So don't be shy, and tell someone if you liked their post!

I reserve the right to remove any link-up that does not have to do with classical homeschooling.         If you are a regular here at Trivium Tuesdays and have something to share that is a little off topic, but still would be an encouragement to the readers here, please still share it =)  I'm referring to people who are just trying to get their blog more exposure without following the rules above.

I will visit each of your blogs this week and feature my favorite link-up for all to see next week!  Also, if your blog has a button I will place it on my sidebar (under Friends to Visit) for the week until it is replaced by the next week's favorite =)

Happy Linking!

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