Live and Learn Farm

You are here: Home / Archives for Trish Corlew

Montessori Made Affordable December 29th

By: comment

Montessori materials are expensive which makes many of the items out of reach for homeschoolers. Because I really believe in the Montessori method, I am starting a new feature for 2014 – Montessori Made Affordable.

Montessori Made Affordable 12.29.13

I am a huge fan of Alison’s Montessori. Many, if not most, of our materials came from this Montessori online store.  I have had a couple of situations where items where not what I wanted or expected, and they corrected the issues, no questions asked.

Today, I found a great deal on the Short Bead Chain in Alison’s bargain basement center… it is more than 50% off!

If you are enjoying this post and want to see more, please sign up for our newsletter, join us on Facebook and Google+, follow us on Twitter and Pinterest or sign up on the right to follow our blog.

Are you unsure how to use the short bead chain in your Montessori Classroom?  You need to visit Teaching from a Tackle Box… she has absolutely beautiful materials AND she shows you where to find the lessons as well.

Disclosure

Until next time, I’ll leave you with a Montessori quote…

“The first essential for the child’s development is concentration. The child who concentrates is immensely happy.” ~Maria Montessori

signature

New Feature for 2014 – Montessori Made Affordable

By: 1 Comment

We are a Montessori homeschooling family.  I have been homeschooling for five years and prior to that, I was the Chairman of the Board for a local Montessori School for three years.  We LOVE the Montessori pedagogy and believe it is one of the reasons our boys are so advanced in their education… Montessori created a strong foundation to build on.  However, Montessori materials are expensive which makes many of the items out of reach for homeschoolers. Because I really believe in the Montessori method, I want to help you by creating a new feature for 2014 – Montessori Made Affordable.

Montessori Made Affordable

As I find items that are either a less expensive version of a traditional Montessori work or material or a deal I’ve stumbled upon, I’ll post them here on our blog and on our Facebook page.  It may be an article on how to make the item, it may be a link to a sale, it may be a used item… but any and all will be opportunities to help you implement Montessori concepts in your homeschool more economically.

This blog is actually part of our upper level Montessori homeschool curriculum.  We teach creative writing via Institute for Excellence in Writing and part of my boys’ creative writing curriculum is to blog here at Live and Learn Farm. (Note:  We are starting a link up for tweens and teens in 2014 for other homeschoolers to have an outlet for their children to blog as part of their writing curriculum too!)

In addition to the blog being part of our boys’ creative writing curriculum, it is also part of their Montessori practical life studies. Maria Montessori suggested an Erdkinder environment for children in upper level grades.  We have created our version of an Erdkinder here at Live and Learn Farm… we call it farmschooling.  All of our boys have farm businesses, and they will also be blogging about their businesses.  In this plane of development, Montessori encouraged teaching our children a means to financial independence.

Maria Montessori Four Planes of Development

Along that line, and in the interest of full disclosure… we are an affiliate with some organizations (Amazon, for instance) and are paid a commission if you purchase due to our recommendation.  We will ALWAYS be honest in our recommendation and only recommend items we have used or would use in our homeschool. There is ZERO additional cost to you and it is a tiny (and I mean tiny) amount to us.  That is part of teaching the boys how to earn a living by doing something they LOVE to do (and me too) … writing.

If you are enjoying this post and want to see more, please sign up for our newsletter, join us on Facebook and Google+, follow us on Twitter and Pinterest or sign up on the right to follow our blog.

We hope by showing you how we are continuing to use the Montessori educational philosophy to teach our boys in the upper grades, sharing what is working, how we are implementing it and being genuine in our failures, that you will be blessed by our blog and that it will help you continue to Montessori homeschool into the upper grades.  If we succeed, we hope you will consider our efforts to share our experiences worthwhile and will help – by not only using our links when we introduce the items if they make sense for your homeschool – but also by sharing them with your friends.  We will learn together and help each other!

