Hey Friends! I wanted to share some thing super exciting that has been happening around here (hence the neglect of this blog)! We have been working to develop

True North Homeschool Academy 

 (formerly Homeschool Works4U) for folks just like you!We deliver live on-line classes for 6th-12th graders wherever you are, Guidance Counseling to ensure success throughout High School, on-line Homeschool Coaching and more!

You want classes? We have some amazing classes! History, Lit & Comp, Science, Math, Latin, Hebrew, Spanish, Logic, Computer Coding! Ahhhmazing classes!

Our classes are taught by some amazing people! Our teachers are experienced homeschoolers, have been educating their own and others for years- between us we literally have decades worth of educational experience. Many of us have worked diligently to ensure our educational rights as parents, have homeschooled and have worked professionally as educators, farmers, programmers, musicians, writers, business owners, linguists and missionaries. We are your kind of people!

Need homeschool coaching? Winning teams have experienced, passionate coaches and this can be true in our personal and homeschooling lives as well. We commonly feel like we are failing our kids, not educating them well enough, dropping balls and wonder if they wouldn't be better off in school.  We are offering 1:1, Group and email coaching. You don't have to go it alone- our years of experience, successes AND failures and our passion to help other families succeed is what makes our Homeschool Coaching unique.

Guidance Counseling are you unsure what direction to go for with high school classes, what a credit really is or how to transcribe your students passions so that they can graduate? We've got you covered. We've worked with hundreds of High School students around the world over the years and helped them gain admittance to college, the military, vocational training and into vocational careers. We are here to help you juggle the demands of High School!

And lastly, just another thing I am super excited about - CLUBs! So far, we are offering a C.S. Lewis Club (be still my heart!), a Classics Club (so your kiddo can rock the next NLE level!) and a Writing Club (yep, my baby, Creative Writing - we are going to have a blast!). These courses are designed to count as a 1/4 credit a semester, with lots of fun stuff, opportunity for student interaction, and more!

And if you still need to get your standardized testing in, no fear! We are offering Scranton Peformance Series tests, that we can personalize for your students grade level AND offer you amazing feed-back on. Sound too good to be true? It's just part of the great service you'll find at True North Homeschool Academy! 

My dd is super excited about taking Biblical Hebrew, along with Hebrew History, Culture and Conversation with our new friend, Rabbi Fischer, from Israel! She's continuing on with Latin as well, and will be taking Latin II and jumping into our Classics Club.

I am most excited about teaching Christian Psychology (a CLEP prep course!) as well as World, Literature and leading the Writing Club. Because, you know, writing and literature. I'll also be heading up the Guidance Counseling and Homeschool Coaching programs. Things I do already and love, using my counseling degree, professional experience and years of homeschooling. Happy sigh!

I hope you'll take a look at our new endeavor. And if you have any questions, or want to know more, please reach out! We'll be hosting specials and give-aways throughout the summer, so stay tuned for that as well!

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@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Still Classically Educating After All These Years

I grew up reading. I grew up learning from books and to books I turned when we began homeschooling 27 years ago. Books have figured heavily into our family life, homeschool world and larger community. (I edited a book this summer, The Cup of Salvation, by Rabbi Pesach Wolicki and am currently reading a review copy of Nancy Pearcy’s book, Love Thy Body). Basically, everyone around here is either reading, writing, or listening to a book of some sort around here most of the time.

We began homeschooling with a great books approach using a literature based curriculum and  pedagogy for years, despite seeing obvious holes and weaknesses in it. I loved the idea of Classical Ed and had a well-loved copy of The Well Trained Mind that I read yearly, but I just could not make it all come together.

In 2006 I discovered Classical Conversations as I was researching curriculum for the large local co-op that I had started and was running. Leigh Bortins just happened to be speaking a few hours away and I took the opportunity to go and listen to her. She changed my understanding of education and learning. We changed our curriculum, co-op, and focus and haven’t looked back. Leigh Bortiens talked practical application of the theory of classical ed. She was compelling and challenging. She told me that I could in fact learn grammar. This was a paradigm shift for me as I thought that you either had the grammar gene or you didn't. She said teach to your kids strengths (check) but also teach to their weaknesses (oh, we should shore up our kids academic weaknesses, too!). 

Classical Education is a catch-phrase for a lot of things, but at its core it focuses on skill building through a series of stages, most commonly known as the Trivium (Grammar, Dialectic, Rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy). The Trivium is what is mostly talked about in homeschooling circles, as it’s the foundation for higher level thinking.

The Trivium is comprised of the Grammar, Dialectic and Rhetoric stage. The Grammar stage focuses on Memory work, the Dialectic stage focuses on the rules of Logic and argumentation and the Rhetoric focuses on presenting well through the written and spoken word. Classical Education is also word versus image focused (for a more in-depth analysis of the differences, check out Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman).

Utilizing the classical method has saved us enormous amounts of time and money. We are focused on developing skills and honing those skills so curriculum is often non-consumable. Also, being committed to a pedagogy, versus a curriculum, allows far more freedom in how and when materials are gathered. There is no longer the yearly confusion about whether our curriculum is “working” or not. We have either learned the skills we set out to or we need more work on those skills.

