Teaching an Artist

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February 8, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 5 Comments

We discovered these Katie books at a consignment shop and have been lucky to collect quite a few in the series. Of course, my Katie loves them! They are delightful books that follow the imaginative adventures of Katie into the world of art and historical places.

Every day, Katie asks if we can do art first.

Every day, I tell her we have to do math and reading and history and science first.

Currently, Katie’s other favorite thing is Song School Spanish. Review coming up soon!

Art is her favorite subject! I use this as an incentive to get her to cooperate with the other subjects. We try to incorporate arts and crafts into everything we do for her since she loves it so much.

Here’s a picture Katie drew the other day with markers of my cherry limeade drink. Even though the straw is floating, I was impressed by the 3D lid.

We got Katie and Tori a guitar for Christmas. They’d been begging and we’re going through the lessons on Schoolhouse Teachers. Katie is also teaching herself to play piano. We use the KinderBach app and My First Piano Adventure. I am amazed at her musical ability. She’s always singing or humming.

Little brother Alex wants to do everything his sisters do. Here, Katie and Alex are painting with watercolors. These two don’t often get along.

Alex also joined his sisters here with their Harmony Fine Arts lesson. They drew Giotto angels with chalk pastels.

Everything Katie does, she does it with style. Vacuuming is so much easier when you’re wearing a princess dress!

Katie is our free spirit. She thinks outside the box. She excels at everything she does. She can already read chapter books and she’s not even 6 yet. She soaks up knowledge. I pray that she grows up and does radical and amazing things for God.

She is a delightful child and brings us so much joy.

Famous Artists & Picture Study Notebooking Pages

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General Science

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January 29, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 7 Comments

Elizabeth really likes the general overview of Apologia General Science. She’s breezing through it – even after having forgotten most of what she learned from the Apologia Exploring Creation series. This mama perhaps wasn’t as diligent as I should have been with taking advantage of all the fun experiments and learning experiences as I could have been. But I had three babies and we did what we could.

Liz is especially enjoying the anatomy modules – much to my chagrin since she really wasn’t on board when we studied it a couple years ago.

She’d been asking me to get her a more advanced book on body changes. Of course, at age 12, she knows the basics of human development. I certainly wouldn’t wait until she begins her first menses to let her know what’s happening! Not sure what she was wanting, I half-heartedly searched for an appropriate book online to no avail.

I’m not pleased with the secular emphasis in even so-called Christian books. They seem to skim over the implications of premarital sex and lust and not address important issues from a Biblical perspective.

When she asked about it again, I questioned her. I was frustrated because all the sex books I’ve found are blaringly inappropriate for her. She doesn’t need to understand the issues of abortion or homosexuality or teen pregnancy yet. She didn’t even know anything about those until very recently.

Alas, my little geeky girl wants a book that explains in detail the chemical changes in the body that cause the physical changes. What a relief!

I like that most of the experiments in General Science are simple enough that Liz can do them by herself. We’re all pretty fascinated by a branch of ivy that we are rooting.

Which brings to mind the verse:

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
~John 15:5

Like we are branches on the vine of God, so are our children extensions of us. When I get frustrated with behavior or attitudes, I must remember that they are His children first and I cannot change their hearts. I can only pray for them to accept His teachings and internalize them in their own hearts. I pray that someday I can sit back in my rocking chair and see the faithful tendrils growing forth from my legacy.

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Measuring Snow

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January 29, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 5 Comments

It’s been rather cold and snowy here for {too long} about 3 weeks. The kids loved it at first.

We’ve never seen deep snow before! It was light and fluffy and they sank into it. Now, it’s icy and crunchy and not so fun anymore.

Alex begs to be bundled up so he can go play in the snow for about 5 minutes, then he’s crying to come inside. I don’t blame him!

Tori loves the snow. She loves playing outside in all weather.

Measuring the snow and studying shadows like a sundial.

Pretending the snow is like quicksand. I sure wasn’t coming out to save them!

