Why I Homeschool

I homeschool because I love laying on the couch reading books aloud to my kids while they beg for just one more chapter. 

How Memory Time Works For Us

First, what is memory work?   Memory work, in our school, is a specific time set aside to work on memorizing facts.   By memorizing, I mean being able to recite back exact word for word a fact, poem, quote, or scripture.  

Okay, you might think,  But Why?   "Houses rest on foundations."   This simple sentence written by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer in The Well-Trained Mind has struck with me for the last ten years.   With a foundation of knowledge (those memorized facts), a student will find it much easier to move on to higher learning, to think critically, and then to be able express  themselves in an ordered logical manner.  Have you experienced a student having a hard time with long division or algebraic equations because they don't have their multiplication facts memorized?   Have you engaged in a conversation with someone who has vague ideas about how things work, but can't quite put into words the why or how?    Memorization provides the foundation.  

I consider memory time a subject unto its self, but in reality memory time brings together all the subjects we study.    We use memory time to cement facts from math, science,, grammar, literature, geography, history, religion, language, and common knowledge.

Each week, my kids and I pick memory work. We try to balance what we are working on across our whole curriculum. I posted a few resources we are using, but in reality for the most part what we memorize comes from our other curriculum. Last week we memorized what an appositive adjective is and how it is used. This rule came directly from our English curriculum. It was a new concept that needed to be memorized, so instead of slowing down in English to learn it I added it to memory time. I do the same with memorizing dates in history.  My kids take turns picking the poetry we work on memorizing. I use to type up what we were memorizing for the kids to have in their binders, but I've recently decided that it helps with the memory process for the kids to write out the work themselves. Also when copying poetry, I have them work on their penmanship.




The tools for memory time are pretty simple.   Everyone has a binder. 

And we used simple file folders to make 31 dividers for each binder.   So each binder has 31 dividers marked with a 1 through 31.   In addition, each divider is also marked with a day of the week.   So the first divider is marked with a 1 and a M (for Monday),  the second is marked with a 2 and a T (for Tuesday) all the way through the 5th divider being marked with a 5 and F (for Friday).

Then we start over with labeling the days of the weeks.   The number six divider gets labeled with a M (for Monday),

 the number seven divider is labeled with a T (for Tuesday),

 and so forth through all thirty-one dividers.  I decide on the things to memorize for the week and type them up so I have a copy of things to look at throughout the week.    Then on Monday the kids copy them.  Of course, we don't memorize things on a perfectly weekly basis, so in reality things get copied throughout the week as other things are memorized. The things that are currently being memorized are filed at the very beginning of the binder.  

Here are some history dates and two science facts.   The envelope has a copy of the history dates cut up into a puzzle.   My daughter was having a hard time with the dates, so we did this to give her a little bit more practice working with them.   After fully memorizing the facts, we file them behind the divider of the day they were memorized on.  

  
Glancing at this fact sheet I can see it was fully memorized on the 6th of some month.    The month doesn't really matter.    The dates and days of the week on the dividers are used for reviewing.   Every day we look at what is behind the date divider of that day and review it.   We also look at what is behind today's days.  So every Monday we review what is behind all the Mondays;  every Tuesday we review what is behind all the Tuesday tabs, and so forth and so on.  


Over the years I've found memory time has to happen first or it doesn't happen at all.    We start out copying any thing that needs copying.   Then we move onto reading it through three times.   Often times that is all we do for the first few days of memorizing a piece.   After that we quiz each other on the piece. For some things I try to have resources that set facts to music, or we use games to make the memorization a bit more fun.   In order to file the piece away in their binder, the kids have to be able to say it three times without a mistake.  In my mind, memory time takes a nice short 20-30 minutes, but in reality it really takes a good 45-60 minutes depending on what the kids need to copy and how long the pieces are they are working on.

I hope this answered any questions about the why and how of memory time.   Can't wait to read how and what memory time is in your school this week.      

