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2012-2013 Homeschool Curriculum

By: Trish Corlewcomment

 

We have homeschooled now for four years.  This is our 2012-2013 Homeschool Curriculum.  Prior to homeschooling, our boys attended a small local private Montessori school, where I was on the board for the school. Our boys have reached the point of thinking and working abstractly, so most of the Montessori materials are no longer used in our curriculum. So what do we now?  Come & see!!

I am very thankful that we stumbled blindly into a Montessori school! It has been a complete blessing to our family and continues to be … it is how we approach learning, education and life in general. So, although we have very traditional homeschool material now, our approach is still firmly grounded in the Montessori pedagogy.

 

#1 (oldest son) 7th Grade:

Exercises in English G
Grammar / English: Loyola Press Exercises in English G
Writing:IEW / Beautiful Feet Geography Study
IEW Beutiful Feet Geography Literature
Literature: GA Henty Books (Cat of Bubastes) and Jim Hodges Study GuideCat of Bubastes
Spelling: All About Spelling 3-5All About Spelling 3
Vocabulary: Loyola Press Vocabulary in Action GVocabulary in Action G
 
Algebra: Video Text Algebra II (CLEP when complete!)VideoText Algebra
World History / Geography: Mystery of History IIMOH 2
American History / Geography: Paths of Exploration /Trail Guide to LearningPOE TGTL
Civics: God and Government Volume 1God and Government 1
Science: Apologia Physical ScienceApologia Physical Science
Logic: Fallacy DetectiveFallacy Detective
Foreign Language: Croghan Language Academy SpanishCroghan Language Academy
Economics: Starting a Micro Business for Teensmicrobus-workbk
Physical Education: Soccer, Karate
Scripture Studies: Torah, Writings, Prophets, NT
Electives: Art, PhotographyVirtual homeschool group name

 

 

 

(Middle Son) 6th Grade:

Grammar / English: Loyola Press Exercises in English FExercises in English F
Writing:IEW / Beautiful Feet Geography Study
IEW Beutiful Feet Geography Literature
Literature: GA Henty Books (Cat of Bubastes) and Jim Hodges Study Guide Cat of Bubastes
Spelling: All About Spelling 3-5All About Spelling 3
Vocabulary: Loyola Press Vocabulary in Action EVocabulary in Action E
Creative Writing: IEW / Beautiful Feet Geography Study
Algebra: Video Text Algebra I (CLEP when completes II!)VideoText Algebra
World History / Geography: Mystery of History IIMOH 2
American History / Geography: Paths of Exploration /Trail Guide to LearningPOE TGTL
Civics: God and Government Volume 1God and Government 1
Science: Apologia General ScienceGeneral Science
Logic: Fallacy DetectiveFallacy Detective
Foreign Language: Croghan Language Academy SpanishCroghan Language Academy
Economics: Starting a Micro Business for Teensmicrobus-workbk
Physical Education: Soccer, Karate
Scripture Studies: Torah, Writings, Prophets, NT
Electives: Art, PhotographyVirtual homeschool group name

 

 

#3 (Youngest Son) 3rd Grade

Grammar / English: Loyola Press Exercises in English DExercises in English D
Writing:IEW / Beautiful Feet Geography Study
IEW Beutiful Feet Geography Literature
Literature: GA Henty Books (Cat of Bubastes) and Jim Hodges Study GuideCat of Bubastes
Spelling: All About Spelling 3-5All About Spelling 3
Vocabulary: Loyola Press Vocabulary in Action DVocabulary in Action D
Creative Writing: IEW / Beautiful Feet Geography Study
Teaching Textbooks Pre-AlgebraTeaching Textbooks Pre Algebra Montessori Measurement (EDUTC)Edutc Measurement    Montessori Area and Volume from Houston Montessori Center
World History / Geography: Mystery of History IIMOH 2
American History / Geography: Paths of Exploration /Trail Guide to LearningPOE TGTL
Science: Apologia Exploring Creation Zoology 3Exploring Creation Zoology 3
Logic: Fallacy DetectiveFallacy Detective
Foreign Language: Croghan Language Academy SpanishCroghan Language Academy
Economics: Starting a Micro Business for Teensmicrobus-workbk
Physical Education: Soccer, Karate
Scripture Studies: Torah, Writings, Prophets, NT
Electives: Art, PhotographyVirtual homeschool group name

 

Note:  Items above are linked to my Amazon affiliate account.  The very small amount of money that we make from our affiliation with Amazon is used to augment our curriculum needs.  Photos are shared from Amazon.