Thank you for being part of our community and we look forward to presenting Montessori Made Affordable in 2014!

signature

 

 

 

 

NEW Middle School and High School Linkup Starting January 6, 2014

By: 4 Comments

This actually has been in the works for about 6 months… but I planned to have it up in the Fall. But God had other things in mind and I have just not had the time to circle back around and do this. But I am making the time now!  So, I spent last evening looking for an active and currently running middle school and high school linkup. There just are not many out there, but there are NONE like this one!  What is going to be so different about this linkup?  Keep reading….  

Middle / High School Link u

I am so excited to start this linkup and share and learn about middle school and high school ideas from other homeschoolers. The goal is for our students to become independent learners, right? So, here is where this linkup will be different.  My tweens and teens blog, so I wanted to create an environment where they can interact safely with other teens and tweens who are doing the same. So many moms have heard about what we are doing and LOVE the idea of allowing their children to incorporate blogging into their creative writing. Personally, I think blogging is a fantastic, practical, “real-life” way for them to do their creative writing homework! We use IEW to teach writing, so hopefully you will see some of their writing skills in action!  So, moms can share posts but so can our middle and high school students! If your children are blogging or you have thought about letting them do so… this is going to be a great place for them to share their posts about their homeschool experiences. It is going to be extremely flexible and easy to participate. I won’t even require that anyone link back to Live and Learn Farm (of course, I will be providing the button and you can if you want to 🙂 ). We will also be looking for other middle school and high school homeschool bloggers to host the hop with us!Summary:  This New Monday linkup for Middle / High Schoolers and their Moms to share our #homeschool journey!  

One note of caution… I have my blog set up where all comments are moderated. I also have all blog emails to the boys forward to me. It is sad that we have to have this level of protection in place, but we do. I highly recommend you do the same if your children will be participating!  

And finally, here is a little bit about who I am …

I am not sure if I have shared over here on Live and Learn, I am now one of the co-owners of Hip Homeschool Moms!  It is an amazing group of women that I am completely honored to be a part of!  These homeschooling moms have been blogging much longer than I have, have much bigger blogs than I do, and seem to be WAY more organized than I’ll ever be… they keep me humble, to say the least. But, I have learned a thing or two from them and I plan to keep learning from them. One of those areas that I have really been watching is how to host a blog hop… in case you are not familiar with the Hip Homeschool Hop, be sure to link up to it every Tuesday!  I will put all the things I’m learning into practice here to help our hop be active and visible!  

So if you are interested, please leave a comment below so we can plan this in the next few weeks.

Edmund Scientifics and Hip Homeschool Moms

By: comment

Just wanted to be sure my readers saw this fabulous giveaway happening thanks to Edmund Scientifics and Hip Homeschool Moms!  The first giveaway is for a Tech Light Kit.  It is fantastic!   Jennifer, a local friend , sister soccer mom, and teammate on Hip Homeschool Moms, reviewed this product and she said her son, River,  just loved doing these experiments!  Be sure to check out her review and share your thoughts on it!

We covered the study of Light in our Astronomy curriculum from Apologia!  I wish we had this kit to help us study the bending, blending, reflection and refraction of light back then!  It is so much fun to watch their eyes light up when they have the “aha” moment that happens with understanding… the moment  we are all addicted to!

Edmund Scientific Tech Light Lab

As a Montessori homeschool mom, my goal is to ignite my children’s interest, to spark their imagination and offer tools that encourage exploration… these products do just that!  If you are not familiar with the products from Edmund Scientifics, you should get to know them!  When I was the Chairman of the Board for my boys’ former Montessori School, I purchased so many of their items for the school… and have continued since we brought the boys home to homeschool!

This review / giveaway is  only the first of 9 weeks of giveaways from Edmund Scientifics!  Be sure to watch for all the fabulous reviews and giveaways coming up for the weeks leading up to the holidays! We celebrate Chanukah and it comes early this year… it starts around Thanksgiving!

