Coming to a Computer Near You...

First off, I need to say, "THANKS!" I was not sure what or how these crazy ideas I have would pan out, but the feedback I've gotten has been so encouraging to me. Thank you all for your kind words and  interest in my blog/ plans.

I was just informed that one of the links on the lesson plan doesn't work, and I went on to check and it's true it was missing one little number... argghh! But nonetheless, I corrected it and anyone who gets them after this post gets the updated working link. 

The new link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukqe_6L9V54. See that "4", it was missing. :) It's the second web link to Day 1(Science).

Also the reader asked me about pictures of the activities. I just wanted to let you know the plan from here on out. This blog will still be a place I post the activities we do. I'm going to start our year early, so I can help all those people who are in early communities. I will post things that I have planned and let you hear about the highs and lows of the days.

So, yes, to let you know pictures will be coming to a computer near you. I know that "Earth Model" on Day 1 might be hard to visualize, and that is the reason I will post pictures before you do them. I just couldn't put pictures in the file or else it would have made it too lengthy to send via email. 

For right now, my goal is to finish the rest. Please pray that I can get them done before we begin.

 Just FYI, I will post on January 7th the activities of Day 1. Chances are it will be after they get to bed, so just check the blog that evening. If you have the lesson plans, you will be able to follow along easily. 

Best way to stay up to date is to just subscribe to the posts. Then you will see the examples right in your inbox.

Thanks to all who also signed up as members. I just want you to know I appreciate you doing that. 

All the comments have been so sweet to hear. I'm so excited for the new semester to take off. If you haven't received any lessons from me yet, please check the comments and make sure you left your correct email. I want to make sure everyone gets them before we start the new semester.

Here's my sweet little man with his Christmas gift from Santa. 

I feel just like the helicopter! 

I'm ready to start flying! 

Hopefully you are too!

Blessings to you!

-Crecia

Lesson 13.. Easy Weesy for Busy Moms! :)

So after doing one semester of classically minded curriculum, I realized what I loved about it is also what I wished was different. So I took my break to think about what I would do if I was in charge and this is what I came up with... some lesson plan pages that are easy to read and simple for us to accomplish in a week. 

First of all, I divided the week up into 3 days. I figure we have a weekly meeting on one day, three days of school, and one day to run errands or just catch up on the other stuff. With that said, I made a three day plan. One day focusing on each subject. But if you have a 4 day week I would separate day 3.

Second, I wanted to make plans that looked similar to the plan books I had when I was teaching. These lay it out for me so I can pick up and teach. I love, love, love this format because I can check off things, review info quickly, and best of all take one sheet with me to the library to get the books I need. Or gather all the materials I need for the day. 

I'm not a naturally organized person. In fact, if you walked through this computer you would see a messy counter filled with stacks of papers, things that are undone, and so on. But when it comes to teaching, I am organized in my mind. Now, by no means do I expect any of you to do exactly what I'm doing, but I just thought to share these with you to get an idea of what I think I need in order to not get burned out too soon. I also tried to just put a couple good activities instead an endless amount. Again the purpose of these are to make our lives simple and for you not to spend 2 more hours checking out the internet deciding what to do.

Third, I wanted to offer something that was multiage. When I taught for the DoDDs school system and in Denver I taught multiage. I loved it! I understood then what many great researchers have discovered... it works! This is one of the many reasons why I loved teaching classically, but unfortunately I feel like the question of what should they know being left somewhat unanswered. I love the memorization, but as a teacher and a mom, I just want some comprehension of the huge subjects. With that being said, I made standards that are tangible. Yes, my 5 and 3 year old can sing all sorts of catchy tunes, but do they know what they really mean? So that is where my objectives come in. It gives me a clearer road map of what I can look for when I think they understand.

Keep in mind, this is not a stand alone lesson plan, you do need another classical curriculum to do this and I do not say anything about the memorization because it's just a given that we are all going over it.

If you like what you see, please pass the link on to someone else and leave me a comment. If you think they are too detailed, feel free to tell me that too. 

These took me a long time to create, but I have to say, I'm a lot more pleased with the outcome than I expected to be. Let's face it, I love lists! :) I plan to do more, but am curious if you guys think this is helpful or too much. These took me hours to format, but I already have 14 and 15 planned out, just need to plug them into my new format. 

So I will do more based on whether or not people seem to think they are helpful or not. I'm also thinking of selling the rest as I'd love to make money to donate to charities. So if you like what you see, please comment and let me know what they are worth to you ($10-$15) or ($15- $20) per six weeks.
I need input so please leave yours!
 I really want to bless God using my talents for His work and bless all the busy moms out there like me. 

Merry Christmas to All! 

May this be one less thing you have to think about after checking out our blog. 

Blessings to your family!

-Crecia

Click here for the downloadable files

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What's Your Objective?

So I've been thinking a lot about this question. I recently had a conversation with shall we say a... "Home School Naysayer" and I was surprised at how I handled it. It was good. I didn't debate, give research, quote scriptures, or anything crazy like that. I just spoke calmly and listened. 

