Math-The Four Processes

Today we began our Math. In the past, I have alwasy liked Bob Jones for it's clear instruction and ease of use. This year, we are using Oak Meadow as our base curriculum and they introduce math in a different light. There are no mundane worksheets or boring drill. Instead math is introduced through art and story. I gathered the children in a magical silk circle and we brought out our "fire fairy," which is a candle inside a metal lantern that is only lit when I am telling a lesson story and helps to keep them still and listen. We can't wiggle too much or we'll knock fire fairy over and she'll get excited and spread fire everywhere now won't she? Nick still wants to use the matches (Oh Dear!) and can't wait to blow it out, but he does seem to listen a little better! Our story was about the four processes in math; plus, minus, times, and divide. There is a Gnome King who governs the gnomes and watches out for them. Each process is a different gnome. For instance, Plus is a fat, green, greedy gnome who fills his pockets with jewels and so forth. I made little gnome's to go with each process and will introduce the jewles that they mine in the next few days for adding and subtracting with. Each child drew a picture of the gnomes and their process. I am a bit worried about Nickolaus as he just brought me his and showed me the King and Queen and then one with a rather large nose and he told me that was.....uh Grandpa! I think he may be a bit confused! Grandpa happened to be a miner and so were the gnomes.....you can see where this is going! Grandpa is the "gnome" on the far right!

Playstand

The first playstand is done and thus far it has been used to create a puppet show, a giant dollhouse, a tree fort for some army men, and mostly a grocery store. I let the kids use real canned goods, wooden bowls, real gourds, and some pine cones to stock their inventory and a few paper lunch sacks and they had a blast. Everything Elysa bought or sold was 50 hundred dollars! She loves this number! If I try to tell her the correct answer for anything she looks at me like I have two heads and says 50 hundred dollars! Here it is set up as a grocery store with real gourds and apples in their wooden baskets and a gnome home and some other odds and ends. I didn't follow the plans exactly as I wanted it to look more like something you would find in a fairy tale cottage than exactly straight lines. I am really happy with how it turned out and it looks gorgeous with the silks draped over it!

Happy Sukkot!

This week in our homeschool we have been learning about Autumn as a season. In the early years, it is hard for children to fully understand all of the scientific principles brought to them. It is easier for them to understand and remember a celebration. We will be learning about the Jewish culture alongside a variety of others through celebrations and festivities these cultures celebrate. Today marks the beginning of Sukkot. Sukkot is the Hebrew word for "booths." The singular is Sukkah. Sukkot is a celebration that usually falls in September or October and the holiday celebrates God's bounty in nature and God's protection,symbolized by the booths or tabernacles of the Israelites. The holiday is sometimes called the festival of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles. It is among the happiest of Jewish holidays. People have long celebrated in the fall, when the crops are being harvested. Out of this tradition grew still another name for Sukkot-the Festival of In-Gathering. In-Gathering means harvesting the crops at the end of summer. Thus, Sukkot commemorates both the Israelites' successful journey through the desert and the season when crops are gathered in. Farmers once built small, temporary houses in the fields to use during the harvest season. Today, the sukkot, or sukkahs,as they are sometimes called, not only remind Jews of the booths, in which their ancestors had dwelled during the Exodus from Egypt, but they also call to mind the simple field of huts of farmers. Sukkot is a joyous festival of thankfulness, similar to the American holiday of Thanksgiving.