Teaching classically has built my confidence and ability to teach. Mainly because I am not “stuck” anymore. Classical Ed has gifted me the freedom to not know, to learn and to grow beyond self, or school, imposed limitations.

And more stuff I’ve learned educating classically. Important stuff:

•  You aren’t going to learn most things the first time you see it; that’s overview. You must become familiar with material in order to really learn it.
•  Memory is the mother of learning. Memory works requires time on task and drill. And more drill.
• Overlearning is underrated and misunderstood. Overlearning is taking a difficult and uncomfortable behavior or skill and turning it into an automatic skill.
•  Learning something for long term memory is not the same as the short term memory required to cram for a test.
• 
• When you memorize something, you own it. Memorizing material allows you to make connections and see relationships that don’t happen when you don’t own the material.
• We should teach to our kid’s strength and allow them to go as fast and far as they can, while at the same time, shoring up their weaknesses and requiring them to push beyond comfort. Difficult things are often uncomfortable. It’s o.k. for our kids (and us!) to be uncomfortable.
• Kids are capable of working much harder than we give them credit for or they often belive.
• Fun is great but solid academics afford our kids the opportunity to push beyond their comfort level and gain the deep sense of satisfaction that comes from working hard and accomplishing much.
• 
• Building copiousness goes way beyond a set curriculum. Scaffolding information is very helpful to mastering difficult material.
• Using planners and breaking down long term projects does not come naturally to most kids.
• Most people do better with a study buddy or drill partner.
• -Envisioning what could be versus reacting against is a much more effective long term motivator.
• 
• You are not going to know everything. You can learn more than you probably give yourself credit for. Even if you were terrible at grammar or science in elementary school, you have the tools and skills that you have learned as an adult. Things will come easier to you know. Be the lead learner in your home. Wrestle with concepts- it won’t hurt you or your kids to see you struggle to learn something or gain mastery over new concepts.
• 
  
• 

Classical Eduacation has allowed us to go far beyond the simple surface of things, dive deeply, teach and learn efficiently and well.

While we love the pedagogy of Classical Education, our goal is not to turn out little intelligensia robotrons. Our goal is to educate life-long learners who know and will continue to appreciate and discover Truth, Beauty and Goodness. 

Ad gloriam Dei! 

What do my fellow homeschool bloggers have to say about their Homeschool Method? Go visit them to find out!

Note: all posts will be live after 8 am EST on Monday, Jan. 15th.
How Our Academic Co-op Completes Our Eclectic Homeschool by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
A Method to Our Madness by Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Finding Our Homeschool Method by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
How We Homeschool by Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Give Us.... by Annette @ A Net in Time
A day in our Home by Sarah@DeliveringGrace
Lit-Based Education: How We Homeschool by Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
Overhauling Our Homeschool - Adjusting our "How" to fit our "Why" by Sabrina Scheerer @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ
A Day in the Life of a Homeschooler: Expectation Vs. Reality by Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
How Charlotte Mason Transformed Our Homeschool by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
Captain's Log, Supplemental - Our Homeschool Days by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
How we get it done. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
How to Organize Daily Curriculum with the School Cart by Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Learning For LIfe by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
Eclectic Homeschooling: When It All Comes Together by Jen @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
A Typical Day? by Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
This is the Way We Do Our School, So Early in the Morning by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
A Little of This and a Little of That: Eclectic Homeschooling by Laura O @ Day by Day in Our World
Still Classically Educating After All These Years by True North Homeschool Academy
So what exactly is Life Led Homeschooling? by Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
The way we learn ~ 2018 Virtual Homeschool Fair by Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Our Homeschool Routine by Joelle @Homeschooling For His Glory
Homeschool Methods – 8 Tips for the Journey by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset

Homeschooling: The Big WHY

We've homeschooled for a while now (27 years this year) and it has defined a large part of our family life. Why homeschool? I always knew that if I ever had kids I would seek out an alternative to public education for them. I moved every 2 years as a child and being shy (which I was, no lie), this was painfully difficult. I was always the new kid, always the outsider and I missed vast amounts of information. Plus, school just wasn't that interesting. Maybe it seemed that way because I spent so much time wondering what we were talking about (did I mention I missed out on a lot by moving?) I compensated by doing things I thought were interesting. I read. A lot. In high school I sang in choirs, played in bands, threw pottery, studied photography, played tennis, swam on teams, held jobs, and read thousands of words and hundreds of books. And worked. I learned a lot, but not necessarily in the traditional expected ways.

My family traveled a lot growing up and my Mom was always taking us camping and to factories and parks and points of interest on vacations. My dad was the best question asker on every docent-led walk. I remember sitting in the total pitch black of a cave as a child, listening to my Dad pepper the Guide with questions about bats, and guano. My Dad’s family could talk to anyone about anything and their inquisitiveness about people and places opened doors and opportunities to us to see, explore and understand in new ways. My Dad taught my sister and I both to read at young ages and books have been part of my life since. In many ways, my parents primed the pump for my own homeschooling adventure.

My husband and I started homeschooling in southern California when our oldest was 5. At that time, you didn't have to register your kids for school until they were 7 and we would have finished the part of grad school that required CA residency and moved somewhere else. Which is exactly what happened. The CA schools that we visited had issues. I won't bore you with the details but they covered the gamut from academic to social. We figured we could handle phonics instruction, which we did (thanks Samuel Blumenfeld- LOVE AlphaPhoncis!), and then reassess once we were re-settled.