His point was if people don't socialize their children well, they could end up misdiagnosed from having Autistic tendencies and have to receive group therapy later. No seriously, that was when the Holy Spirit came in and took over by keeping my mouth shut. :)

But I felt like I was able to explain OUR schedule and how much socialization is a part of our lives. 

Then I went into a montage of what I wanted to do with my blog and how I want to use it as a source for help and training.

So here's me keeping my word and making all of us better at what we are about to do in Semester 2. 

Lesson 1: The importance of Objectives

In my elementary ed days, we were nailed with objectives. We wrote lesson plans over and over again until everyone understood the standards we were reaching, the objectives we were teaching. It was kinda Nazi like, but dutiful teachers sat around half moon tables in tiny chairs to write out objectives.

I hated this! But I learned it's value from it. I loved being creative in my classroom, but needed a road map to stay on track. The objectives of each lesson can help us do that. They can also help the tired mommas know when they are done or if they should continue to another day.

I got to thinking about Classical objectives and realized I use memorization as the "Objective"- but it's not clear to how we would differentiate those objectives. Let's say for example you are doing Classical for Year 1 the second time. Would you teach it the same? Have the same standard as before? Do you differentiate? I know, I'm getting too teachery, but you get my drift, right? Or for a 8 yr old vs a 5 yr old. Should they both learn the same thing? 

Same memorization, but what about our objectives? Are those the same as well? 

So I started a quest to clearly lay out objectives and an overview plan using this idea. 

This is a sneak peak into a new lesson plan format I'm going to use and would really love feedback on. Like really! :) Please, pretty please, tell me what you think about differentiating and making different objectives for each level.

These are just the start. 

I'm getting really excited about how much easier they are to use each week and how I can look at things at a glance. This is just a sample,  I need to finish off this week and talk to my partner in crime about the entire Lesson 13. It makes me feel like I can meet these objectives with gusto! 

I can accomplish those things and check off that box instead of wondering did I teach enough that day? Did I cover the right stuff?

Looking forward to posting the entire document later.  It's making me sooo excited to teach! Am I a nerd or what? Don't answer that... 

Have a great Sunday and a Wonderful Christmas!! 

Blessed,

Crecia

Quick, Easy, and Cheap Gingerbread Houses

For years I have made gingerbread houses from scratch, like measure and cut the cardboard, then

make the dough, refrigerate, put together, let dry for a day, put the roof on, let dry another 12 hours, then decorate with kids. I even did this when my son was 3 months old.. that should tell you something... he didn't have a clue or remember till last year what this is all about. So this year, because life is going faster than before- I did a shortcut and must say I may never go back... we'll see, but the former took 4 days and this one took 30 minutes of prep... kinda a no brainer since I have them at home and want each minute to be spent well. :)

Here's what you need to make one house...

Here are the step by step pictorial directions. 

I used hot glue to seal it together before the kids came. :) 

Then here comes the fun part!! I made icing from an old recipe, basically 3 egg whites, and 2 1/2 bags (16 oz) each powered sugar. whip egg white sin mixer, add powered sugar slowly. :) I then placed a heaping spoonful in sandwich ziplock bags and snipped the ends.

Then they squeezed till their hearts content. 

After it's all over, eat- eat- eat- the leftover candy!

Much love to you all, 

if you have any questions feel free to comment and I will get back to you with an answer. 

Many blessings to all of you!

-Crecia

Review Time!

Ok, so what are you doing for this break? Letting them watch more TV than normal? Letting them stay up late? Still teaching Reading, Writing, and Math? All of the above?

Because we had our last CC and went right into Thanksgiving I did a little of everything. And now, I'm back in the saddle. But last night I had a thought, what am I going to review? When am I going to review and how? They have learned it all and I can't imagine they will want to sit and do it all over again the same way. Then I thought, how many days am I going to review CC? This long break makes for a really long time to be off schedule and all though the ADD adult in me wants to throw a party, the realistic self says you will go nuts without a schedule. So here's what I'm doing, and tell me if this is similar to you.

I'm only doing "school" 3 days a week. As that was our normal schedule (not including CC). And I'm only doing the simple core (Reading, Writing, and Math) with the kids. So I counted out travel days and typical days we will need to spend doing purely non school and came up with only 12 days I want to use for school in the next 6 weeks. So that made it easy, 12 days, 12 weeks to review. One day each week, simple.

Then I went on to think about how to incorporate and motivate my kids into reviewing with me while we are in the holiday season. And a way for me to not burn out during this break... ahhh, in comes the Christmas cookies. Since we've been hosting, I haven't had much time on the computer and I haven't had time to check out all the fun blogs for review games. So I had to think of something fast! Day One was today and momma was still in vacation mode.

Normally (during the last 12 weeks), I would sit them down and we would sing our songs, go over our review work, yada, yada, yada. But today I thought, I don't want to do that- I want to have a bit more fun with this and since they've already learned about the Fertile Crescent let's just review it while we bake cookies. So I asked and if they got it right, they poured an ingredient. If they got it wrong, we reviewed with the music on my phone. And moved right along. 

I checked the items they got and circled the ones they needed help with. 