Homeschool Mother's Journal April 3, 2011

In my life this week... I've been trying to figure out balance in my life.   How do I meet everyone's acedemic, social, spritiual needs and find time to do the same for me!   Oh and I'd like to find some time to have a clean house while I'm at it.  

I have a neighbor in my life who I help out by gardening.   I was able to get in her yard and weed and get a little garden going.   It felt really good and this upcoming week I hope to get in my garden and get started by weeding and putting together some new garden beds. 




In our homeschool this week...Again, balance, balance, balance.  Also, I need to get to bed earlier so I can get up earlier so I can get started earlier so we can get more done!  



Places we're going and people we're seeing...I've been trying to get our family together for a trip away--anywhere---but with everyone's crazy schedule its been hard.   So, we are committeed to heading out of town this coming weekend.   The kids are going to decide on where and what we're doing.



A photo, video, link, or quote to share..."we understand our lives backwards, but must live them forward."  Kierkegaard 

Weekly Update March 28-April 1, 2011

Spring is Here!  

 Why does it seem that at this point of the school year our only motivation is summer break?    The beginning of the school year starts out so promising---look at everything we are going to learn!    But now it seems to feel like----Let's do our school work so we can get done and have a summer break!   

And so we worked toward that goal. 

 History---we have finished study the Middle Ages and are going to take a month to study Native Americans. Using

The Story of the First Americans: Ancient Times, we learned about Beringia, the cultures of the Planoes, the Clovis, and the Folsom peoples as well as the beginning of farming in Mesoamerica.    We then compared the first known American Continent Civilization, the Olmecs, with ancient civilizations in the Mesopatatian area.   E-R and I-E took notes, outlined, and wrote paragraphs about the Clovis culture and the Olmec Civilization.    E was to pick a section of the chapters we read to research further, take notes, and write an outline for a paper to be completed next week, but he appears to have picked up a virus and so he spent a lot of his school week sleeping.   Next week, he'll get to that assignment and we'll push the assignment back a week for him.    We also practiced taking notes from my oral reading.    So far we are working paragraph by paragraph on this, but the goal is to be able to take notes from an hour long lecture without stopping.   At first the kids just tried to write down everything they heard, and of course quickly got lost because I talk faster than they write!   So we talked about listening for the main idea, dates, and places

Science---This week we learned about Daniel Fahrenheit, Lord Kelvin, and Anders Celsius.    Wait, wait can you guess what they are all famous for?   Yup, Daniel Fahrenheit invented an accurate thermometer and the scale of measuring temperature we use here in the USA.   Lord Kelvin and Anders Celsius developed different scales for measuring temperature.    We practiced converting temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin.   

Math--E worked on Aleks and covered Real Numbers and Linear Equations and their applications in the real world,  translating sentences into inequalities,  functions and systems of equations, and solving equations involving rational expressions and proportions. E also took his placement class for his math class he will take at Foothill Techology School next year.   He is aiming to take their geometry honors class.   We'll see how the test went in a few weeks.   E-R and I-E worked on Rates in Singapore and have started working through the Key to Percents books.

Grammar--E started the chapter on Adjectives.   E-R and I-E finished their chapter on Adjectives and Adverbs and took the chapter test.

Lit, Art, and Spelling kinda fell by the wayside this week. 

How was your week?   Has spring fever struck in your home?

Check out what other homeschoolers have been up to this week.  

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I'm a mom sharing my journey of homeschooling classically. 

For a bit of humor you may want to check out   What I Learned Today.

To See a Week in Review click on this week  or  that week.

Here you can see how science worked out one week. 

How Memory Work Works at our House

A Cautionary Tale for Your Enjoyment

A Review  or  Two

Some lesson plans  and some More

Throw in a How to

And last but certainly not least--one of my all time most popular post--My daughter's report on her favorite bird

Hope you enjoyed the tour and feel you got to know me a bit!