The Hip Homeschool Mom team and their families are thoroughly enjoying writing these reviews!  Thank you Edmund Scientifics for the opportunity to partner with you!

signature

5 Hands-On Field Trip Ideas for Memphis TN

By: comment

There are just so many wonderful field trip destinations, but I’ve decided to write about 5 Don’t-Miss Field Trip Ideas for Memphis TN.  As most of you know, we are Montessori-ish homeschoolers, so we prefer  hands-on experiences to help create active learning opportunities.  So, that is the aspect that I’ll be focusing on for my field trips list.  For each Field Trip destination I have provided their address which is hyper-linked to MapQuest.  (Note:  If you have not used MapQuest lately, you need to check them out.  Their directions now include landmarks and “if you see xyz, you have gone too far” directions!  When I am traveling to unfamiliar territory, I love having landmarks to help me know I’m still on the right road!)  Also, all the pictures link to the website of each field trip destination.  I have not linked hours nor days of operation because they are seasonal and subject to other variables I can’t track.  And, lastly, I provide a phone number.  Worse-case scenario, you can call to see if they are open!  So, let’s to those field trips!

Memphis Hands-On Field Trip Ideas

1.  Memphis Zoo.

 2000 Prentiss Place. Memphis TN 38112.

(901) 276-9453.  Memphis Zoo

With 3,000 animals on over 70 acres in the heart of Memphis, the Zoo is always the top of my list.   And I’m not the only one that thinks the Memphis Zoo is fantastic… In 2008, the Memphis Zoo was ranked America’s number one zoo by TripAdvisor.com. In 2009, the Memphis Zoo was rated the top zoo in the country in a national survey by Morey Associates!  My favorite exhibit is the giant pandas.  Memphis is one of only four zoos in the United States that have giant panda residents full-time!  And just for a bit of interesting trivia, you know the lion roar heard at the beginning of the classic MGM movies?  That was  recorded in the old Carnivora Building at the Memphis Zoo and featured one of the Zoo’s lions, Volney!

The Memphis Zoo is also very homeschool friendly, even hosting Homeschool Academy, a week long homeschool program for interactive learning!  To bring a trip to the Zoo alive, you can approach from various perspectives.  The most obvious is a zoology perspective, but you might also want to study geography and the animals of a certain country.  Or you could study biomes and why certain animal characteristics would fit each biome better and then identify the animals with those characteristics.  Or how about studying camouflage and how animals might hide in their environments.  Finally, it can be a writing activity and they can record their zoo trip in a field trip journal!

2.  Children’s Museum of Memphis.

2525 Central Ave.  Memphis, TN 38104.

(901) 320-3170.

No list of hands-on field trips in Memphis should exclude the Children’s Museum!  It is a fun and very interactive private museum with ever-changing learning activities.  The site says it is for children 1 – 100,CMOM but I would say once you reach upper elementary, the exhibits are “babyish” and your children will tell you so (as mine have)! Some of the things that we find so unique about our Children’s Museum is the ability to fly an airplane or drive a firetruck!  Honestly, this is very high on my don’t miss list of Memphis!

3.  Pink Palace Museum.

3050 Central Avenue.  Memphis, TN  38111.

(901) 320-6320.

The history of the Pink Palace Museum is quite interesting even before you get on site!  The palace was built by the Piggly Wiggly grocery store magnate ClarenceThe Memphis Pink Palace Museum Saunders.  He named his 36,500 square-foot house “Cla-Le-Clare” after his three children.  Memphians nicknamed it the “Pink Palace” because it appeared pink due to the pink Georgia marble exterior.

The museum focuses on cultural and natural history of the Mid-South.  It presents history through engaging exhibits, dioramas, and audio-visuals. I was a bit skeptical about my boys liking this museum, but they were fascinated and have asked to return many times.   But with exhibits that include such intriguing items as a shrunken head, I really should not be surprised they enjoy returning!

3a.  IMAX Theater.

3050 Central Avenue.  Memphis, TN  38111.

(901) 320-6320.

Yes, this is the same address as the Pink Palace Museum and no, this is not a mistake.  The only IMAX Theater in the Mid-South is also housed at the Pink Palace Museum!  So, I’ve added this field trip as being a part of my number three field trip (is that cheating?)!IMAX Theater But, this IMAX Theater is different … it is only one of three in the WORLD with a movable screen that is four stories high!  I’m telling you, this IMAX experience makes viewers really feel like they are part of the action!