Open Ended Toys

Today, we began the process of dyeing silks. You may be wondering why silks and what are we using them for. I am a big believer in imagination and creativity and using open-ended toys. I have drawn from the Waldorf philosophy of using natural materials that have "life" in them. When I say "life" I am not talking hokey New Agey stuff, but things that were really alive...wood...silk....wool. I notice that when we have taken away a plastic noisy toy and replaced it with a natural toy the kids react to it in a different way. For example, a plastic sword that was bright red, black and white and made horridly obnoxious noises and was shaped rather scary, was always played with in a rather violent way and was always used to hit unsuspecting brothers or a sister. On the other hand a wooden natural colored sword that was pretty plain was more often used to hunt an kill dragons...not siblings! I got rid of the offending sword and now the only option is the wooden sword. The plastic toys seem to be noisy and overstimulating and very closed to open endedness and are only meant for one way of play. Have you ever noticed that more often than not children play with the cardboard boxes the toys come in over the toy? Why is that? Well, the cardboard box happens to be open ended. It can transform into a dollhouse,a spaceship, a car, a doll bed and on and on. The sky is the limit as long as the imagination is there! Plastic toys that are made today seem to fall apart within days of receiving them and often contain toxic ingredients...plastic in various forms can cause cancer and as of late lead paint! Or perhaps, lead paint is a bigger issue than we realize and it has always been put in the toys that our children play with and stick in their mouths. Another issue I am having with plastic toys, is that they are so often made in China. Why are we not supporting toy makers in the USA and their families? The toys that are made here in the USA are a bit more expensive initially, but last generations and your supporting another family "HERE" in OUR country where our standards are higher. Most "homegrown" toys have online "shops" and alot of people would prefer to run to a large department store where commercialization overflows the aisles and pick up a toy for a gift. We could just as easily, if not easier, hop online with a nice cup of tea and "visit" a toyshop run by a small American family and purchase toys that are healthier for our children. Healthier in terms of imagination and no toxic ingredients! I like Three Sisters Toys as she offers $5 flat rate shipping or free with a code at different times. She also offers silks in various shades! We chose to order some from Dharma Trading Co. and are dyeing them using a koolaid bath. I wanted to use natural plant dyes, but the thought of using a mordant started to freak me out a little with the whole process! Koolaid has acid in it already and therefore no need to add anything except water and vinegar! The kids enjoyed watching the whole process and we are awaiting the orange silks drying before we play with them! I am curious to see what they will be used for...capes...doll blankets...gates (Alec is currently using the longest undyed one for just that!) and a world of endless possibilities!

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we read 'Seasons at Fern Hollow' and discussed the different seasons and what happens in each one. I taught the kids to finger crochet using a story from our Enki curriculum called ' Duckling's Secret Treasure.' After we read the story, I brought out a basket I had carefully rolled 4 little balls of thick wool yarn and covered with a silk and told them we were going to learn to finger crochet. I taught them using a verse that repeated itself in the story and goes like this; I'll poke through the hole, And pull out a worm, If you pull my tail, Away he'll squirm. There is a series of actions that go along with each line and the kids loved it! Each of the eldest three worked on that for awhile. We continued reading 'Charlotte's Web' and all are enjoying the story. Later in the day, we finished one of our playstands!! Jump for joy! I will take pic's and post later. The kids really enjoyed playing with it and Nickolaus put on a puppet show for us!

Tuesday School

On Tuesday, we read a story called 'The Magic Spindle' and I introduced the letter 'A' to them through a beeswax colored picture of the golden haystack with a red 'A' in the center to give them a visual of A. Yes, they all know what the letter A looks like and sounds like, but this was a different approach to learning it. Our circle went a little better, but Nickolaus was still not fully participating until I started the Foxes verse he likes so much. In the afternoon, we worked on our playstands and had a little visit with Grandma who brought us a drill to use on the playstands! Thanks Grandma! Later in the day, Elysa and Nickolaus had a dentist appt. and Nickolaus wore his dragon costume! Yes, it was entertaining!

We started school...hurrah!

The kids have been begging to start school. Our main lesson book's have not arrived in the mail yet. Since, they are a pretty integral part of our schoolwork I have been hesitant to start. We started off with our "project" for all. We are working on sanding down a tree stump to make a gnome home! I have it set up in the dining room and when the kids were done breakfast they could start on it. When they had all had a turn, I brought Alec aside to begin his lesson. He was golfing with Grandpa today and I wanted to finish before he arrived. We went over the long A and short a sound and he read his words with ease! We then worked on part of the rhyme he is to memorize. We talked about different holiday,birthdays, celebrations, moon phases, and the migration of birds in preparation for his Social Studies project. He will be making a calendar complete with all of this information. After he was gone, the middles and I did our circle and then I read them 'Duchess Autumn.' The middles like to "pretend" they are at school and I am their pretend teacher so today I played along and we got in our school bus and drove to pick up some food for an impromptu picnic on this 85 degree day and had a fabulous time "twirling like leaves" in the field and noticing the changes around us. We even saw some geese flying south! It was a beautiful day and we really had a great time! This evening, after swim class, Dad cut our wood so we may begin building our play stands tomorrow! Our silks arrived in the mail today and hopefully we'll be able to dye them soon!

A friend sent me this awhile back..