From there we spent a year in Ohio, knowing that the military would move us again in a year. Which they did. We believed that homeschooling for the interim year would provide more consistency than enrolling and de-enrolling once we moved. We spent the year hanging out with friends from college, family and taking care of our very sick newborn. Dr. Dh's internship cooked his grits time and energy wise so we didn't see him as much as we would have liked but we had a lot of fun going on field trips, reading books and being close to the people we loved.

After that we landed in NM. Home of abysmal test scores and the drug corridor of the west. By the time we'd left Ohio I joked that we were in a rut, which is why we continued to homeschool. Sadly, folks failed to laugh at my droll and dry wit, so I quit joking about it. The fact of the matter is that homeschooling had become a life-style for us. My husband and I are committed to education and sharing our faith with our kids and believed that a private educational model, specifically tutoring, delivered by invested, caring adults was the way to go. Homeschooling was the way that we could do this affordably. 

It hasn't been all joyful educational pursuit. We've birthed strong-willed kids, changed locations and social support a couple of times and had our share of challenges. Yet we continue to homeschool. Why? For us, it boils down to a couple of simple things.

Education. Our kids are getting a solid education. Is it perfect? No. Are there gaps? Yes. Is that normal. I think so. Do we continue to hone and improve what we do? Yes. 
Faith. Our kids are committed to their faith and have years to refine, define and own it before the world and peers, and a whole host of other voices come along to batter and beat it into something almost Christan. Our kids leave our home with a solid understanding of the history of the church, the importance and personhood of Jesus and a glimpse at how imperfect people attempt to live a live of vibrant faith. Is it perfect? No. Do we fail? Yes. Is that normal. I know so.
Family. It's a busy world. We've had hours to spend together, playing, reading, learning, building, re-modeling, cooking, gardening, arguing and laughing together. The good side of that is that everybody really knows each other. The downside of this is that everybody really knows each other. Is it perfect? No. Do we get on each others nerves. You betcha'.

We’ll be graduating our fourth homeschooler this spring; with one to go. It’s been a sweet season and the best job in the world. We have learned, laughed, traveled, wrestled, struggled, grown, prayed, cooked, celebrated together over these past many years. We have had our share of heartache, struggles and failures, as well as our share of laughs and wins.

Is homeschooling the way to ensure picture perfect academically trained kids? Is homeschooling the way to raise people of character? Is homeschooling the way to ensure that no troubles or heartaches will come your way? None of these are true. Homeschooling is an option, with no guaranteed outcomes. Your kids will struggle, they will not be perfect, they will fail; as will you. They may turn their back on everything you hold dear. But if God is calling you to homeschool, your job is not figure that out. Your job is to be faithful to do what He is asking you to do. Outcomes are above your pay-grade.

Even with no guarantees, and after all these years, I am so grateful to have the opportunity to homeschool. It’s been a great joy and a blessed calling.

Find out more about the Virtual Curriculum Fair herehttp://www.homeschoolingheartsandminds.com/2017/12/the-2018-virtual-homeschool-fair-is.html#comment-form

Visit the bloggers participating in the Virtual Homeschool Fair:
Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Dana @ Life Led Homeschool
Jenn K. @ A Peace of Mind
Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset
Kim @ Good Sweet Love
Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
Jen Duncan @ A Helping Hand Homeschool
Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Amanda H @ Hopkins Homeschool
Annette @ A Net In Time
Lizzy @ Peaches@Home
Sabrina @ Kids, Crunch, and Christ
Michele Pleasants @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Brittney @ Mom's Heart
Sarah @ Delivering Grace

Lisa Nehring has 1 husband, 2 graduate degrees, 5 kids and a black-belt in homeschooling. She is the owner of True North Homeschool Academy, which delivers 6^th-12^th grade courses live, on-line. Check out TNHA FB page for up launch information and specials! https://www.facebook.com/TrueNorthHomeschoolAcademy/notifications/

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag30/Lisa_Nehring/siggywithflower_zps2ffa66ba.png @Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Act Your Part Well -VCF Word Play

This year, like every year at this time, we are deep in the midst of play practice. An area homeschool group hosts a Festival of One Act Plays at a local College Theater each end-of-January. It is a great way to fill long, dark winter days, and a fantastic way to engage in Word Play.

Tantara grew up out of a homeschool group that put on a play one spring. This became a yearly Drama Camp, which takes place at a local church and often involves 60-80 kids, scores of parents and older, graduated siblings. This, in turn, has become a bi-annual Musical, where dance coaches and musicians are employed, and costumes, staging etc is phenomenal. And, of course, Tantara, Festival of One Act Plays, is the mid-year production that has sprung from the humble back-yard beginnings of performing simple myths and fairy tales, dressed up in sheets.

This year, our kids are performing a smash-up of Dancing with the Stars and the Greek Parthenon. It's good writing, we have some seasoned performers and props and costumes are detailed and perfect.

So, back to words. With drama, kids learn the 5 Cannons of Rhetoric: Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, Delivery. I mean, they really learn them, because if they don't, they fail on-stage. Theater gives pretty immediate feed-back. And while they are not necessarily writing the scripts themselves, they are taking in and memorizing good words and interesting interactions and learning what makes them engaging. They are developing a critical ear and eye for good (and bad) writing.