The movies change out about once per quarter or so.  We are about to visit before Mid November again to go see Journey Into Amazing Caves.  My middle son is fascinated with Blue Holes and caves, so this will be a great field trip!  The only downside is the theater is only open three days a week (Saturday – Monday).  And the best movies are only shown on the weekend…. so they are not very homeschool friendly!  But that won’t stop us from being a frequent visitor!

3b.  Sharpe Planetarium.

3050 Central Avenue.  Memphis, TN  38111.

(901) 320-6320.

Deja vu!  Yes, you have seen this address once (or twice) on this list.  Believe or not, the Pink Palace Museum is also home to the Sharpe Planetarium.   It is a 130-Sharpe Planetariumseat theater-in-the-round, which uses planetarium technology to project star fields, visual images and patterns on a domed ceiling.  The Sharpe Planetarium is now open Tuesday through Saturday.

Images are projected on the domed roof of the Memphis night sky and common constellations are located and pointed out.  The planetarium’s projections change every quarter or so, which keeps the night sky pretty current for what constellations you see each season.

4.  The Metal Museum.

374 Metal Museum Dr. Memphis, TN 38106.

(901) 774-6380.

The Metal Museum in Memphis is the only institution in the United States that is exclusively devoted to the advancement of the art and craft of fine metalwork…Memphis Metal Museum so it is truly one of a kind!  The museum has exhibitions that rotate in and out throughout the year, as well as permanent exhibitions.  But the thing I LOVE the most about the Metal Museum is the hands-on aspect.  They offer classes for you to learn metal working and make your own items!  They offer many different choices for these classes  from afternoon ones to weekend long workshops.  For this Montessori-ish Mama, this is one of the most fascinating museums in Memphis to visit (and certainly the most unique of them all)!

5.  Mud Island.

125 N Front St. Memphis, TN 38103.

(901) 576-7241.

Mud Island is another venue in Memphis that has multiple things to see and do here.  One thing my children love is the Monorail to get to the Island.  Mom is not so wild about it and would prefer to walk the sidewalk above it.  It’s only 1/3 of a mile, after all!  The first to see on the island is the Mud Island River Park, with it’sMud Island primary feature, the Riverwalk.  It is an exact scale model of the Lower Mississippi River (scale is 30” =  One Mile) and is one of the most unique representations of the river Mark Twain loved to write about in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. If you visit during the warmer weather, they also have peddle boats in the “Gulf of Mexico”!  

The next feature to explore on Mud Island is the Mississippi River Museum.  The museum is made up of 18 galleries that show the history of the Lower Mississippi River Valley.  The exhibit cover the early inhabitants in the valley to modern day transportation and contain over 5,000 artifacts; including two full size boat replicas which you can board and explore.

For more Fun Field Trips Ideas Around the World, see the growing list at Hip Homeschool Moms.

 

 

Another Reason I love homeschooling

By: 2 Comments

Tuesdays.  They are not my favorite days.  Not because of the day of the week, but because we are on the road for 40 minutes one way to our local homeschool co-op.  I love how much the boys are getting out of their art Class (Thanks Ms. Mary), but I just hate driving that far for one class.  This is our second year taking art classes and the boys’ skills are improving dramatically. (Remember, I am determined they will not grow up to be an art vacuum like me, so we will soldier through.) However, this Tuesday was different. It was one of those days that remind me of why I love homeschooling.

This morning we worked on their Institute for Excellence in Writing, Student Writing Intensive A. it is really review, but is a great place to start before they leap into major history writing via Trisms.  Because it is review, success is almost guaranteed. We love those scenarios! After we finished IEW and lunch, we piled into the car for the drive to co-op.  Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of the book my nine-year old has in hand. This book.

Light Reading

Blake brought it along for the boys to quiz each other about the elements… for FUN! Have I mentioned lately I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING! I’m sure over the course of writing I’ll end up sharing the other 999,999,999 reasons along the way.  