The Freedom You'd Have If You Sent Your Kids To School By Barbara Frank You homeschool your kids? You must be a saint. Think of the freedom you'd have if you sent your kids to school. You'd be free to get up at 6 am to drag them out of their warm beds, so they can get ready to go out into the cold to wait for the bus.You'd be free to mediate the fighting over the bathroom ("No fair! I have to leave first! Make her get out!"). You'd be free......to make sure each one takes the right lunch....to figure out who left their lunch on the counter....to send the right permission slips with the right child....to make sure each one has the right books in the right backpack.And if there's no bus for your neighborhood, you'd be free to drive the kids to school, along with someone kids, if you carpool....Which would leave you free to sit in their driveway honking the horn, shivering and waiting, while your kids fight in the back seat because no one wants to sit next to the kid you're waiting for.Of course, if you sent your kids to school, now your real freedom would begin,because once the kids are actually in the school building, you'd be free to do what you wanted for an entire six hours:To clean the whole house all on your own, with no help from the kids.To watch "Regis and Kelly" or "The View" (didn't you love the time the ladies on "The View" interviewed that famous actor, and to impress them he pulled off their shoes and juggled them? What a great show....).To go shopping, though you can't buy the kids clothes unless they're with,because you don't know what's "in", and they can't wear anything to school that's not "in".But still, you'd have the freedom to do what you want,uninterrupted. ....Except, of course, for when the phone rings, and you answer it in case it's the school nurse calling to say one of your kids got sick at school....(but of course it's a siding salesperson) .Or when you need to run back to school at 11 am because you're one of the Volunteer Computer Moms (at a school which is already costing you $3000 a year in property taxes),or you're a Field Trip Chaperone, or a Library Mom, or a Room Mom, or an Art Mom, or a Lunchroom Mom.But still, you'd have freedom for a little while, until it's time to meet the bus or pick up the kids.Then you'd have to make them all sit down and do homework (even though you feel like a meanie because they just spent all day at school),And listen to them fight because they're overtired and cranky,And comfort the one who's crying because "I still don't get what I'm supposed to do!", and you're not much help because you don't seethe point of the assignment, either, And rush them through dinner, because it's almost time to take one to soccer practice, and another to gymnastics, or to Scouts, or to dance class.And by the time you drop off the last one, the first one will be ready to be picked up, and so your trace your route, and then head home, where everyone collapses... .For a few minutes, but then it's time to make them finish the unfinished homework, and take their baths, and lay out the clothes for tomorrow, and get to bed on time, so they won't give you so much trouble about waking them up at 6 am and dragging them out of their warm beds, so they can get ready to go out into the cold to wait for the bus...... Homeschool your kids? You must be a saint.Think of the freedom you'd have if you sent your kids to school.

Homeschool Lunch

One of the benefits of homeschooling is that you get a lunch that smiles at you.

Flute versus Recorder

Okay, here it is the flute versus recorder dilemma! I have been very torn on whether to have the kids learn to play pentatonic flute, diatonic flute, or soprano recorder. There are different schools of thought on each one and I wanted to find the one that would meet our children's needs best. Our Oak Meadow curriculum calls for soprano recorder and has wonderful instructions laid out for me. The cons are they call for a plastic Yamaha recorder,while a real instrument, it is made out of plastic. Plastic can be toxic and the sound is chilling and screechy. Not exactly, what we are looking for in musical instruments! While, I could choose to go with a wooden recorder that has more life to it than plastic, I have not. The finger spacing on a wooden, or plastic recorder for that matter, is spaced to meet the needs of an older child and would be a struggle for my little ones to fully spread their fingers to cover the holes to get the note to sound in its proper tone. I, am then, left with pentatonic or diatonic flute. The diatonic has the same notes as the recorder and would be a great substitute. However, I have chosen to go with the pentatonic flute. The pentatonic flute is traditionally started in Waldorf classrooms in the 1st grade and then towards the end of third grade the child moves on to the diatonic flute. The pentatonic flute has 6 finger holes and notes to coincide with each that make it easier for a small child's fingers to easily cover. The pentatonic has a harmonious, light hovering sound that make each different note sound beautiful when played. I ordered each child and myself one today and feel happy that my task in deciding which one to use is over! Although, Elysa and Nick may be on the younger side to learn them and should probably use the interval flutes first. I bought them each one as they will want to mirror Alec and I playing them.