We’re Growing Mushrooms

By: Trish Corlewcomment

You read it right, we are about to be growing mushrooms! Shiitake mushrooms, that is! Since we love shiitake mushrooms and nobody I know of around here are growing them, it seems like a perfect niche for us to add to our Practical Life curriculum. For those unfamiliar with Montessori education, the “Practical Life” curriculum for middle school students involves setting up a business. It teaches them so many things about life, economics, values, priorities but it also can help the boys determine what they want to do (or not do) when they grow up!! I have learned that if you love what you do, it is not work! So, our job is to introduce our children to lots of opportunities to help them determine what they do and don’t like!  (Note this is a long article, so I have chosen to use the “read more” tab below in order to shorten the articles on the home page… so if you are interested, please be sure to click the “read more” button right below the share buttons for the various social media sites).  

We ordered the shiitake mushroom plugs today and hope to get our first stack of wood plugged, waxed and ready to go in about a month. I never really knew how mushrooms grew, but I never expected them to grow in logs!

Shiitake Sharon Dale Farm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Paths of Exploration

By: Trish Corlewcomment

Supplemental Hands-On Resources
Supplemental Hands-On Resources

We will be starting Paths of Exploration in April of 2013.  We homeschool all year and as the boys wrap up their annual curriculum for language arts, geography, spelling, vocabulary, science, etc., we try to add in an all-inclusive curriculum for the summer.  This year Paths of Exploration by Trail Guide to Learning is that curriculum (although it may take longer than the summer to complete volume 1…. we can and will fluctuate as needed to complete the study).  I will be adding resources to each Unit before and during our study, so be sure to subscribe to the site to continue to receive the updates.  We are really looking forward to this curriculum!  In pulling all this together, I want to emphasize that education is NOT just a matter of being able to regurgitate information spoon fed to the learner!  If you are not familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy, here are a few charts (chart  and a more detailed chart 2 and chart 3) to help you start to understand what it means to really learn.  

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Back to Eden Garden Bloopers!

By: Trish Corlewcomment

2/5/13  Back to Eden Gardening.  


We are all getting so excited to start our Back to Eden gardens!!  We worked on them the very first pretty day we could and got one bed completed (see Garden tab).  However, in our zeal to get the rest of the area around our pool completed, we neglected to think about how far we were going to have to bring or throw the wood mulch.  So instead of doing the inside of the garden area completely and then moving to the outside, we cleaned up and tilled both areas…  AND, since it has been raining like crazy, here is what we have outside the fence:

Outside muddy edited

 

So there is no hope of backing up to this fence line and throwing the mulch in for the inner bed.  Oh well… “live and learn” 🙂

 

 

Until next time…

Homemade Yogurt Thickner

By: Trish Corlew4 Comments

Making Yogurt… NOT!

We are back in milk!!  Woo Hoo!  The very first thing we have been doing (besides drinking our fresh milk) is saving some of the cream off to make butter.  The Second thing we have been doing is planning to make yogurt.  Last year we attempted the whole heating pad and cooler experiment to making yogurt and we were just not that impressed.  If it is going to be effective, time wise and management wise, it has to be half way easy to implement and do regularly.  So I bought us a yogurt maker!  We are all excited and ready to make yogurt and go to pull our powdered milk (to add consistency and firmness to the yogurt)… and here is what I discovered:

Dry Milk edited

    And for those that are as blind as I am, that reads best before Feb 2010!

So, live and learn… and plan better!  LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homeschool Schedule and Daily Checklist

By: Trish Corlewcomment

There are some tools, forms, etc. that I use in our homeschool that I thought might be beneficial to others.  So, I’m sharing them below.  Some of these are so integral to how we homeschool!

Picture of Oldest Son's Schedule

Picture of Oldest Son’s Schedule

For each of our children, I created a schedule that gives each of my boys a visual of their day.  I am sharing them as Word documents so you can use this form to adjust, modify for your own use!

Our boys like to have a checklist to check off each day.  They feel it keeps them on target and on track.  After they complete the daily checklist, they turn it into me.  I then write it in my calendar and I save each of these slips of paper in my annual homeschool organizer.  This is one of those integral “can’t do without” pieces of our daily homeschool routine.  All of the daily schedules are in one document and I have saved it in Word so you can modify it for your needs. Daily Checklist All.

Daily Checklist

 

Until Next Time….

 

 

Back to Eden Garden Started

By: Trish Corlewcomment

At the end of January 2013, we put our builders paper down and shoveled our wood mulch on top. This past week we have had massive amounts of rain, but our wood mulch held!