Until next time!  

signature

Our Middle School Classroom

By: 7 Comments

When my boys were young, we had a full Montessori elementary curriculum and classroom with very hands-on materials to assist with their learning of abstract ideas.  Now that they are abstract thinkers, our middle school classroom has morphed along with them. As you will see, Montessori Middle School and High School classrooms look VERY different. Once your students have passed the need for those beautiful works (see my post about when I fully mourned the passing of this fabulous stage), it’s time to move to a more traditional curriculum and classroom.  It still has the Montessori educational philosophy at its core with lots of hands-on experiments and exploration, but all grown up! 

Classroom Pictures

Montessori and the Outdoor Classroom

One aspect the older classrooms have in common with the younger classrooms is that our classrooms are everywhere. Wherever there is a teachable moment THAT is the classroom.  This is foundational for the Montessori curriculum. Montessori starts teaching botany at the age of three in the early childhood classroom and with the customary Montessori approach of being very hands-on. So we have always spent a vast amount of time outdoors, on our farm and in our community exploring not only botany, but astronomy, zoology, physics, chemistry, geography, photography, art, and the list goes on and on.  So the outdoor classroom has always been intricate to a functioning Montessori environment.

Montessori Inside Middle School Classroom

The inside classroom is where you will see the most dramatic changes taking place. Our classrooms look more like a library or study now. The boys are at the age where they are doing a lot of research, so we have a ton of books! We still spend a lot of time in the kitchen conducting experiments, studying geography via cooking regional dishes and using the kitchen table to spread out on. 

Must Haves for a Middle School Classroom

Some of the pieces we could not live without in our Middle School classroom are:  

  • Computers and Printers (I still require about half of their research to be done in books);
  • Research Books with lots of biographies, World Books, How to books, etc;
  • Comfortable chairs to spend hours reading;
  • Kindles for the vast amount of books;
  • An animal to love and have full responsibility of its care — we have two red-eared slider turtles, one in each classroom and lots of cats.  Gage has started a business raising chickens (Deluxe Clucks).  This is very much a piece of the Montessori middle school curriculum.  Teaching them, via the farm environment, how to earn a living, run a business and care for animals.  
  • Science equipment — microscopes, prepared and clean slides, dissection equipment, measurement equipment;
  • Storage areas for all the materials, reports, art works, etc. they are creating!  
  • Games, games and more games — educational games, thinking games, strategy games, we love to play games!

The Rest of the Story and Pictures

If you are interested in seeing how a Montessori Middle School works and what we use for curriculum, be sure to read my post here.    

I created two slide shows, one for each environment!  I hope you enjoy seeing how a Montessori Middle School Classroom works.  

Here are a few pictures from our outdoor space, where so much of our time is spent!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

 

 

Here are a few pictures from our indoor spaces. You will see, we use the whole house!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I hope you have enjoyed getting a peek into our middle school classroom! If you have any questions about how we do something, please leave a comment!  If you are interested in seeing other classrooms, be sure to visit Hip Homeschool Moms the week of September 16th for more classroom pictures from the team and our readers!  There will even be a linkup where you can share your own classroom!  

Remember to walk your faith and not just talk about it… be a blessing to somebody today!  James 2:14-26

Until next time…. 

 

signature

Start the Homeschool Year Strong

By: comment

Start the Homeschool Year Strong

 

I would sure appreciate you visiting Hip Homeschool Moms to check out my FIRST post as an HHM contributor (and co-owner) … Start the Homeschool Year Strong!!! I have never written for another site, so this was a bit nerve wracking 🙂 I’m sure I will get accustomed to writing over there … but it was not easy THIS time!  

I did share something over on Hip Homeschool Moms that I never thought I would share anywhere! Our curriculum spreadsheet through highschool for each of my boys. It is something I put together years ago and modify as I need to. It’s not the prettiest spreadsheet I’ve ever created, but it is a work in progress!  

I would LOVE to hear your feedback so be sure to leave me a comment! Until next time… focus on being a blessing!  

signature

Henty Books in Chronological Order for History Immersion

By: 17 Comments

Don’t miss a post! Receive all our blog posts in your inbox by Subscribing to our Newsletter.  We regularly update our Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest, and would love to connect if you are on those networks!  Thank you for reading our posts and being a part of our community!  If you have time, leave us a comment below and let us know how you found us!  My boys LOVE making new friends and meeting you all (and so do I)!!