Swim Class

One of the things we really enjoy about Marquette is the fabulous YMCA we have with a very kid-friendly pool! The three eldest are in swim classes there and all seem to be enjoying and doing well. Alec is with the older school aged children and Elysa and Nick were in the same class until Elysa got bumped up with the better swimmers! She's a fish and loves the water!

Fresh Salsa

Every Saturday morning, we venture to our local farmer's market to partake in the fresh organic local food that is bountiful at this time of year. This past Saturday we bought items to make fresh salsa to can and Nickolaus and Elysa helped me chop the tomatoes. As usual, the salsa was the best! There is nothing like fresh salsa! The minute I started chopping tomatoes Elysa chimed in that she wanted to help. She is always quick to mirror whatever task I am undertaking at the moment. I told her to grab a knife out of the kitchen,thinking she would grab one of the designated sharper plastic knives they use for cutting. She came back with a "real knife" and my first instinct was to take it away and then after a pause I recalled the Montessori philosophy of using every day items and teach them to use properly. So, I watched her and motherly told her to be careful and low and behold she chopped very carefully "mirroring" my cutting. Nickolaus soon came in and wanted to "help" and when he offers help it is always quite interesting! Well, he did a great job cutting his tomatoes... a little larger, but they'll work! We enjoyed some with our dinner! Yum!

Dad's Week Off

Dad took last week off and spent with us and we got some much needed things done around here. Dad took the kids to the YMCA and the park to give me some space to clean and get some things done. I think I could use another week or two to get things done around here!

bzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Today we had a beekeeping field trip with the homeschool group and we learned about the whole process of keeping bees and all that that entails. We learned about the queen bee and saw pictures of different species, honeycombs, "bee butter", the bee hives, beekeeper outfits and sampled organic honey and bee cookies. I stood my distance, as the last thing I wanted, was to be stung and have an allergic reaction! Dad and Grandma both came with us and we had alot of fun! The little blondie with Elysa is her very dear friend Myla and her momma is my very dear friend!

New Friends

Last night, we met some new friends who (hopefully) will soon join us on our homeschool adventure! The kids all really enjoyed meeting them and playing! The new family has a boy Alec's age and a little girl Elysa's age and a little girl Nick's age ( I am convinced there is not another 3 yr old boy in the whole town of Marquette!) and they are expecting another in March! We are excited about the new friends and everyone is anxious for another get together! One of the best things about homeschooling has been meeting all of the great families we have met thus far! I have been blessed by all the wonderful momma friends! One of those wonderful mamma's came to visit me today and I greatly enjoyed her company.....even though she interrupted my nap! Lori has been a very blessed part of my life and I am lucky to have her as my "breast friend!" We have babies a month apart and it has been fun to experience pregnancy,birth, NO SLEEP (okay that wasn't fun!) ,full moons!, and having babies the same age has been fun for me! We tease that they are betrothed and that they have a pre-arranged marriage. Yes, Lori and I are blessed with a fabulous sense of humour...which makes it so much fun when we get together! Here is a picture of William and Miika on one of their dates.

Elysa's Milestones

Elysa has hit some developmental milestones lately and really been into cutting.....tomatoes,bananas and most recently an apple in grandma's yard last night...no plat...just used the grass! She began ballet last night and was very excited to see Miss Joelle. This will be her third year with her and she just loves her! Miss Joelle is really great with the little kids! She was so excited to pick out her outfit and get new shoes....we needed to get a new bag..her old one had seen better days! She is growing way too fast! She has been drawing a variety of pictures lately and here is one she drew of Alec on his birthday. I thought it was sweet! I've been encouraging them over the past few years to make gifts out of love and to give from the heart. It's the thought and care you've taken to make something special for people that is important. I really want my kids to know the importance of homemade gifts...it's not all about commercialization. Anybody can go buy a gift, but it takes time and effort to make something. Although, some of you with those "homemade" gifts may disagree, I think they are pretty special! I enjoy watching and listening to them talk to each other about the gifts and the recipients and what they will say when they open them and where they will put it and so on. Well, Elysa has been taking this all in and we were in the process of making Alec a small tree fort for his "guys" to play in and I was hurrying trying to get it done before Wayne brought him home and told Elysa to make him a card so I could concentrate on getting this project done. I was not paying much attention to her "creating" and was surprised when she handed Alec a card she had made all taped up and inside were 4 quarters, 1 dime, and 5 pennies! She had given him her own money in his card and was sooooo excited for him! We were so proud of her at this moment! Those of you who know her, know she is a saver! She has little purses in her bedroom filled with money! She goes around the house just searching for money and then puts it in her purse for saving!