In addition, kids must learn, in order to be effective in a performance Projection, Enunciation, Tonality, Speech Skills of Expression (in other words, how to NOT speak in a monotone). They also learn Body Language, Gesture, Control, Team-work, how to take direction, choreography and movement- all while interacting with the audience and other stage members.

Good performance is not limited to simple entertainment. Good performance is a professional skill that will benefit our kids, not matter what they do in life.

Last year, for our end of year CC parents night, Cub, after years of Drama performance, recited Patrick Henry's, "Give Me Liberty" Speech. It was profound, beautiful, heart-warming, inspiring. Cub got to the heart of these stirring words and conveyed them to an audience that included pre-schoolers through Grand-parents and spell-bound them all.

The pen is truly mightier than the sword, because it has the power to change the heart of a soul. Through the ages, good words stand. Cub took the words of Patrick Henry, words meant to spark a revolution and call men to conviction, breathed life into them and inspired an audience, young and old alike, brought tears to eyes and fire to heart. When we act our part well, we too, can change hearts.

Find more articles VCF posts on Word Play: 
2013 VCF Word Play
2014 VCF Word Nerd Love
2015 VCF Words are Loaded Pistols
2016 VCF Classical Word Study 

Please visit my fellow homeschool bloggers who are writing about Playing with Words this week:

All posts will be live by Monday, January 9th at noon EST.
Delight Directed High School English by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Act Your Part Well- 2017 VCF by Lisa @ Golden Grasses
The Search For Language by Michele@Family, Faith and Fridays
Our Top Picks for Language Arts by Amanda H @ Hopkins Homeschool
Multiple Approaches to Language Arts in 2017 by Laura @ Day by Day in Our World
How We Cover the Language Arts in Our Homeschool by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Use Your Words by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
The Art of Perfecting Macarons by Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life
Loving Languages Every Day by Jen K @ A Peace of Mind
Speech Therapy & Elementary Latin by Yvie @ Gypsy Road
The Readin' and Writin' Part of Homeschool by Shecki @ Greatly Blessed
Children Who Love Books by Lizzy @ Peaches At Home
Customizing High School Language Credits by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
A Poetry Feast by Sarah @ Delivering Grace
Teaching Language Arts without Curriculum by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
I know your pain and it is worth it! by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
Language Arts: Our Style by Annette @ A Net in Time
Words! Words! Words! by Lisa M @McClanahan 7
10 Wonderful Word Games (+1) by Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Finding the Right Words by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
What About Reading Comprehension? by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset
Teaching Grammar and Writing Through Discussion by Chelli @ The Planted Trees

 @Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Setting the Stage - the 2017 Virtual Curriculum Fair

WELCOME TO THE PARTY! 

The 2017 VCF Party! 

Susan of Homeschooling Hearts and Minds is, once again, hosting the Virtual Curriculum Fair. Make sure you make it over to her blog, as well as checking out the other 26 participating bloggers, with over 287 combined years of homeschooling experience! We have all homeschooled for various amounts of time with large families and small, in cities and in the country, with small budgets and large. Find out more by checking out my intro to the 2017 VCF post.

Our family has homeschooled for 25 years- which would make me old, if I weren't in denial. It's been an interesting journey, taking us through 4 states, 5 kids, a few graduate degrees, 3 graduations, on-line classes, co-ops field trips galore and a zillion books.

How to educated one's kids is one of the most important questions a parent will answer- if they take the time to intentionally ask the question. After all these years, I still believe in homeschooling- the freedom it affords, the opportunity for academic excellence, the hope of individualized, customized education for our kids. I am way past the point of idealizing homeschooling- it's not a panacea, it's not gonna save anyone, it does not guarantee outcomes such as brilliant, kind, Godly kids who have a vision or passion or even a job. It's just a tool. But still an excellent one if wielded with a vision and a purpose.

We are classical educators. This is a bit of a switch from the first 10 years of our homeschooling career, when we took more of a Literature based approach. While I love literature of all kinds, the Literature approach is an overview approach and at the end of the day, the kids are often not sure of what they've learned  (and often, neither are the parents). One of the reasons we switched our focus to classical ed is because it is a mastery approach. My kids know what they know. We love the classical pedagogy for many reasons- it emphasizes skills, teaches how to think, how to learn, demands more, delivers more; it is simple (and cheaper!) in the long run and builds on a child's natural development. I love teaching classically, learning classically and sharing about the beauties of classical education!

We are still homeschooling our youngest two, who will soon turn 17 and 14,  and are in grades 8th and 11th, utilizing Classical Conversations Challenge program. It is content and project dense, creates positive peer pressure and teaches the kids how to manage their time and energies in a way that is focused and productive. Each year the kids have 6 Seminars: Logic, Research, Exposition and Composition, Latin, Debate and Rhetoric; covering Math Science, Writing and Literature, Latin, Apologetics, Debate, Rhetoric Skills, Western Civilization and much more.  Is CC all that our kids do? Are they drowning in stiff and boring curriculum? Hardly- they are involved in music, karate, ballroom dancing, art projects, odd jobs, camps, drama and they both read voraciously,

How do we get it all done? Each week, after our CC Community Day, we sit down with our planners (recently switched to Bullet Journals) and map out the 

week- including school, projects, church, work, lessons, etc. I try to do at least Latin and Logic with the kids (we use Jim Nance's excellent Intro and Intermediate Logic DVD's) and we do Morning Symposium together most mornings.