My husband loves me enough to bring the bird feeders to the back door for me to fill them without having to actually go outside.

Snow is for the birds.

Read about our winter nature walk that I’m glad we worked on before the snow storms! We have some fun scientific snow studies to work out later this week. We also looked really hard and studied winter colors through the window. We completed notebooking pages.

Check out my winter Pinterest board!

ProSchool Membership - Productive Homeschooling

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Math Monday: Symbols and Zero

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January 28, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We had trouble last time we had word problems. The girls read them and didn’t know whether to add or subtract. So now the girls have this handy dandy chart in their math journals to help them decipher the words in context.

My SIL pinned this math symbols chart. Perfect!

I thought the girls would like this pattern activity (scroll down to box#8). I admit I lost way too much perusing her site and subsequent links and downloading all these fun mathtivities for later!

The girls loved making these Zero the Hero posters.

Princess dresses help Kate do her best during school time.

Then, we watched Schoolhouse Rock DVDs.

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Tot School Winter

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January 22, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Alex loves our Antarctica continent box…It really combines both poles though.

He matches the penguins and whales and goes to play constantly with the Arctic figures in between activities.

He likes drawing on our easel. He was making lovely Os.

Working on a snow tot book (baby lap book). He’s gluing things that are white to a flap book. I gathered printables from Homeschool Share and other resources.

iPad bug building with Daddy.

We’ve been working on tot packs with winter, snow, and penguin themes.

Here are some favorites:

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Aint No Party Like a Time Lord Party

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January 15, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 17 Comments

Cuz a Time Lord party is not bound by typical temporal parameters and thus cannot stop.

The kids and I are quite the Whovians, much to the chagrin of my husband.

I have the T.A.R.D.I.S. text tone and 10th Doctor theme ringtone on my T.A.R.D.I.S. blue iPhone. My minivan is T.A.R.D.I.S. blue and really needs some stickers and a cool license plate cover (hint,hint). I have T shirts and other geek paraphernalia on my Pinterest and Amazon wish lists. Hoping I get some for my birthday or something, ya know? (That’s in March…)

So, after seeing a post on Star Trek and homeschooling, I thought I better add my sonic screwdriver bit to the Interwebz.

I think Doctor Who is a cross-curricular mega lesson, folks. It’s got a little bit of everything, and with a sexy British accent, too! It just doesn’t get much better than that!

So, let’s break it down for how we can teach the little ones using the new Doctor Who episodes. (Because, to be honest, I need to ramp up my efforts on watching the old episodes myself.) Now, some episodes are wee bit scary. Use caution. Always watch episodes before letting your kids loose in a dark basement to watch Daleks and Cybermen and other monsters wreak havoc in the universe. And always converse with your children about the show. We love discussing the what if moments.

So here are my ideas for a Doctor Who unit study.

I break it down by subject.

History:

Pompeii episode, one of our favorite episode series is during the London Blitzkrieg and Part II, another episode of WWII with his buddy Winston Churchill – “Victory of the Daleks,” killing Hitler (or putting him in the cupboard), The Great Depression (an American episode!), kissing Madame Pompadour in The Girl in the Fireplace.

The Doctor is called “Caesar” in the episode “The Pandorica Opens.” makes sense, no?

The fictional history of Gallifrey. a list of historical instances (fact and fiction) in Doctor Who episodes

Math and Science:

lots of technology and physics, relativity and time travel, astronomy, science…yet he struggles to simply count to 4…listing of science topics mentioned in Doctor Who episodes

Religion/Philosophy:

alien life, the devil, aliens with god complexes, Lazarus scientists, The Ood, angel statues, The Silence…it all sparks conversation no matter what your belief system. We like to talk ‘round here and I am not afraid to introduce philosophy and discuss what other people believe and why. Apologetics at its finest!

The Time Lord Victorious as a god?

(Source: ThetaKoshei)

Here are two interesting articles here and here discussing this inner turmoil and the ramifications for the universe. I don’t necessarily agree with everything here, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

(Source: mockingheartbeat, via devianta)

The Doctor’s nickname is Theta Sigma, used in the New Testament Greek as an abbreviation for God.

(source: Pearsecom)

The Master vs. The Doctor. ‘nuff said.

The Doctor as a Messiah figure? Read this article.

He regenerates and wakes from his coma just in time to save the day in the “Christmas Invasion.”

And look at this scene from “Voyage of the Damned.”

(Source: fiftyshadesoftennant, via mcelise)

“The Impossible Astronaut” (2011) kicks off series 6 with a pretty big and obvious allegory: the last supper.

Doctor Who invites all his most trusted “disciples” to a last evening meal
prominently featuring wine
and then insists that they do not intervene in what follows
His death is even attended by two women and a centurion!
And a mysterious stranger even shows up to help with the disposal of the body
The stigmata
The crucifixion position, which I think has been a feature of regeneration since 2005

Here’s a short list of religion in Doctor Who episodes…he’s playing the psychologist in our Christmas special “The Snowmen.”

He was being kind. All the power that The Doctor possesses and doesn’t utilize. Think about this for a moment. He can travel through space and time. All the changes he could make, but he maintains rules that he shouldn’t interfere. He does save people. Ordinary people who won’t disrupt the status of the universe. In The Waters of Mars, The Doctor realizes his potential and it is his downfall.

(Source: queencersei, via tennantsbluebox)

The idea of family.

The Doctor needs companions. He’s lonely and they keep him in check. loving Rose. strong and smart Martha. important yet forgetting Donna. ordinary and expectant Amy and powerful romantic Rory. enigmatic Clara. His adventurous “wife” River. His lost “daughter” Jenny. He lives with the guilt of failing. But he must carry on and love the people of Earth.

Humor: great opportunities to teach about sarcasm and lofty British humor. I usually have to explain the jokes to my kids. Perhaps this is why my husband doesn’t like it. He can’t understand their speech or their humor. Oh well.

Life lessons from Doctor Who article

Literature:

“The Shakespeare Code,” Agatha Christie episode: “The Unicorn and the Wasp;” allegories to great sci-fi lit and shows: such as in episode “The Empty Child.”

He explains he’s like Gandalf in episode “Meanwhile in the TARDIS.”

List of literary characters mentioned in Doctor Who episodes. Mention of real books in Doctor Who episodes. Study the science fiction genre!

Writing:

fan writing competition lessons (scripts)

Art:

van Gogh episode. Brilliant. “Vincent and The Doctor.” And they didn’t really change a thing. or did they?

(Source: The Ultimate Ginger via Velaroye)

a not very good list of art mentioned in Doctor Who.

Here are some printable Doctor Who foldables and coloring pages here. All sorts of flashcards at Quizlet. made by all kinds of people, so I dunno.

Set your sonic screwdriver on these resources:

article historical figures in Doctor Who
definitive list of Doctor Who serial episodes on Wikipedia. or the official BBC episode list here.
Fun and Games from BBC

Tell me in the comments how you incorporate your favorite shows in your homeschool!

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Winter Nature Walk

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January 12, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 8 Comments

Join us on our walk around our neighborhood?

We ventured out for a winter nature walk.

I love the birches in this area. Their bark really stands out…and has eyes!

an evergreen silhouette with the sun shining through it.

a tree that still has leaves on it

Just look at that gorgeous bark! I think it’s a striped maple.

crows in the tree. they were eating walnuts.

and, look! a crow footprint in the snow.

this tree already has buds on it

this birch with buds and catkins

juniper berries. Tori was good to spot these.

a really big beautiful rock in someone’s front yard

a poignant picture of unpruned withered roses with rocks

Tori was excited by how long her shadow was.

Rosehips along the next door neighbor’s fence. I love how they stand out against the gray and snow.

our new nature display box. I found this at Hobby Lobby. perfect.

the girls hard at work drawing the milkweed pods

Tori is proud of her tree silhouette page

Katie is drawing the buds and crows in her tree silhouette

Alex drew his pictures too. He loves being a part of it all.

Tools we use and love

Sure glad we got in that walk since we’re in a blizzard this weekend!

Tori got a little rock set for Christmas and we’re going to explore that since all our rocks are under billows of snow right now.

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Middle School is Tough

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January 9, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Middle school is tough.

It isn’t all cute and craft-laden.

It’s lots more school work than what the littles do. And it doesn’t often make for fun pictures.

There seems to be a lot of stress – for her with the ups and downs of adolescence – and for me as a parent trying to break through to her.

The goal as a parent is to teach self-control and keep knocking at the barriers she puts up.

I encourage her through all those awkward feelings. I dig down deep to remember what it was like for me.

Being stuck in the middle is tough.

She’s outgrowing many childish things, but she’s not old or mature enough for many adult things. The adult world is a scary place and it’s my job to protect her even on the days (moments!) when she thinks she’s ready for it.

Responsibilities increase and hormones mess up everything.

It’s important to maintain rules and boundaries even when she pushes back.

We require attendance at meal times, church, and family read aloud time.

She may roll her eyes and scoff or cry, but it’s important. She needs to realize that growing up can be uncomfortable, both physically and emotionally, but we must model appropriate behavior in how we handle discomfort and inconvenience.

Is it easier to let her huff and hide and in her room? Absolutely. But it’s worth the family disruption to teach her self-control. And her siblings watch the ordeals and learn.

School time is often a battle, but sometimes it’s magic.

I encourage her to be more independent with her assignments.

She still wants Mama time: to be read to, to discuss the reading and assignments, and to stay up after her siblings go to bed and watch a movie.

We re-evaluate school work constantly for something that works well.

Liz loves notebooking with PowerPoint and Notebooking Publisher. yay for technology!

I snapped a pic of Liz’s completed pipe cleaner DNA strand.

She’s going through Apologia General Science. She does most of the experiments with Dad, so there aren’t usually any pictures since I’m not involved.

Liz is enjoying our history and literature studies with Tapestry of Grace. We’ll learn about her namesake Elizabeth I in history next week!

She continues to adore Life of Fred math. She is now on Elementary Physics, a pre-algebra book. She will begin Videotext Algebra next.

The middle school years are challenging and the rewards are few, but so worth the effort.

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Math Monday: Nursery Rhymes

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January 7, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

Nursery Rhyme math to coincide with our nursery rhyme readings in history! Most nursery rhymes originated during the Middle Ages and Renaissance to help teach lessons to children.

I got this journal free from a TpT shop. She must’ve taken it down now. She has lots of other fun printables though!

We talked the math problems through and they helped me figure it out. I wrote it on the board and they copied it on their papers.

This one is Humpty Dumpty’s men. Five men…how many fingers did they have to help Humpty Dumpty?

The finished page…drawing…words…equation

Music Math!

Dad taught the count of the musical notes and helped them through counting their notes on these fun math pages.

8th notes…counting by twos. they enjoyed having something different in math.

Check it out here…Early Math with Mozart!

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Snow Unit Study

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January 6, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

We’re having fun with winter art and nature study! We plan to learn about snow and winter themes all month long!

We had fun with art and science, learning about snow.

I used painter’s tape to make snowflake shapes and the kids finger-painted the poster.

After the paint dried, I pulled off the tape, and voila! lovely wintry decoration!

The kids loved coloring in their winter colors grid.

Alex saw orange and purple among all the gray and white. He looked really hard out that window!

a fun snowflake magnifying and matching activity with Snowflake Bentley’s snowflake pictures. We will read that book later this week! It’s on hold at the library. also from the winter nature study eBooks.

our winter sensory bin table.

When Alex tells you that he’s “making dinner” and then you hear water running, please know that the sensory bin will be soon destroyed. I had originally put packing peanuts in the bin for “snow.” Yeah, those were disintegrated.