Oops.....2nd day and our rhythm is out the door!

We had to go pick up groceries from our organic food buying club and so we slipped on our rhythm...we had no morning circle and will try to get it in this afternoon. I'd like to pick up our rhythm at the nap part....mom is tired today! William is getting his second bottom tooth and has been nursing alot during the night. Well, we'll shoot for tomorrow and try to follow our rhythm again!

Main Lesson

Today our Main Lesson was about Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. The kids enjoyed the story and then we made Babe's Blueberry 10 grain pancakes with homemade maple syrup! Yum! The kids all took turns adding ingredients and mixing. After we enjoyed our pancakes, we had two more stories 'Little Goats New Horns' and from Sonlight's 'Children's Book of Virtues' we read 'St. George and the Dragon.' In the afternoon, the kids built the bunkhouses from Paul Bunyan and Nickolaus has been going around talking about Babe the Blue "Box."

Getting our rhythm down....err sort of!

We started our first day of getting our rhythm down today. I am exhausted and the kids are going strong playing! We made it through our movement circle with Nickolaus not behaving at all. He thought it was quite funny to pretend he was dead at the end of one of the songs and it wouldn't have been to big of a deal had he not been laying in our path to walk around and his older brother thought this was a great time to tackle him! Elysa was a model student and cooperated perfectly! She has always been my A student and loves to learn...the boys are a different story! Our movement circle is a big part of learning for the kids. We are using the Enki Education Kindergarten Learning through Movement Seasons and Skills program again this year. This program relies on Neurologically focused developmental movements to strengthen the vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile, auditory, visual, midlines, hand and finger coordination and wrist flexibility. These developmental movements are imperative to all learning and the formal circle that includes games and activities that lay a rhythmic foundation for later academic pursuits is supportive of later learning. Skills needed for both academic and artistic pursuits also require significant fine motor coordination and we use finger plays to support this development. We use seasonal songs and verses to coordinate with the current season to establish another important academic element. We are also using the song "Autumn" as our recorder song. We sing the song and then follow with a "ta-ta" that creates the same tongue movement and light breathing we will use on the recorder and practice holding our hands as if we are holding a recorder. We are working with the "Alphabet Verse" to begin the school year and will move into a math academic verse later in the year.Our current movement circle consists of the following songs and verses:
Round and Round
Sailor Boy
Colored Leaves
Kookaburra
Autumn
Sickle
Loud Winds
Little Squirrels
The Apple
Alphabet Verse
Round and Round

To an outsider, the movement circle may look like just playing and exercising,but it covers quite a vast amount of major academic work in various subject areas and lays the important groundwork to future success in many areas. The preparation and leading of the movement activities takes a great deal of time in preparation in making certain that the circle will cover the day's basic movement work requirements, learning the correct movement for each song or verse, and making certain that the chosen full sequence of circle activities rhythmically flow together and establish a sense of "moving as a group."

Nickolaus gets some attention!

Nickolaus was in dire need of attention from mom and dad today! Since, we've had William he hasn't been getting as much attention as he had in the past and he's been doing some devily things to get attention. :( We took him golfing at the Marquette Golf and Country Club and we had a blast! He hit some good little shots and had an amazing 15 putter to get it in the hole..with his driver instead of a putter! He sure is a silly boy and made me call him "hockeytown" and pretend I was his agent and that our yukon was a limo.....good thing I have a vivid imagination and adore that little boy! He started missing Alec not Elysa..she's too funny. Here he is pretending he is asleep to "trick" dad!

Sprinkler fun!

The kids enjoyed running through the neighbour's sprinkler with their friends last night. A last hurrah before they start public school and we won't see them much.

Exploring!

We enjoyed a fun family day filled with exploring our local woods! We went back to Carp River Falls and then wandered around some of dad's old secret fishing holes.....seems like dad didn't remember exactly where they were and we found some new woods to explore and I also scored some logs for tree blocks and a tree base for the kids to work on as a school project....pic's to come on that.

