During Lent we have taken out some time together to incorporate Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato Sii, God Be Praised into our lives. It is based on St. Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Sun and focuses on, " The Care of Our Common Home". We spent time listening to the first part of the audio online reading of this beautiful letter and the kids drew some pictures of what it meant to them.
New file folders and new desk top bins! We are going to be using these at each desk this year for papers that are graded and returned. It is a way to keep everything organized and tidy so we do not have paper clutter everywhere. this makes it easier to pull samples throughout the year and at the end of the year for portfolios! I also have a group of six orange ones for my oldest son. Color coordinating is very important to me because I have five kids in five different grades to keep track of.
I have done homeschool portfolios for sixteen years now. I choose to do these instead of the standardized tests because I feel it shows the quality and the quantity of work that we do. I also feel that shows the personal relationship the student has with his/her subjects allowing their individuality to show.
Supplies:
The process should begin at the beginning of the school year so at the end of the year when trying to pull it all together one doesn't become overwhelmed. Each child should in our home school has file folders to file there work throughout the year. One folder per subject. When work is completed it goes into that particular folder. This makes it easy to pull out papers as the year goes by.
I set up each portfolio with a cover sheet this includes: a title, name, grade, school year and a picture. ( you do not have to include a picture). I also like to make the portfolios pleasing to the eye by using decorative scrapbook paper. I try to pick paper that I think represents the child.
I make a divider sheet for each subject and on the back of that I insert the table of contents of the work we completed in that specific book. If we did not complete the whole book, I check photo copy the section of the table of contents we did and cut off the rest.
If I have any favorite papers or artwork the kids have done, I will automatically put them in the page protector and snap them into the binders as well.
Each subject gets about 3 papers, one for beginning, middle, and end. If we did any special projects like a writer's notebook, a nature notebook, or journals, I like to stick some samples into the inside pockets.
I always save the sports schedules for soccer and basketball for each child and include them in the last section under extra curricula activities. It is good to photo copy any pics of field trips and write a small explanation of the trip. There is always so much to share in these portfolios. They are also great memory books for the kids of that particular school year and what they did. My kids enjoy taking them out periodically and looking and reminiscing about times past!
Since our son who was home-schooled from k-12 graduated from college this year. i also included a few pics of that. I feel it was a great accomplishment for our entire family and it shows we try hard at our vocation and education.
When I am finished I put all of the binders in a bag starting with the youngest and ending with the oldest. This way the portfolios stay together in an orderly manner and when the school superintendent is done with them I can just go pick them up.
I love seeing my kids do art work. Being creative has always been a part of my life because my grandmother got me involved in her arts and crafts! She was so patient and kind showing me how and what to do with each project we shared.
My thirteen year old daughter enjoyed using water colors and pastels to create this picture of Henry David Thoreau. It is her interpretation of one of the illustrations in the book, " If you Spent the Day with Thoreau at Walden Pond".
She drew a picture of the map of the pond from the book as well.
For English Grammar, I had her write a paragraph about the book and decorate it with some print-outs from the internet. We will end our school year reading from the journal that Thoreau kept while he lived at Walden Pond and take a field trip to Concord where the Pond is located.
A Charlotte Mason Education is based on Living Books. These are basically books that are not text books. This approach allows children to form a relationship with their topics instead of filling them with a bunch of facts. I have found that this approach works well and the children surely enjoy it more!
These are a few books we are using right now...
If You Spent A Day With Thoreau at Walden Pond
Twister Trouble Magic School Bus
The Merry Adventures Of Robin Hood
Every good and perfect gift comes from above! Our son graduated from Our Lady of the Elms this past Saturday! It was such a wonderful occasion and we are so proud of him.
He is the first of our sons that we home-schooled from kindergarten through grade 12. I say, we, because it was definitely a family affair. Including every single member of our household.
Our catholic faith has also been a key factor in this endeavor because it was a vocational call that we answered from above. There is one body but many charisms.
Prayer has been the key to our home-schooling vocation because without the intercession of St. Joseph, Our Lady and all of God's holy angels and saints there would be no way any of us could have done this.
O great St. Joseph, so docile to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, obtain for me the grace to know what state of life Divine Providence destines for me. Do not allow me to be deceived with regard to so important a choice, upon which depends my happiness in this world, and even my eternal salvation. Obtain for me that, being enlightened to know the Divine Will and being faithful in accomplishing it, i may embrace that state of life which God has destined for me and which will lead me to a happy eternity. Amen.
Ahh, Spring has sprung and after a the winter we had here in New England, it is more welcome than ever before! It is a great time to read some Spring themed poetry and exploring the yard for new life!
A favorite seasonal poem book is "Be Blest" by Mary Beth Owens.
A great way to do English Grammar in the springtime is called Copy work. Have the kids copy a poem paying attention to the punctuation and spelling. It gives them an appreciation for good literature as well!
Right now my daughter, who is in sixth grade, is copying this poem called, " Nest Eggs" by Robert Louis Stevenson illustrated by Tasha Tudor.
Hunting for signs of new life in our front and backyard is always a treat especially when we find ...
I hope you have a blessed Spring!
i asked the kids to pray for an inspirational word, to define it and to look it up in the thesaurus. I had them stamp it on a piece of paper and decorate the paper with the synonyms.
I was inspired by this post at a blog called, A Homespun Heart.
The classroom gets a lot of use and needs re-organizing at times. i spent the other day changing bookcases and clearing out some paper clutter.
I moved over a couple of desks and got rid of a small table that was taking up some needed space.
This smaller bookcase fits in the corner and allowed us more room to spread out our desks.
The computer monitor now sits on my daughter's desk over to the side and out of the way.
The wire rack i had in front of the window is much better closer to my desk. I put our done bin on top and our recycling box on one of the shelves. Both of these bins were on the floor under my desk which was very bothersome.
My desk is cleaned off and ready for more work to be done!
These cubby shelves have been great for keeping my resources and supplies. They are so strong and sturdy.
Another quick classroom redo:
I got this great cubby at a tag sale about a month ago. I was using it upstairs for the kids toys.
This computer was on a bigger desk but it was taking up too much space and mad us all feel cramped together. I had this smaller table which is going to have to do for now. It serves the purpose because we really do not use this computer that often.
I had this shelf in the corner by my desk before but it was so tall and it was hard for me to properly reach the printer. Now it is in between two of the kids desk, holding some of our reference books and educational games for the younger kids. It is not that attractive but it serves as easy access for these items.
My printer is at just the right height now and I can easily grab my highlighters as well. All of my answer keys and daily lesson charts are also within reach on the wire rack next to the printer. The middle cubbies are for books I use with my 1st grader. The box on the floor is for papers that I need to correct.
This was a very quick room rearrange and could use some tweeking but it is a practical fix for the moment.
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