Disclosure

With three boys who are voracious readers, we have the ultimate challenge of finding wholesome books that they want to read. One set of books that we found and both the boys and I love are G.A. Henty books. Even Henty Books in Orderthough his books are fiction, they are historical fiction and provide a great vision of the era he was writing about. His books are historically accurate and are full of noble character traits… traits we want to instill in our boys such as: honesty, chivalry, integrity, courage, loyalty, honor, hard work, charity, justice, and the list goes on and on. Henty was masterful at weaving action and adventure throughout his novels!  Putting the Henty Books in chronological order has helped me organize his books into our schedule to be more useful in our homeschool.

Here is a brief bio of GA Henty from Wikipedia:

George Alfred Henty, was a prolific English novelist and a special correspondent. He is best known for his historical adventure stories that were popular in the late 19th century.  His children’s novels typically revolved around a boy or young man living in troubled times. These ranged from the Punic War to more recent conflicts such as the Napoleonic Wars or the American Civil War. Henty’s heroes – which occasionally included young ladies – are uniformly intelligent, courageous, honest and resourceful with plenty of ‘pluck’ yet are also modest.  These virtues have made Henty’s novels popular today among many Christians and homeschoolers.

Reasons you might want to include Henty as part of your children’s reading goes directly to character!  Quote from the Henty site:  

G. A. Henty lived during a time in which honesty, integrity, hard work, courage, diligence, perseverance, personal honor and a strong Christian faith were greatly valued. This was especially true of members of the British armed forces, of which Henty was a part. As a consequence, Henty’s heroes are models of these virtues of personal character – and always owe their successes to these characteristics.  The young reader identifies with Henty’s heroes while he is vicariously reliving their experiences as he reads. These heroes become, for the duration of the story, his peers and examples – and, children learn, almost entirely, by example.  American and British educators a century ago were as much concerned in building good character in their students as they were in imparting to them academic knowledge. This accounts for the great popularity of Henty’s works during that golden period of education.

My oldest son, Chase, has started reviewing the books he has read and the first Henty book was Cat of Bubastes. You can read his review here. Read for yourself what a teen thinks of the Henty books! We are using the Henty books as an immersion in our historical studies… to better understand the culture and time. I hope this list will be beneficial to you and your homeschool as well!! I will be creating many lists over the course of our homeschooling years to help you find books that instill honor and character in our boy’s reading experiences.  

 