How do we organize our stuff? We continue to use our trusty Library Cart that we made with plans from Ana White's site, which holds our current school books. We use lap (white) boards and page protectors regularly, for copy/ .memory work.. We also have a "Morning Basket" - literally a basket full of materials we use for Morning Symposium. It is full of our Bible Curriculum, Memoria Press Latin Charts, and Art History Study from Memoria Press.

In one sections of our living room (which is part of our wide-open first floor) sits my workbench desk, loaded down with my Classical Conversations Directing supplies, a color printer, laminator, BuJu stuff, pens, markers and Work stuff ('cause I have a job, too). We have bookshelves throughout the house, lap-tops and kindles. We use all of them, regularly.

While we use and appreciate CC's lay-out of curriculum, and used much of it before joining CC, I am always on the look-out for new and fun curriculum finds. We frequently add in things, like Veritas Press' Art History program, or Memoria Press' Latin National Exam, and I love sharing resources with others. I've reviewed scores of various curricula over the past 8 years of blogging, many with the TOS Review Crew. You can find them under "Curriculum Review" or "TOS Review" tags on my side-bar, or look for specifics in the search box. If you have any questions, please be sure to leave a comment! I love chatting curriculum and developmental ages and stages!

What's ahead for the Virtual Curriculum Fair? This year, we have 25 bloggers with over  200 years of collective Homeschooling experience writing about curriculum in the following areas:

January 9th---Playing with Words: the Language Arts
January 16th---Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science
January 30th---Seeking Beauty: the Arts and Everything that Brings Beauty to Our World
January 23rd---Exploring Our World: Social Studies and more Science

It's going to be a great month of talking alternative education, the amazing resources currently available and how many of our families utilize these resources.  

I invite you to see how my fellow bloggers learn in their homeschools:

The Evolution of Our Homeschool by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Us-School Because We Are Us, Not Someone Else by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
It's All About the School by Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Setting the Stage- the 2017 Virtual Curriculum Fair! by Lisa N. @ Golden Grasses
New Year, New Goals, New School! by Amanda H @ Hopkins Homeschool
Homeschooling - A Glimpse into How We Do it by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Spotlight on How We Learn in Our Homeschool by Laura @ Day by Day in Our World
Our Unique Eclectic Homeschool  by Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life
How We Learn on the Go by Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Home Education - 10 Ways We Make It Work by Lizzy @ Peaches At Home
Schedules, where would I be without them? by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
Education at Our House by Shecki @ Greatly Blessed
Starting the Day Well by Sarah @ Delivering Grace
Making a Change - Accountability and Responsibility Through Routine by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
A time to be encouraged is coming.. the Virtual Curriculum Fair by Annette @ A Net in Time
Loving the Moment! by Jen K @ A Peace of Mind
Keeping Our Homeschool Organized by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
Homeschool Goal Setting – Looking Forward, Looking Back by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset
How We Choose Curriculum by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
This Is How We Homeschool by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
How we don't learn in our homeschool & how I don't plan {2017 Virtual Homeschool Curriculum Fair} by Meghan @ Quiet in the Chaos
Learning Our Way by Lisa @ McClanahan 7
Limping Along: Our Semi-Eclectic Approach to Homeschooling by Debra @Footprints in the Butter
2017 Virtual Curriculum Fair: See How We Learn by Dana L @ Luv'N Lambert Life

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

The 2017 Virtual Curriculum Fair is About to Start!

Welcome to the 2017 Virtual Curriculum Fair! I've been part of this party since 2013.Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds is the creator and master-mind behind the VCF, so make sure you stop by her blog and look around.

What exactly IS the VCF? 

It's a month-long blog series/ hop, which starts MONDAY, JANUARY 2, 2017, that includes a twenty-five fantastic homeschooling bloggers, with over 200 collective years of homeschooling experience, bringing you their best curriculum finds, tips and thoughts. These are, deliberately, non-sponsored posts. You aren't being sold something, there is no catch, you are simply get the benefit of these homeschoolers years of experience. The schedule is as follows:

1. January 2nd---
   See How We Learn/Welcome to the Fair---
   This week we’ll talk about how we get it done, whether it’s due to scheduling and planning or putting your faith in a higher power or somewhere in between. 
2. January 9th---Playing with Words: the Language Arts---includes phonics, reading, writing, grammar, spelling, speech, literature, etc., etc., etc. Latin and foreign language studies could also go here.   
3. January 16th---Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science---includes anything to do with mathematics, mathematical thinking, numbers, arithmetic, symbolic logic, critical thinking, and math-y sciences.  
4. January 23rd---Exploring Our World: Social Studies and more Science---includes history, geography, world cultures, worldview, biology, botany, geology, etc., 
5. January 30th---Seeking Beauty: the Arts and Everything that Brings Beauty to Our World

The Bloggers 

Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds

Laura H. @ Four Little Penguins

LauraOinAK @ Day by Day in Our World

Lisa N. @ Golden Grasses

Jacquelin C. @ A Stable Beginning

Jennifer King @ A Peace of Mind

Michele Pleasants @ Family, Faith and Fridays

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Amanda H @ Hopkins Homeschool

Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

Brittney @ Mom's Heart

Kym Thorpe @ Homeschool Coffee Break

Yvie Field @ Gypsy Road

Dana Lambert @ Luv'N Lambert Life

Debra B. @ Footprints in the Butter

Sarah J @ Delivering Grace

Annette @ A Net in Time

Lori H @ At Home: where life happens

Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine

Lizzy Peach @ Peaches @Home

Meghan W. @ Quiet In The Chaos

Amy L. @ Adorable Chaos

Kristen Hamilton @ Sunrise to Sunset

Kim @ Good Sweet Love

It's going to be a great month of Curriculum Talk!

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

What are We Fighting For? Virtual Curriculum Fair- Seeking Beauty

Because we are created in the Image of God- the ultimate Artist, it is no wonder that we have the deep desire to create, and the innate ability to respond to creativity. 

Art is integral to our homeschooling. It has taken many different forms over the course of 25 years but has always included some basics.

Nature studies.
Sketchbooks and colored pencils, pens, erasure, paints, markers
Time to think, reflect, ponder, mull
Drawing instruction
Vocabulary and word study
Excellent writing instruction
Humor -how to create and tell a good joke
Story telling
Scientific inquiry
Logic and recognition of fallacies
A good story
Books, movies, magazines, live events
Challenging activities
History
Theological studies
Theater and Public performance
Crafts
Event Planning and creating programs

I've done a fair bit of creating myself: photography, stained glass, basket weaving, painting, scrapbooking, journaling, poetry, writing, DIY, house-crafting, and all manner of fiber arts. It's just something I have to do. Dr. Dh is much the same way, though his creativity can often be found in areas like language studies (he's on his 3rd) and intensive intellectual pursuit. 

Which leads me to a point. True creativity and artistic instruction IS an intellectual pursuit. I created and taught a high school level Creative Writing Course a couple of years ago (best class evah- amazingly talented kids who really loved the work!) and they were shocked at the level of discipline the class demanded. We learned poetry forms and memorized poetry, did writing prompts weekly, had a word count to reach every week, books to read and so much more. Often we look at "art" as free-from expression and devoid of plan or purpose. In fact, classic art- that which spans time and culture, is the result of amazing discipline.

I propose that true art is mastery of a subject area that allows those participating in or viewing it to reach beyond themselves and hope for better things. C.S. Lewis's Narnia series is a great example. There are so many deep spiritual truths found in this simple imaginative tale, even the youngest reader can hear and see that God is good and for them. 

But does art always demand mastery? Well, no. We can take simple pleasure and enjoyment in a great many things without excelling at them. And along those lines, I don't buy the adage that practice makes perfect. Good, intentional practice allows us to reach for perfection. Schlock practice re-enforces bad methods and behavior.

And a brief discussion of curriculum. There are some brilliant curriculum's out there- you know the ones. They take a difficult or intimidating subject matter and make it accessible to the point that you ever wondered what was daunting in the first place- IEW, Lost Tools of Writing, Story and History of the WorldOld Western Culture, Classical Conversations, Henle Latin, The Grammar of Poetry, etc. It's not that the student doesn't have to actually do the work- it's that the work allows them to excel quickly and well. These curriculums are worth every penny. 

I've said it before and it bears repeating. Often what you are good at, your kids will excel at. Imitation and all of that, not to mention that it's far easier to teach what we know and understand. As a result our kids all know how to draw, cook, garden, write, speak, plan, study and memorize and understand exceedingly well theology, the Bible and scientific inquiry. Things I struggle with, they often do. But, that also allows them the added benefit of them watching me/us struggle through something that might be initially difficult- like dry-walling, or learning Latin.

This year our creative pursuits have included the study of Latin and integrating the culture and vocabulary in new and interesting ways, sculpture and drawing, ballroom dancing, cartography and nature sketches, along with weekly drawings of body systems, Flourish, debate, Drama, recitation, Shakespeare, the Piano Guys, Studio C, Tim Hawkins, Foyles's War, Dorothy Sayers mysteries on DVD, violin, music theory, straw bale gardening, DIY projects, an arbor and an amazing display of Christmas lights, along with some great books and CD's, You gotta have art.

Past Virtual Curriculum Fair Posts on Teaching Art

Teaching Beauty

Art- The Shadow of Divine Pefection

Art Works

For the Love of Art

Stop by my blogger buddies sites and read more Virtual Curriculum Fair posts

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses - Seeking Beauty Through the Arts
Yvie @ Gypsy Road - Art Museum Staycation & Elements of Art Unit
Sarah@ Delivering Grace - First Things First
Laura @ Day by Day in Our World - Add An Element of Beauty with Fine Arts in the Homeschool
Lisa@ Golden Grasses - What Are We Fighting For?
Annette @ A Net In Time - Art, art, and more art
Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset - The Sounds of Music
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break - Music and Other Beautiful Things

All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Exploring & Discovering Around the World

If you've read much at GG you know that we are social science junkies. History and Science have always played a huge role in our homeschooling. This year is no different, but it has certainly taken on a different form than in past years with our involvement in Classical Conversations Challenge programs.

Flower, in Challenge A, has learned to draw and label the world by heart this year. She starts with a blank piece of paper and an atlas and goes from there. We have gone continent by continent, drawing, labeling, adding in features and rivers. Maps, globes, atlases have been out and about all year long. She is using our 3 x 5' whiteboard to draw on- it's bigger, she can use colored markers and she has had a blast putting in silly "keys, "features and gorgeous Compass Roses'. We are on Africa now, and have only Australia and Oceania to go. Blue book exams will ask the kids to draw and label the world, with 400 countries, capitals and features, having an hour to do so. Map- blobbing works just as well as fine cartography. We play weekly games in community day, such as around-the-world (one person starts the map, after a set amount of time, the kids rotate maps so by the time you get your map back, several people have already worked on it. This week, we are going to do a "family feud" type of game where I describe the country/ features by location, other geographic references, and the teams have to deduce what country or feature I am actually talking about.

Rhetoric this year has focused on Evolution and Fallacies. We have used the book, It Couldn't Just Happen for discussion, to learn the high lighting system and as a basis for the catechism cards. The book is simplistic in some ways, but does a great job of equipping kids with scientific facts and details. In addition to the book, the kids have memorized great stuff like, "What is good science," "What is the day-age theory," "What is a symbiotic relationship," etc. This semester, the kids are reading, The Fallacy Detective, and memorizing fallacies.

The kids are definitely learning that there is a cultural difference between those who believe in intelligent design and those who don't. During class we use Socratic Circles, play-acting, drama, jeopardy and more to discuss the issues, drill the catechisms and fallacies and integrate what we are learning with what we know already.

Science this year has focused on both the natural world and the human body. First semester the kids did research (using 2 sources) on a topic, such as "bats," or "cetaceans" to write a paragraph that they illustrated and gave a presentation on. I created a 20 point system with things like, "introduce self and topic," "makes eye contact," etc. where the kids could earn fabas (beans) towards an ice-cream party.
This semester, the kids are drawing and labeling parts of the body, such as bronchial system, heart, skin, etc. There is so much beauty and good learning done through copy-work and repetition! The kids bring in a cool fact, or disease, related to whatever they have drawn the week before. We are having amazing, amusing and oftentimes gross conversations about disease and wounds. Jr Highers have great stories (!) to tell!

Cub- Challenge 1, is having a much different experience this year with the Social Sciences- he is delving deeply in to Government, Economics and Debate- Econ has included a Cost of Living project, Debate has included individual events (he set a poem from Tolkien to music and sang it) and actual formal debates; last semester was on the Draft and this semester is on Immigration Reform. The kids don't know which side they'll be arguing and have had numerous study groups to prepare.
Additionally, both kids went to TeenPact's 4-day class this year, Cub as an alumni, along with the Political Communications 1-day class. Hands on learning at its best!

Science has focused on Physical Science using Apologia's Physical Science book, regular labs in class and a formal Lab notebook. In addition, he is writing a 15 page research paper on Mars. Yeah, he's full up, schedule wise.

What about history? We are getting plenty of it in the literature selections for this year- Cub just finished both "Up from Slavery" and "Life of Frederick Douglass" that fit in with the theme of freedom and U.S. History. Flower's reading focuses on 10 books that are Newberry Award Winners. I had the kids create a timeline of the protagonists for Blue Book. Great stuff!

For fun, Dr. Dh purchased the Lord Peter Wimsey series on DVD and we are currently mesmerized by Foyle's War. Murder Mysteries? Yes, both capture the period, the costuming and, I think, often the attitudes. Great discussion fodder.

In addition, we are listening Old Western Culture, by Wes Callihan every chance we get. So far we have gone through the Greeks and 1/2 the Romans. Reading the Iliad out loud might be on the schedule for this summer. Just saying. So, if you haven't heard of Wes Callihan or Old Western Culture, do yourself a favor. BEST curriculum evah!

I mention NOAA and NASA Web-sites every year- they are government sites that have excellent information- not to be overlooked!

Current awesome magazines we read cover to cover: Biblical Archeology Today and Artifax.

Past VCF Posts:
World Exploration'
The Social Sciences

World Exploration- The Social & Physical Sciences

Globe Trotting

Check out the other VCF posts this week:
Yvie @ Gypsy Road - Bringing It to Life! History, Geography, & Science 
Jen Altman @ Chestnut Grove Academy - Virtual Curriculum Fair 2016: Exploring Our World, How We Do Social Studies and Life/Earth Science 
Laura @ Day by Day in Our World - Learning About the World Around Us 
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses - Social Studies a Science of Relations 
Lisa @ GoldenGrasses - Exploring & Discovering Around the World 
Annette @ A Net In Time - Science and Culture Around the World and at Home 
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break - Exploring History and Geography 
Laura @ Four Little Penguins - Going Around the World at Our Kitchen Table
 Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory - Our Tackling of the Social Studies and Science
Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset - Encouraging Curiosity about the World

 @Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

An Appalling Lack of Curiosity - Virtual Curriculum Fair: Math, Science, Logic

At some point, everythings gonna go south on you...every thing's going to go south and you are going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work. That's all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem...and you solve the next one... and then the next. And if you solve enough problems, you get to come home. All right, any questions? ~ Matt Whatney in The Martian

Math, Science and Logic; foundations to Critical Thinking, Discovery and Invention. Our world seems to be suffering from a lack of it (hence the title for this post). Teaching how to think, and how to think critically, is one of our most important jobs as educators. This year's Virtual Curriculum Fair is hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds and Laura @ Day by Day in Our World

SCIENCE

We teach the Scientific Method; the Scientific Method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiment. Here's a brief run-down in case you haven't thought about it since 7th grade Science class:

 www.sciencebuddies.org

The steps of the scientific method are to:

Ask a Question

Do Background Research

Construct a Hypothesis

Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment

Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion

Communicate Your Results

I have printed and laminated a colorful Scientific Method chart which we refer to and use for filling out lab reports and discussing scientific experiments in class. This provides everyone ready access to the information and color coding as a simple mnemonic. 

The Scientific Method is important because it gives us a framework for understanding ideas, hypothesis, conclusions and laws of science. You’ll hear science terms brandied about as if they are fact, when in truth, they are often someones untested hypothesis. If you know Scientific Method, you can recognize the difference between conjecture and conclusion- in other words, you can easily spot a scientific fallacy.

The Scientific Method also provides a solid framework for testing and recording data in a way that is logical, sequential and reproducible. Edison did not just discover the light-bulb but also discovered 400 ways not to make a light-bulb (and several other inventions to boot!). This was possible because he created reproducible experiments and keep good lab notes. Lab notes teach accuracy, neatness, observation and recording skills. 

Good science, the constant search for accurate information, is also examined and replicated by having reliable sources that can be easily accessed. In Challenge A the kids are taught to cite two sources for their weekly science reports, based on APA or MLA style.

As the kids get older, we use textbooks, do lab journals/ group labs and Scientific Research papers (Cub is currently writing a Research Paper on Mars). CC’s Challenge program has taken our passion for science and provided a terrific structure to delve more deeply by doing weekly science reports, creating a Scientific Timeline, doing regular labs with journals and writing semester long research papers. We are loving it! 

 MATH

 I have given back dollars worth of mis-counted change, as well as having to ask for the same at businesses around the country. Math literacy is waning as people become reliant on calculators; please do your kids a favor and teach them basic math skills!

We drill math facts and do mental math. We're old school that way; repetition, baby. And then games- Board slam, Number Knock Out,Math Challenges, Math Bingo. Number Knock out has been a favorite at our Community Day with teams working more than one board at a time. 

We are also doing far more Math Discussion this year. I assign kids to talk through the 5 Common topics about one of their Math problems each week. The kids have to define every term, tell what it means, state the laws and formulas they’ll use to solve the problem, talk about what they don’t know, think about how they could re-write to problem, etc. before we even talk about solving the problem. When Flower or Cub are stuck on a Math problem at home, the first question I ask is, “What do you see.” This takes them from frustrated to thinking clearly and sequentially about the problem in front of them.  It is challenging and excellent strategic learning to think deeply and broadly about Math, and really any other challenging puzzle.

LOGIC

This year, Flower is learning informal Logic- fallacies- using Fallacy Detective. She is having a blast picking out fallacies in conversations, in talking with others and during the Presidential debates. Next year we will dive in to Formal (symbolic) Logic using Jim Nance’s excellent Introduction and Intermediate Logic by Roman Roads Media, Cub will be tackling Traditional (linguistic) Logic using Martin Cothran’s equally excellent Traditional Logic program published by Memoria Press. This Momma will be working hard to keep up! Praise God for quality video tutorials!

 

Past VCF posts on Logic, Math and Science:

Classical Stem

Godly Patterns in Homeschooling

Discovering Patterns

What is the Virtual Curriculum Fair all about? Check out this post! 

Check out my pinterest boards on these topics:
Pinterest Boards: 

CC Science
Homeschooling Math
Homeschooling Science

(all artwork is from Flower's Science journal this year)

Please visit my blogger buddies, who make the VCF worth reading, year after year!

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses - Thoughts on Math and Science
Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset  - From Counting to Calculus
Laura @ Day by Day in Our World  - How We Approach Math in This Homeschool Year
Annette @ A Net In Time - Struggling with Math, Loving Science
Annette @ A Net In Time  - Lego Pulleys and Levers
Yvie @ Gypsy Road Hands - On Math with Special Needs Learners
Chelli @ The Planted Trees  - Chemistry Using Living Books
Lisa @ GoldenGrasses  - An Appalling Lack of Curiosity
Edie @ Carter Chaos  - Our Favorite Ways to Study Numbers
Tracey @ A Learning Journey  - Robot Area and Perimeter Art Project
Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life  - Math and Standardized Tests
Jen @ Chestnut Grove Academy  - Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science
Sarah @ DeliveringGrace  - Learning Multiplication Tables
Kylie @ Our Worldwide Classroom  - Multisensory Multiplication
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break  - Science and Stuff
Kemi Quinn @ Homemaking Organized  - Math in Our Homeschool for a Later Elementary Organized Reader
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory  - Math and Logic - Our Steady Path
Laura @ Four Little Penguins  - Math and Science Love



Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!