Chipps Family Homeschool 2014/15

Off to a great start, and late as usual!
We get to try some new things this year and I am excited to share how they are working out for us... only now two months into them! You know how that is, three months from now our feelings could be drastically different.

Our new things:

1. FSI Language Course It's what's for Spanish and it's FREE! Very clear audio and easy to download the written exercises. They concentrate on pronunciation in the beginning by learning greeting phrases. It is important to read the "how to teach the course" part. Takes pressure off and relaxes you to just learn how to roll those "r"s and have the right lilt and inflection, etc. It is going very slow, and we need to use flash cards.
2. Did I mention about the Brave Writer workshop I went to last spring? So, this year we get to try them out! It's Boomerang and Arrow. What? In a nutshell: take well written writing and learn how to write from it. I follow the Brave Writer principle taken from The Writer's Jungle, wherein are tools to teach language arts to numerable to number. 

              At the workshop (I could have listened to Bryon on this one) I learned to accept unschooling and find my place in it, where actually I already was, but felt that 'I'm not doing enough and I'm going to regret it one day'. As many Language Arts curriculum as I picked up I have lain back down. Now I feel like I have found something I can handle, and I don't have to buy workbooks etc.

At this point the Writer's Jungle is all I need. Of course there are other tools as well: Help for High School down to goodies for the little guys. I'm not the kind to collect a tool for every little thing so I'd like to hope that I could use WJ the whole way through.

Here is how our ideal Brave Writer week works:

Monday (week 1): Introduce book. Believe it our not this can take a while. Anywhere from badgering my kids into reading it to deciding how we all share the same book, to diving up the chapters to get it read in a month (particularly heavy books need pacing).  There is a new passage and lesson for each of the following weeks.

Tuesday: Brave Writer lifestyle suggests having Teatime on Tuesdays...I haven't made up my mind to implement that yet. So we usually do Dictation (taking a passage from the book and writing from dictation - copy work if the age is younger and spelling still an issue). In the WJ
(Writer's Jungle and in the Boomerang/Arrow subscriptions) there are specific details on copywork and/or dictation. I usually read over their corrected writings and gather spelling (if any) and other points to teach.

Wednesday: Writing Lesson from Boomerang or Arrow issue. This lesson is taken from the dictation passage consisting of grammar, writing tips and book discussion. These are quick and take as long as you want - knock yourself out.

Thursday: Think-piece Thursday. At the back of the Boomerang/Arrow issue there is a list of "Think Pieces" This is where I decided to have the pick a topic and write about it. Practicing writing with a purpose and subject that is on our mind from reading the book.

Friday: Friday Free-write. The kids like this. This is great in helping the kids find their writing voice without my criticism. In the WJ there is a whole chapter on different ways to handle free-writing and how they are useful.

The Book List 2014/15 (I opted out of a few, therefore not listed- personal objections):
To Kill a Mockingbird
What the Moon Saw
The Lord of the Flies
The Call of the Wild/White Fang
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (I haven't ever read this)
Anne Frank
The Hitch Hicker's Guide to the Galaxy (I've not ever read this one either)

I think, if a person were really into literature, you wouldn't need the Boomerang/Arrow issues so much. But I find, as a guide book, The Writer's Jungle absolutely essential. You can train yourself to teach all of your children using these methods. On the downside I don't always like the books that are chosen. We will skip them and I might just try my own hand at choosing dictation passages myself. I don't know how well I'll do on teaching the particulars, but we'll give it a try.

Onto other reading and writing: I am taking copywork and dictation from history for Samuel, and teaching his spelling & grammar from there. I bought a used copy of Recipe For Reading to help me with Jonathan. I must need to learn patience and understanding - I was given Jonathan.


Science: Nathanial and Abigail are finishing up their Science from last year. In a few weeks, I'll let them pick out a new book. Both of them are really enjoying their science. Jeremiah thinks that he is too old for the Exploring Creation Books. I tried another curriculum but it is just too old for him. He'll have to get over it! We have all the Apologia books; beggers can't be choosers. With Samuel and Jonathan: they are plugging slowly thru Considering God's Creation - lots of fun cutting and gluing stuff.

Mathematics: Amazing! Abigail and Nathanial are actually making it thru Algebra 1! Jeremiah is doing very well in Saxon 76. Samuel is very slowly poking thru the end of his second grade workbook. He had his heart set on doing Saxon 54 - no way, not even close. I think my haphazard approach to teaching him math wasn't the greatest idea. Jonathan is doing fine in his 1st grade workbook, but can't read his lessons, still. SSLLLLooowwllyy moving along.

History: Nathanial is Exploring Government (Notgrass)and Abigail: Exploring World History (Notgrass) I was given these books! I am so thankful for the books people have shared with me. Jeremiah is having fun with the Mystery of History, another passed along treasure.

Art: #%^((*_+

Music: *(&^&^@!
isn't that nice...