Bk# Title Subject Location ~Year
1. Those Other Animals Animals n/a n/a
2. The Cat of Bubastes Ancient Egypt; Egyptian religion Egypt 1250 BC
3. The Young Carthaginian Hannibal’s Campaigns, Punic wars North Africa 220 BC
4. Beric the Briton Roman Invasion, Gladiators, Burning of Rome, Nero  Great Britain 61
5. For the Temple Fall of Jerusalem, 1st Century Jewish Revolt, Vespasian, Josephus and Titus Palestine 70
6. The Dragon and the Raven The Days of King Alfred Great Britain 870
7. Wulf the Saxon Norman Conquest,  Viking invaders, Battle of Hastings Great Britain 1066
8. Winning His Spurs
The Crusades, Holy Wars, Holy Land, the Saxons, the Normans Palestine 1190
9. In Freedom’s Cause Wallace and Bruce, Scots Scotland 1314
10. St. George for England Crecy & Poitiers, English and French  France 1340
11. The Lion of St. Mark War of Venice and Genoa Italy 1380
12. A March on London Wat Tyler’s Insurrection England 1381
13. Both Sides the Border Glendower & Hotspur Great Britain 1400
14. At Agincourt Hundred Year War, Henry V, French, English France 1415
15. A Knight of the White Cross Siege of Rhodes, War of the Roses, Moorish corsair pirates, Moslems Greece 1480
16. By Pike and Dyke Spanish-Dutch War, Spanish Inquisition Holland, etc. 1579
17. St. Bartholomew’s Eve Huguenot Wars, Protestants, Catholics France 1580
18. Under Drake’s Flag Circumnavigating the Globe, Search for North West Passage, High Seas Worldwide 1580
19. By England’s Aid Fall of Spanish Armada, Freeing of the Netherlands, Corsairs Holland 1588
20. By Right of Conquest Conquest of Mexico, Cortez, Aztecs Mexico 1595
21. The Lion of the North Thirty Year War,  Sweden, Scotland, Gustav II Adolf Germany 1630
22. Won by the Sword Thirty Year War, Richelieu, France Europe 1640
23. Friends Though Divided England’s Civil War, the Cavaliers, the Roundheads, Charles II England 1650
24. When London Burned Anglo-Dutch Wars, Great Plague, the Great Fire Great Britain 1666
25. John Hawke’s Fortune Monmouth Rebellion, Duke of Monmouth, Battle of Sedgemoor Great Britain 1685
26. Orange and Green Battle of Boyne Ireland 1690
27. A Jacobite Exile Swedish-Russian War, King Charles the XII of Sweden, Jacobite: a political movement dedicated to restoring the Stuart kings to the throne of England and Scotland Europe 1695
28. The Cornet of Horse War of Spanish Succession, Holland, Hapsburg, Hanover and Prussia against the French and Spanish Belgium 1703
29. The Bravest of the Brave War of Spanish Succession, Spain and France, and the British and her allies,  Earl Charles Mordaunt III of Peterborough Spain 1705
30. In the Irish Brigade War of Spanish Succession, King Louis XVI of France, War in Flanders and Spain France 1710
31. Bonnie Prince Charlie Fontenoy and Battle of Culloden Europe 1745
32. With Wolfe in Canada Fall of Quebec, Battle of Britain and France for supremacy in the North American continent. Canada 1759
33. True to the Old Flag American Revolution written from a British point of view US 1760
34. With Frederick the Great Seven Years War,  Battles of Rossbach, Leuthen, Prague, Zorndorf, Hochkirch, and Torgan Prussia 1760
35. Held Fast for England Siege of Gibraltar, Tangiers, Gibraltar and the Spanish Coast, the Straights Gibraltar 1780
36. Colonel Thorndyke’s Secret or The Brahmin ‘s Treasure English Society / Adventure, Pre-industrialization England 1783
37. With Clive in India Battle of Plassey,  English influence at the point of extinction in India India 1786
38. In the Reign of Terror French Revolution, French marquis France 1793
39. By Conduct and Courage Napoleonic Wars Europe 1795
40. No Surrender! French Revolution, The revolt of La Vendde France 1795
41. A Roving Commission Great Revolt in Hayti, Story of the Sea West Indies 1795
42. The Tiger of Mysore Mysore War, India India 1795
43. At Aboukir and Acre Napoleonic Wars, Alexandria, Napoleon’s Invasion of Egypt Egypt 1798
44. At the Point of the Bayonet Mahratta War, India, British India 1800
45. With Moore at Corunna Peninsular War, Napoleon, Britain  Europe 1808
46. A Final Reckoning Bush Life in Australia Australia 1810
47. The Plague Ship Adventure on the Ocean, Malay Pirates The Ocean 1810
48. Under Wellington’s Command Peninsular War, NOTE:  Really a sequel to “With Moore at Corunna”, “Minho” Portuguese,  Europe 1810
49. The Young Buglers Peninsular War Spain 1810
50. Through the Fray Luddite Riots England 1811
51. Through Russian Snows Napoleonic Wars Russia 1812
52. One of the 28th Battle of Waterloo Europe 1815
53. With Cochrane the Dauntless South American Revolution S. America 1820
54. On the Irrawaddy First Burmese War Burma 1824
55. In Greek Waters Greek Independence Greece 1825
56. In the Hands of the Cave Dwellers Southwestern Adventure, Mexican, American US 1833
57. With the British Legion Carlist Wars Spain 1835
58. Queen Victoria Biography (complete) Great Britain 1837
59. The Sovereign Reader  Biography (incomplete) Great Britain 1837
60. The Curse of Carne’s Hold Kaffir War South Africa 1840
61. To Herat and Cabul First Afghan War Middle East 1840
62. The Treasure of the Incas Adventure Very Indiana Jones-ish Peru 1844
63. The Lost Heir Adventure, lip reading, deaf, death,  India 1846
64. All But Lost Volume I British Society Great Britain 1848
65. All But Lost Volume II British Society Great Britain 1850
66. Captain Bayley’s Heir California Gold Fields US 1850
67. Through the Sikh War Conquest of Punjab India 1850
68. All But Lost Volume III British Society Great Britain 1851
69. Out On the Pampas Mexican-American War S. America 1851
70. Redskin and Cow-Boy Western Adventure US 1851
71. Gabriel Allen, M.P. Adventure England 1854
72. Jack Archer Crimean War Russia 1854
73. Facing Death Coal Mines Great Britain 1855
74. In Times of Peril Indian Mutiny India 1856
75. The Queen’s Cup Yachting Adventure England 1856
76. Rujub, the Juggler
 Indian Mutiny India 1856
77. A Search for a Secret Adventure, Search for a Will England 1856
78. In the Heart of the Rockies Western Life US 1860
79. With Lee in Virginia American Civil War US 1860
80. A Hidden Foe Adventure, Proving Inheritance England 1862
81. Out with Garibaldi Liberation of Italy Italy 1865
82. The March to Magdala Abyssinian Campaign Ethiopia 1867
83. Dorothy’s Double Franco-Prussian War Great Britain 1870
84. Maori and Settler Second Maori Rebellion New Zealand 1870
85. Sturdy and Strong English Society / Classes England 1870
86. A Woman of the Commune 
 Franco-Prussian War France 1870
87. The Young Franc-Tireurs Franco-Prussian War France 1870
88. By Sheer Pluck Ashanti War Africa 1873
89. The March to Coomassie Ashanti War Africa 1873
90. For Name and Fame Second Afghan War Middle East 1879
91. Condemned as a Nihilist Escape from Siberia Europe 1880
92. The Young Colonists Zulu and Boer War South Africa 1880
93. The Young Midshipman Bombardment of Alexandria Egypt 1882
94. The Dash for Khartoum Nile Expedition Sudan 1885
95. Through Three Campaigns Tirah, Chitral, Ashanti India/Africa 1896
96. With Kitchener in the Soudan Battle of Atbara and Omdurman       Sudan 1898
97. With Buller in Natal Breaking out of the Second Boer War South Africa 1899
98. With Roberts to Pretoria South African War South Africa 1900
99. With the Allies to Pekin Boxer Rebellion China 1900

