San Salvador

Began a new unit study; learned a bit about Christopher Columbus. Girls are creating artwork depicting vacationing in San Salvador. When I asked them to describe what they imagine life to be like on a tropical island, they pretty much described what it's like to live on Hilton Head Island (minus the tropical fruit trees, haha:D) 

Venice

we are studying Venice today, as part of our "Pizza" unit study---taking a look at Antonio Vivaldi....Vivaldi's father worked at St. Marks in Venice...I told the girls that I have been to St. Marks....and it struck Little Angel that: #1, just how old the church is and #2 that I actually stood in the very same spots that Vivaldi did:) Now, time to play "The Four Seaons" for them;)

Below is a photo I took in Venice back in 1996 (and sadly, because I ran out of free photo storage space on google, I've resorted to copying and pasting photos, which gives me no control over the size of the photo....so, from here on out, the photos may be cropped rather strange...like in this photo...the original is a gorgeous shot of a full gondola...but on my computer, I'm only able to see the very front end of it;):

 

 

I Confess.....

I just can't keep up--and it's mostly the homeschooling preparation!  I cannot maintain having a fun family life, attempts at getting back to very healthy cooking, my band, my writing, my bracelet business, trying to fit fitness back in, all the travel we do, and WRITING MY OWN CURRICULUM for homeschooling.  I've had to shift some things and figure out what to do to keep things balanced and smooth....the biggest time-consumer for me would be writing my own curriculum...it doesn't come naturally to me (especially as the girls get older; I have to keep evolving with them;), it's SO open-ended and unlimited, I find it sucking a lot more time than it probably has to....we already pay for our math curriculum: (Math U See)...I wanted more...the workboxes are great, but I'll save that for additional fun projects, or days when I am unable to sit with the girls through school and need them to work independantly.  After MUCH research and soul searching, we decided to purchase unit studies for the girls.  Amanda Bennett has some fabulous unit studies, where you can pick and choose and download.  We worked on our very first one today!  But for the long-term, we still want to do things with more flow, and structure, and mindfulness of the developing child.  (As opposed to just randomly choosing projects...though there is merit to this method too, nothing is a waste).  In a week or so, I will be ordering a complete and somewhat costly curriculum program called: http://movingbeyondthepage.com/

Most of the curricula, especially unit study based curriculum, have been written for "Christian" homeschooling.  Nothing wrong with that, I was born and raised in a Christian Faith...but our homeschool approach is more secular (quite frankly, we just don't want the girls growing up believing one religious teaching is the ONLY way).  We want our girls to be very open, accepting, and considerate girls.  But, I digress, my point is, it's a challenge in homeschooling (which was once mostly done for religious reasons) to find non religious curriculum.  We wanted more "neutral" curriculum.  Moving Beyond the Page looks like it will fill our needs and so much more!

Here is their philosophy:
"
Moving Beyond the Page is a comprehensive research-based curriculum designed to challenge and stimulate creative, hands-on, and gifted homeschoolers.
You will find Moving Beyond the Page to be an academically rigorous homeschool curriculum that will challenge and engage your child.

Components of a Curriculum for Gifted and Creative Learners

1. Start with state and national standards so you can be confident that your child is learning the skills and content needed in each subject area - including math, language arts, writing, science, social studies, and history. But don't stop there. . .
2. Wrap those standards in a concept-based curriculum so children learn skills through big ideas that they can take with them through their lives. It will help them to understand complex interactions, become true innovators, and see the interconnectedness among people, ideas, and environments.
3. Differentiate the curriculum to meet students at a level that is both challenging and rewarding. Children of the same age can be at different levels. Challenge them all.
4. Be cognizant of different learning styles. Help children learn in a way that feels natural to them. Don't force all children to learn in the same way all the time.
5. Work through your child's strengths by utilizing each of the multiple intelligences. When children work through their areas of strength, they achieve greater levels of success.
6. Encourage the many dimensions of critical and creative thinking. This dimension will set apart the book smart from those who are innovators, inventors, and designers.
7. Implement project-based instruction to reinforce the real-world application of a child's learning. Instead of isolating math, reading, and science lessons, children should use their skills in a variety of areas to solve problems or create products.
8. Utilize an interdisciplinary curriculum to help your child discover connections among subjects. Math and science go hand in hand. Social Studies cannot be understood without reading authentic documents and literature from different time periods and different perspectives. Life does not isolate these subjects, and your child's curriculum should not teach them in isolation either."

Ok, and without further adieu, our first officially purchased unit study began today (*note, following is from http://www.unitstudy.com/) Amanda Bennett...she has terrific fun unit studies which you can download for a small price...we had a blast with day one on PIZZA!!!!  (ok, more than just pizza, it's about Italy, but presented in a fun manner).

Here is a glimpse of our first mini lapbooks (also a new concept to me).  Today went smoothly; there was a lot less work for me, the girls learned a lot in just day one about Italy, Naples, the history of pizza, the fact that people once thought tomatoes were poisonous, what the weather is like in Naples today, and Marco Polo.  That is just day one of this unit study......oh, and we had a lot of fun too!
 http://www.unitstudy.com/