Here's my handy dandy flip chart from And Here We Go. Imagine it turned the right way... :)

And at some point each day plan to have the timeline playing, the prepositions playing, and so on. But nothing is sit down and sing it. 

It went over very well and I was so happy because I was just as excited as they were to review being that there was a sweet reward at the end. Let's remember to not burn out. Take the break and do something fun. If it's not baking, make it whatever you and your kids enjoy. Puzzles, coloring, board games, whatever! 

Tomorrow we are icing our cookies and hopefully this week we are going to start on our gingerbread houses. All with a review in mind... :)

Consequently, after doing this- I found a great post on review games through our blog carnival from Half a Hundred. It's here in case you missed either. Totally doable and really worth the 15 minutes of a read. I will definitely be doing the popsicle game next. Easy and little prep.

Blessings to you all!

-Crecia

Holiday Madness!

Ok, so I'm just now realizing that we are in a hurry to get no where to find nothing we didn't need before and to wrap it and send it off to someone who only talks to us once a year... sound familiar? I hope not. But that is how most holiday seasons tend to be. 

This year, I'm trying to really stop, and smell the roses (or in this case, poinsettias). I'm trying hard to not fill up my break with busy- checks, but beautiful heart checks. 

In the midst of this season, I tend to get my to do list out and start cracking away, I start thinking of what I can buy them and what they will love, but truly- I have everything I need, and so do my children. I'm grateful that we do and I want them to be grateful too. So how I go about making these next few weeks is not only important to my sanity but also to theirs. 

For their wives and husbands- their children, and grandchildren. How would we spend Christmas if we knew our kids were going to do the exact same thing we do with their kids? Would we spend hours searching for the perfect gift or would we buy less? Would we play more, watch a few more movies? Not bring out the elf? Not get on the computer as much? (Yikes that's hitting way too close to home...) But you get the idea, how are we going to spend this time "off?"

My mother- in- law told me she left the bed of a dying relative this evening. Death is happening all the time. Yesterday I wondered, if I died tonight, would I be happy with how I spent it? The truth is sometimes I am and sometimes I'm not. I pray for all of you reading this that you spend it wisely and in the holiday madness we take time to do all that really matters! Not the other stuff. Less show, more shine from within!

So in that vein, I have a picture to share with you that might help. I was hosting my father- in- law this week and had to make a breakfast ahead of time. This recipe looks good but it tastes even better. Like, "Give me more, move over sister," kinda better. So if you are up for trying another new thing- and have guests coming this season, give this a shot and let me know how it goes.

Uncooked, and waiting for the oven to be heated.

Teresa's Frittata 

(named after my good friend)

Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Toast (about 4-5 slices)
1 dozen eggs *
About a cup of milk
Onions (about half)
Garlic (about 3 cloves)
Feta (about 1/2 cup)
Fresh Spinach (about 2 cups)
Bacon (about 6 slices)
2 Large Tomatoes (Vine or Beef Steak)
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
1) Take a 9 X 12 pan and line it up with your whole wheat toast. I heat mine in my oven to get it nice and hard. But be careful not to burn it. Chop up or tear the bread into pieces so they are no bigger than a quarter.
2) Mix eggs and milk in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to liking.
3) Fry up chopped onions and pressed garlic in a skillet with oil of your choice. Heat on high heat for about 5 minutes, then turn down and heat until onions are soft and translucent.
4) Mix onions and garlic in egg mixture.
5) Rinse and Drain spinach. Chope into pieces no bigger than a square inch.
6) Add to eggs
7) Add feta. Stir until it's combined.
8) Take it all and pour over toasted bread in pan.
9) Slice tomatoes and place on top of the egg mixture.
9) Wrap with plastic wrap, put it in the refrigerator overnight.
10) Wake up, pull it out of the fridge, while it comes to room temp, warm up your oven to 350.
11) Make the bacon (which is optional). Fry it up and drain. Chop up and place on top of your dish.
12) Bake for 45 minutes or until the center is not liquidy. Test with a fork to make sure it's done all the way through. Much like a quiche- it will giggle a bit but not be runny.

Serve warm or at room temp. :) Add a little cut fruit on the plate and wha laaa! You're an amaaaazing hostess.

If you have really old bread, the better! And as it bakes it will rise, so make sure there isn't a rack above it. But don't worry it will come back down. Here's my finished product.

All ready! Notice my son is totally not into this- but whatever the adults were.

Best part is you made it all after everyone went to bed and you didn't have to wake up super early to get it prepped beforehand. And it's pretty! I know appearances aren't everything, but when it comes to food, it does matter. It's like the elves came and surprised everyone with a great breakfast.

And it goes along with my philosophy this season to spend time doing the things that really matter. Less fuss and more sweet memories, that's my mantra.

* All of the ingredients can be changed or substituted as you can see I make things with apporximations. So go with your gut and let your common sense be your guide. This is what I love about it. Plus it's overnight and pretty healthy (minus the fattening bacon.)

 You can adapt to any diet. 

Ok, next post will be about education- promise. :)

Blessings to all!

-Crecia