Lake Superior

We enjoyed a nice visit from friends that live in Traverse City! We played at Picnic Rocks and then enjoyed the brisk temperature of Lake Superior! The kids had a blast!

Daily rhythm

I have been working out what our daily rhythm should be and thought I should explain what a rhythm is and how it differs from a schedule. A schedule is something set in stone that you follow by the hour. A rhythm is a gentle way to have continuity to the day and to instill in the child a sense of looking forward to the nest event without any big interruptions in that. A rhythm doesn't have to be followed to the letter and leaves room for spontaneity for things like a surprise visit from friends or an afternoon at grandpa and grandma's. Children need the security of knowing that certain things will happen at certain times or on certain days not a rigid schedule but a rhythm.....gentle...like a heartbeat. Here is our tentative daily rhythm:

Rise and Shine (I sing the good morning good morning it's time to rise and shine....song.I have recollections of my mother singing this to me as a child and the picture of a cheerios box on the refrigerator...it's the same memory...kind of interesting what I remember 'eh?)

Eat Breakfast,clean up and get ready to start our day

Morning walk and/or a Movement Circle (more to come on the movement circle)

Main Lesson and a snack

Focused play ( I would like this to revolve around the lesson through acting out what they have learned in putting on a play, puppets, or with dolls.)

Lunch

Cuddle reading and hopefully naps for the little two and would it be so bad if I wished for one for me?

Handwork (IE. knitting will be the focus for the first few months for Alec and the middles will do finger knitting)

Quiet play while mom tries to get housework done

Daily rhythm activity (IE Monday baking,Tuesday painting etc.)


Clean up so we have a nice clean house for dad


Dinner Preparation

Family dinner and clean up

Family time

Bedtime rituals and bedtime

Organization......aaaagggghhhhh!

Okay, I am not a naturally organized person and trying to get things organized are making me crazy! This picture sums it up for me!

A fall chill in the air!

Today there seems to be a fall chill in the air and it definitely warrants a sweater! We're having "birthday party hangovers" today from all the excitement last night! We're expecting some friends later this evening from Traverse City so hopefully we will be in different spirits by then! I've been organizing and going over the homeschooling materials we have chosen to use this fall and am very excited about starting a fresh school year with the kids! I am very exited about all of the new things we'll be learning and the fabulous arts and crafts we have in store for us! Our base curriculum is Oak Meadow and Alec will be learning to play the pentatonic flute or soprano recorder. I may have Elysa and Nick learn alongside us, but have not decided quite yet! I am having a hard time deciding on flute or recorder! The Choroi pentatonic flute is what Waldorf classrooms worldwide use as it has a heavenly sound and no matter what note is played sounds harmonic. This sounds to be a good choice since I have no talent whatsoever in music! You can just ask little 3 yr old Nickolaus, who upon me leading a morning circle and singing the various songs looked at me and told me to "stop that noise." If we went the route of pentatonic we would switch to soprano recorder in the 3rd grade. The soprano recorder is what the Oak Meadow curriculum calls for. I have reservations about this as it is a harder instrument to learn and has more notes which could be a problem for his little fingers. Either way, we will use a wooden instrument as their is a noticeably different "feel" to it over plastic. One of his handwork projects for the fall will be to learn to knit...yes boys can knit!!....and knit a safe home for his instrument. Knitting has a lot of great qualities that have been lost in the hustle and bustle of today. It is wonderful for fine motor,mathematical concepts, and concentration. This coming Monday we will be starting a rhythm and getting into the "groove" of schedules with Ballet starting. This weekend, I will be putting together our daily rhythm and post it when I get finished so everyone can see what a day in our home looks like! Wayne and I decided not to officially start school until the first week of October as he will be taking the 8Th until the 16Th off to get some things around here done and take a little family time and a little journey somewhere. We will still be learning, but in a less conventional way. We are currently reading 'Mary On Horseback.' This is a story that takes place in the Appalachian Mountains in the 1920s. There are no doctors or hospitals so Mary Breckinridge, founds the Frontier Nursing Service to help those in need. This book is from the Sonlight program and we plan to read the core from them alongside our normal curriculum. My kids enjoy being read to and I love reading so this benefits us both!


I have started a yahoo chat group for those of you who use similar homeschool materials to us and would like to chat and garner some positive discussion about our daily rhythms and whatnot. Here is the link to join....http://groups.yahoo.com/group/holisticeclecticlearning/