Islam Studies for 5/1/012

     Liam continued his studies on Islam using A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade 6 from A Little Garden Flower (http://shop.beaconmama.com/A-Journey-through-Waldorf-Homeschooling-Grade-SIX-Curriculum-215.htm). The presentation of Islam in this curriculum is thorough and sensitive to its subject.  Mrs. Nielsen not only covers the basics of Islamic beliefs, but also explains to the parent-teacher the reasons for the customs of Islam.  As somebody who has lived in the Middle East for fifteen years, I can say with a lot of confidence that this program both covers the subject in an appropriate academic fashion and covers it with a human understanding.  Mrs. Nielsen does not shy away from presenting to her audience the common ground she finds with the followers of Islam and herself as a Christian woman.  The curriculum also offers topics for further study by the pupils of her program.  The program is both concise and informative.
     Liam also watched more of the PBS documentary "Empire of Faith."  For writing practice, he wrote the Five Pillars of Islam.

Paper Puppets and Islam Studies

Both yesterday and today, Seneca made her own puppets. She drew pictures of people and then cut them out. She gave her puppets the names "Riding Hood" and "Starla." Today, she sang Selena Gomez's "Love you Like A Love Song" as part of the puppet show. I also made another "fairy creature" for Seneca to play with. The pattern came from A Little Garden Flower'sThinking Feeling Willing program.
Seneca also colored with block crayons. I read "An Egyptian Cinderella Story" to her. Seneca retold the story of her birth using simplistic illustrations that I had made.
  Liam watched a documentary from PBS called "Empire of Faith" on the birth of Islam.  Liam copied the opening Surah of the Quran for writing practice.  We discussed how the Angel Gabriel appears in both the Bible and the Quran. In the Bible, it is the Angel Gabriel who informs Mary that she will give birth to Jesus.  In Islam, it is the Angel Gabriel who reveals the Quran to Muhammed.

Seneca Makes a Birdhouse 4/19/2012

Famous Men of Rome

   Liam continues to work independently on much of his studies.  I bought him Famous Men of Rome from Memoria Press.  The book just sat on the shelf at first.  He did already have a fascination with Julius Caesar, so I suggested that he read that section first.  From there, he took off on reading the different biographies in the book.  He has been telling about Sulla and Augustus. 
     He continues to read from D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths and to work his workbook on the subject.  I have him do workbook work to help him get used to that format for when it comes to standardized test taking. 
    The hard thing for our family is that I work and Liam is expected to do a certain amount of his work independently. When he doesn't, it throws everything back quite a bit.  On the other hand, I am trying to embrace some of the unschooling philosophy of everything in its own time.

Homeschool Planning

  Planning is definitely what drives me the most crazy when it comes to homeschooling. The planning in and of itself isn't the problem.  The problem is implementing that plan.  I work a somewhat scattered schedule.  So, official homeschool lesson time comes in these bursts.  Liam does have independent work to do while I am at work.  I have roommates, so Liam is not home alone, but legally he could be.
  I will say that doing some unschooling during these times does work very well.  Liam's assigned work is actually quite minimal.  The rest of the time, he is free to pursue his own interests.  The more technical stuff, like grammar and math, are held off until he and I can be together for quiet learning time.  The problem is, our time together is so scattered that I don't feel like we are really gripping and feeling the lesson.  I know that I need to re-arrange my schedule at work and I will probably do so soon, but I have part time hours as it is and I don't want to jeopardize that.
  I guess this scattered way of doing things isn't SO bad.  He has learned the importance of working independently.  We do take a lot of little excursions.  Time for friends and socializing is given as much importance as lesson time.
  Our homeschool just needs a little finessing.  On the other hand, a positive about not having a set schedule is that all of my kids have always been able to handle anything out of the norm/routine very well.  For example, nobody gets agitated if we have a flat tire or just little unexpected things happen. My kids tend to be very :go with the flow" type.  Not always, but most of the time.

Sixth Grade Homeschool Curriculum

Books and Worksheets
 D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths http://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Norse-Myths-Ingri-dAulaire/dp/159017125X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=133190
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths http://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Greek-Myths-Ingri-dAulaire/dp/0440406943/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331907636&sr=1-1
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths Workbook from memoriapress.com
A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade 6 by Melisa Nielsen alittlegardenflower.com
Ancient Greece by Charles Kovacs http://www.steinerbooks.org/detail.html?session=ca17605f4487056c50e65d250c2a0bbb&id=0863154298
Ancient Rome by Charles Kovacs http://www.steinerbooks.org/detail.html?session=ca17605f4487056c50e65d250c2a0bbb&id=0863154824
The Egyptology Handbook http://www.amazon.com/The-Egyptology-Handbook-Wonders-Ologies/dp/B0019MX71C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331771843&sr=8-1
Math Practice freemathworksheets.net
Famous Men of Rome  Memoria Press

Documentaries
The Battle of Thermopylae http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FViLPhmWeLY
The Brilliance of Themistocles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKxuAerW9YQ
Hannibal, The African Warrior http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmW3ZWILLwQ
The Ten Greatest Discoveries of Ancient Egypt

Movies
Julius Caesar 2006
The Blue and The Gray
Red Tails
North and South Book 1
North and South Book 2
Flyboys
Gettysburg
Amazing Grace

Fieldtrips
Gettysburg, PA
Flight of Fantasy (presentation by Tuskegee Airmen)
St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts
Fort DeSoto Park in St. Petersburg, Fl for Civil War Re-enactment
Eden Farms in Bradenton, Fl
Lowery Park Zoo in Tampa

Unplugging Or Least Trying To

After reading many blogs and articles on Waldorf education, I am trying to raise Seneca as less plugged in as possible.  I am not saying no tv or computers at all, but I make a conscious effort to provide non-electronic activities for her.  With my older children, we did have tv, but got rid of cable about ten years ago.  They were never plugged-in like most mainstream kids. I do allow my son to have video games, but the system is used and his games are all bought used.  My older children do watch tv, but much of what they watch are classic movies or historical fiction films.  When it comes to tv, I don't forbid, but I also don't offer.  (Unless, there is a special event or if the movie is educational.)
     Examples of movies/shows/miniseries that entertain while educating that my twelve and thirteen year old enjoy and appreciate are The Blue and The Gray, North and South, Iron Jawed Angels, Flyboys, Gettysburg, The Help, and more.  We also enjoy classic movies such as The Thin Man and Casablanca.
   For Seneca, at this age, I am trying to limit screen time.  She does enjoy Disney classics.  I do allow wholesome shows that many kids today sadly consider to be too corny.  I love that she loves to watch Annie (1982) and Sleeping Beauty.  It is important for her to be able to enjoy these movies while she is still young and the magic is still real for her.
  I think that today has been a great day for our non-electronic life.  Seneca and I played with playdough until her friend Lilly arrived at our house. The girls played with play dough together.   They then looked through books on the shelf and chose one out for me to read to them.  The girls painted with homemade paint, condensed milk and food coloring.  Their color today was red.
  For snack time, the girls ate lettuce with honey on it and strawberries.  The lettuce and strawberries were from the local farm that Seneca visited yesterday.  She picked the strawberries herself.
The girls swung from tree branches and ran around in the back yard.  They entertained themselves this whole day with no need for tv or other electronic devices.  The girls later went swimming at a pool.
  That evening, I took Seneca and Lilly to visit my grandma.  Grandma B is 92 years old and still lives alone!  The girls played with vintage cars that were my dad's when he was a little boy.  Then the girls played with a dollhouse.  Seneca loves visiting her great-grandma.
        Seneca told Grandma B about going to the strawberry farm and petting the goat and the pony.My grandma told Seneca that her family had a goat when she was a little girl.  My grandma had a sister with a lot of health concerns and it was felt that goat's milk would be better for her.  
         There is an education website which Seneca does enjoy very much. It is called Starfall. http://www.starfall.com/  I am very leery about learning being done on a computer and having a computer read to my child. I can certainly read to my child.  However, she does love the phonics and math games and does rather well with them.  I do, therefore, allow her to play on starfall, but I be sure to offer many other activities to balance out time spent on the computer.  My friend, Heather, once posted a link to an article which suggested that for every hour of electronic time, a person should spend an equal amount of time doing some sort of physical/outdoor activity.  Sometimes, my outdoor time is actually me watching the kids play at the park, but I'm going count it. :)
  As you can see, I have my ideals. I don't always meet them, but I'm going to keep making my effort.
  Yesterday, Liam and Yasmeen went to Emerson Point Preserve.  Our friend, Lisa from our house of worship, picked them up as I was working yesterday.  I'm glad that they were able to spend time with friends from church.  Liam said that they must have walked about three miles.  http://www.mymanatee.org/home/government/departments/natural-resources/resource-management/emerson-point.html

Fairy Tale for Seneca tonight

http://books.google.com/books/about/Grimm_s_Fairy_Tales.html?id=dkW2yBQ_NkoCSeneca's fairy tale for tonight was The Queen Bee.  I tell the story orally to her rather than read it.

Homemade Paint Day

Thanks to my friend Rachael at http://gotkiddos.blogspot.com/  for showing me this link on how to make paint from condensed milk.  http://ecemadeeasy.com/posts/painting-with-condensed-milk/

We've been using an old egg carton to separate the colors. Tonight, we only painted in one color, green. It was Seneca's choice.  Waldorf education often has children at this age painting in only one color at a time.  However, it is usually one of the primary colors.  I did think it great that Seneca would choose green just over a week away from St. Patrick's Day.