 

Wood Mulch Holding even with the Monsoons

Wood Mulch Holding even with the Monsoons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are starting to work on the next area to be papered and mulched.  We have pulled out all of the raised beds, used the weed eater on all the weeds, tilled the high areas where the dirt was and are left with a muddy mess since it’s been raining so much.  We should have waited before tilling this area … alas, did I mention what the name of our farm is and why 🙂  Live and Learn!  

To Be Papered and Mulched 1

 

Evidence of the amount of rain… notice the pier is about under water!

Overflowing Pond

 

We will continue to give you updates as we start this new phase of our adventure!

Until next time…

Homemade Ricotta Cheese Recipe

By: Trish Corlew5 Comments

2.21.13  Ricotta Cheese 2.0

Today I tried the other recipe I mentioned below.  It did not produce quite as much cheese, but it does have a slight orange flavor.  I am sure I will use this recipe for a recipe I found on Food Network for Ricotta Orange Pound Cake with Strawberries!

Ingredients were similar to the other recipe:  

  • 1 Gallon Whole Milk
  • 4 oranges Juiced
  • 1 Teaspoon Cheese Salt

Milk small pot1.  In a large pot (we used a smaller stainless steel pot this time), heat the milk to between 185 – 195 degrees Fahrenheit.  DO NOT BOIL!  Stir often to prevent scorching.

 

 

 

 

OJ in Milk22.   Once at temperature, add OJ.  I still did not get curds after adding more fresh squeezed OJ, so I resorted to adding the citric acid (about 3/4 teaspoon).

 

 

 

 

Curds separated3.  As soon as the curds and whey separate (this time the curds were on top), take the pot off the heat and cover.  Allow to sit, undisturbed for 10 minutes.  (I almost forgot to get pictures of this step… I had put the lid on and was moving it off the heat when I remembered)!

 

 

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And the winner is…. which Logo do you like best?

By: Trish Corlew7 Comments

So, I’ve looked at wayyyyy too many logos over the last week and they are all starting to run together!  So, I thought I would get you guys to help me decide on the logo!  So here goes… I’m going to put my top 5 logos below with a number above each potential logo.  Please choose your favorite one and tell me which one in a comment below or on FB or Pinterest!  Thank you in advance for helping!!!

Potential Logo #1 Below:

 

Live and Learn Farm

 

 

 

Notice for this one the Capital “C” in the center (Corlew is our last name) and that there are 5 leaves (5 of us)

 

 

 

 

Potential Logo #2 Below:

Logo Potential #2

Don’t you know my hubby is loving this one?  LOL!  But, I (Trish) am the one that is primarily updating the blog, so it can look like me, right?  Oh well, I still think this is adorable… but not sure how exactly it works with “Live and Learn Farm” 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WordPress and The Non-techy!

By: Trish Corlewcomment

blog words

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This blog thing is NOT as easy as it looks!   I have never been extremely technical, but this experience has left me feeling like a kindergartner in a nuclear physics class!  Honestly, I have learned so much in such a short period of time, but I am still a newbie!  This is part of the life-long learning philosophy that we are modeling for the boys!  If we expect them to approach learning with an open and hungry attitude, we must remember they are watching us for how we react in our own learning opportunities.  Do we, as adults, expect more from our children than we are able to give ourselves?  If we are honest, the answer would be YES!  And then we usually try to figure out how to explain away the guilt we are now feeling for not being the role models we want to be all the time 🙂  In reality, even in these moments, we are teaching our children.  We need to learn to laugh at ourselves … lighten up!  It does not have to be perfect (in fact, it can’t be perfect)!  I’ll point out a few flaws I’ve seen on this blog that I’ve been aggressively working to figure out but they still have me completely stumped:

  • Double menus… notice there is a menu running at the top of the page and another one below the logo.
  • Speaking of the logo, notice the white around it?  Will be working with Adobe to get that corrected (have I mentioned I don’t know that package at all… LOL).
  • The watermark on the logo.  THAT one is getting remedied this week.  Just trying to figure out which logo I like best… I will probably conduct a poll on that and ask for your input!
  • The Paths of Exploration page is supposed to be a child to the Curriculum page… but it is hiding it.  Still working on that one too!
  • The Classics page is supposed to be right before the Contact Us! page.  I know what I am supposed to do to reorder the pages… but it’s not working.  Still researching this one too.

See!  Life and Learning is messy, chaotic, hectic, and not linear!  So, we just need to accept it and show our children how to walk out learning in a messy, chaotic, hectic world 🙂  In the meantime, if anyone knows how to fix these things, let me know!!!

Until next time……