 

 

Training Our Children to Think

By: 1 Comment

Disclosure

In our Logic studies, we spend a lot of time just doing deductive reasoning and plain ole’ training our children to think!  So many real thinkers, like Albert Einstein and Maria Montessori, have emphatically stated that children are not empty vessels to be filled, they need to be taught how to think and how to solve problems. One of the things we love are Mind Benders! They can be such a challenge to complete, but we love them!  We do these Mind Benders over lunch most of the time!  This was the next to the last puzzle of B1. Notice the tools we had to use to solve this one! Rulers, pencils (with erasers) and highlighters. This puzzle was matching five variables!!! We will be using graph paper from here on out! 

Mind Benders

Since we homeschool we have the luxury of trying different ways to teach our children to THINK. Another thing we have been doing since our boys were little is to discuss current events, problems and issues of the day, topics that require deep thought. We trouble shoot and think of ways to solve various problems. We get them to help diagnose stuff around the house when we are fixing stuff.  A perfect example happened yesterday. I ran around the corner to pick up some school supplies and my truck would not start when I was headed back home. After hubby came and jumped the truck and we were back home, he sat with our youngest son, Blake and got him to think through what went wrong.  As it turned out it was not a weak battery, but a loose connection with the battery. Blake nailed it after three or four important questions and exchanges with his dad. I love these impromptu lessons!  

We also have several different curricula that we will be covering over the next few years too.  

I look at what we are doing now as setting the groundwork. All of us get caught up in teaching information to our children at some point, but we all would do well to stop and remember that facts are easy to research… we need to ignite a love of learning and teach them how to think!   

I’d love to hear how you are training your children to think!!  Please leave a comment below and let me know!  

signature  

%d bloggers like this: