Keep them Home

Let's Go Learn

Sonlight reccomends (and so do I) a really great tool for the homeschooler. Let's Go Learn is a reading and math assessment site that is low cost ($20 per test, per child with discounts for more tests/children), very in depth, and gives advice on how to improve the areas of skill your child needs work on. The site says schools use this test, and I found it really helpful (and a much needed encouragement) to know how well my daughter did on her reading assessment. It also showed me I needed to work on her spelling skills the most. It was a fun computer test, that seemed to know just when the kids would have had enough. We were in the kitchen while she took it and just about the time she started to complain, it was over. I'm not a huge advocate of testing as long as you have an idea how much your child is retaining, but this is just such a simple way to put your mind at ease about how your child is doing compared to others in his or her grade. So here it is:

Let's Go Learn

Free Bible Curriculum...yay!!

This is an awesome find!! Free in printable PDF format, Puritan (reformed) curriculum K-12, including grammar, Bible, and more...all using scripture for the basis!! I wouldn't call it a complete curriculum for us, and I don't agree 100% about the tone of some of it, but I'm sure excited about adding some of it's elements to our homeschool...for the cost of some printer ink. If nothing else it could be used for discipleship at home. Enjoy!!

Puritans Curriculum

How old is the earth again? The inconsistancy of old earth science

Here is a really informative article about the problems, fallacies, and bias of modern scientific dating methods. I have long thought for myself about the issues of radioactive carbon-14 dating (for instance there be a lot of variables in the loss of carbon-14 in a decaying living thing such as weather, soil type, plant vs animal material, etc). With so many variables in decaying matter, how could an accurate and fail-safe method ever be concieved? And what is the basis for the time line conceived by scientist (MA- or millions/billions of years) when all historical evidence ever dated by actual tangible methods have produced only thousands of years? This article is very intelligently written, so I hope it will be informative and get your gears turning the way it did mine.

Christian Answers

Our start for the year, and a great homeschool moment already

We are now going into our 5th week of Sonlight Core 1. We had to take a week off due to Hurricane Gustav, but it worked out okay because it was also my DD's birthday (6th) on that Wednesday. We are doing a 4 day schedule so it is more flexible for us. In addition to Sonlight we are doing "Teach them Spanish", "English from the Roots Up" (2nd half), a Phonics Review, "Sequential Spelling", "Studying God's Word B" (which has much stronger/better doctrine than SL's "Leading Little One's to God")and "Lollipop Logic". She really loves SL's science experiments and the read alouds. So far the 2nd grade readers aren't challenging her, but it picks up through the year, so it should work out. Some of the science is pretty advanced stuff (like reflection/refraction & Plimsoll line), and some of the writing required for the science sheets is quite advanced for her. But they do this so it will be challenging to an older child if you are sharing curriculums, so I let her verbally answer where I know it's too difficult, and I make note of that and write in her answers. The Lang. Arts would be the same thing, if she wasn't as gifted in that area....but that is why I chose Sonlight! She needs the challenge. She is also taking an interest in art, loves ballet, and is in the children's choir again this year. And socialization??!! She had more friends at her party this year than last year (most from church and homeschool groups)...about 16!! Plus she made two friends on the playground before her guests arrived that also tagged along for the party...so I guess that's about 18 then...lol.

Things are pretty challenging this year for mom because I also have my precocious and very meddlesome 2 year old DD who is potty training. All markers and scissors have to be kept a minimum of 6ft off the ground, and all liquids must be quite out of reach...lol. She is also getting very needy when we've been doing school a while, even with coloring at the table with us, playing with puzzles, looking at books, watching PBS, etc. She's also in that "what's that?!" stage, so she is learning at neck break speed. I try my best to capitalize on this time, but it is difficult to find all the time I'd like to take with her, and I know she still gets needy for her momma.

Our area is building a really cool homeschool group...really an incorporation of two seperate homeschool groups. We had a small one last year, and then one of the moms in our group found a mom from their group, etc. We missed the first playdate, due to mechanical issues (...ahem my hubby's tranny went out, so he had my car). But they have a field trip once a month planned, so hopefully we will be able to make those.

And now for my homeschool moment of the month....

My husband's friend was in our kitchen fixing a plate to eat, and when my daughter passed by he said, "Como Estas?". She promptly replied "Muy bien, gracias. Y tu?" LOL. I love homeschooling.