Field Trip: Sharp's Farm

Our Classical Conversations co-op took a field trip to Sharp's Farm - a pilgrim farm in the area. Here we all are...who says homeschoolers don't socialize? *wink


We began with a really neat corn maze. At each choice in the maze, there was a question to answer. You were given two choices as answers, each with a direction of which way to head next. If you got the right answers, you made it through the maze. My girls had a blast with this!


We had some time to feed the animals in between activities.


All aboard for the hayride!


It provided a nice sit down moment for the moms!


We went right through the creek, which the kids loved!


I truly love experiencing these activities and days with my girls! (D - age 22 months - was experiencing a wonderful day with grandma due to the length of field trip)


The day ended with a rotation to various speakers and activities. We learned about the ways of the Indians...


life as a pilgrim...


and about games the pilgrim children played. This last station was the favorite for my kids!




It was a bit long for little T (age 4), but she hung in there until the last speaker. Then she chose to sit outside with me while K (age 6) sat in with group. We had a great day and perfect weather!

A day at Classical Conversations

Every Wed AM, I wake up to an alarm clock, rather than my children. We have to be at CC (Classical Conversations) by 8:30 AM. Here is look at a typical Wednesday AM for us at CC.

Our day begins with a large group meeting. We say the pledge to the flag first. Then each week, one of the participating families shares a presentation with the group. This can be a song, dance, verse to recite, skit, or informational presentation. The sky is the limit! On this particular week my friend, Kim and her boys recited their bible verses and led us in a song. it is great for these kids to have a turn in front of the large group!

Then we head to class. T (age 4) comes with me and K (age 5) heads off to her own classroom. Each week we do a science experiment. This week we happened to be measuring the capacity of our lungs. The kids blew air into a straw in order to blow water out of the milk jug. We were able to measure a "normal" breath and then a deep breath. We learned that our lungs function on a normal level at about 1/3 their maximum capacity.

My girls LOVED this experiment! The class was really fascinated when I took a turn and was able to blow out all of the water in my two breaths. (I have 4 and 5 years old and they weren't able to do quite as much)

Next we return to class and do our Memory Work for the week. This includes learning the Veritas Bible Timeline as you see in the picture. I teach the kids hand motions for each card. We are on the 40th card and it is getting tough to remember them all, at least for the teacher!

We also do memory work in history, bible, latin, english, science, geography, and math. This is the long part of our day in my classroom with the 4 and 5 year olds. But we try to break it up, sing songs, move around, and take breaks. The kids are learning a lot and I think we finally have our groove down to keep them going!

When we recite our science memory work, it is most often in the form of a question and answer. I ask the question and then the students answer...at first. But then each student takes a turn asking while the rest of us answer. We ask/answer in low voices, high voices, loud voices, and quiet voices. They enjoy having a turn as the "teacher".

Of course, a favorite part of the day for my little gal is snack and break time. I admit that mommy is quite ready for it too!


After a nice break, our class does their presentations. Here is my little T telling us about her favorite state, California. She brought in a traced outline of the state as well as a colored flag.


K reported that week on her favorite state, Oregon. (don't ask...I don't know...)





We end our day with fine arts. For 6 weeks we have focused on drawing and the five elements of shape: circle, dot, straight line, curved line, and angle. On this particular day, we created abstract art using the 5 elements. (from Drawing with Children) Each child had a chance to share their favorite part of their design with the class. They were quite proud of their artwork:


After we play a review game, the students are dismissed for lunch.

We have been taking advantage of the nice weather and eating outside. It is a great opportunity to run around with friends...for the kids AND for me!

Then we go home and on most days...I nap!

The Morning Work Board

My sweet friend, Johanna, has a great blog where she shares so much wisdom and experience in her homeschooling journey. Unlike myself, she has experience teaching preschoolers and draws from that experience at home.

Recently she posted her breakfast board. And because we all went ga-ga over it, she had to give us more details later on. WOW! I knew this was an idea that would work for us. So I stole it! (Thanks Jo!)

Here is our Morning Board in all its homemade glory:


Every morning after breakfast and our morning chore, we gather around this board with folders in hand. We start our time by singing our hymn and opening our day in prayer. Then we say the pledge. Clearly, we need to add a flag to the top of our board.

We begin our work on the left side of the board:


We recite our bible verse for the week. Then we fill in the date on our calendar. (each child has one in her folder, so they fill in their own) Next we add a number to the 100 chart, keeping track of our school days so we will know when we hit the 100th day of school! (each child has one of these in their folder too)

Then we moved to the right hand side:


We fill in the weather for the day with a little picture! So far this week has been all sunshine! The girls have this paper in their folders as well and they fill it in. We will transfer it to their science journal when it is complete.

Wondering what is behind that TV remote and Magic Treehouse book? That would be our address and phone number, which I thought that maybe I should cover up. The remote and book happened to be near me when I went to take the picture. We'll move on to cell numbers and work numbers next.

Then we move to our memory work in the middle of the board:


The date you see is our history sentence, which we know through a song. I also try to creatively draw a picture that serves as a reminder, using the year as a basis. This History sentence is, "In 1492, Columbus (the one is a man) took the first of four (point to the 4 in 1492) trips to the Caribbean (those things on the 9...they are beans...for CaribBEAN) on three Spanish ships (see them on the 2?) named the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. (notice that each ship has a letter for its name)

To the right of the History Sentence is our Science question and answer for the week. This week is, "What are the four types of tissue? Connective, Epithelial, Muscle, Nerve"

Then we add a state to our map. The girls have this same US outline map in their folders. We color in the next state while naming the capital. I read a few fun facts out of a library book about the state. Our goal is to know the names and capital cities of the entire US this year.

Next we add a penny in the money bag and write the new dollar amount. Once we hit 5 cents, we'll exchange for a nickel. Then we can save up 10 cents for a dime, etc.

The purple list at the bottom is the order we are doing things. It serves to remind me, but as we get going I don't need it. I might remove it.

Finally, we flip the pocket chart (attached to the board by rings) over to practice our math skip counting.


This week we are working on the ones and twos. Our Classical Conversation audio CD has skip counting to music up to the 15's tables, so that is what we will work on this year.

Thanks Johanna! We love our morning board. This has been the perfect way to kick off our day and set the tone.

First Day of Co-op

My girls had a great time at their first day of Classical Conversations! They were so excited to start school, especially K (age 5). She spent the last week hearing about all of her friends going to school for the first time, and she was so eager to go as well.

They had their baby dolls for their presentations that day in class. I was a bit curious about how their presentations would go, but they both did great. I wasn't able to see K give hers, but I am the teacher in T's (age 4) classroom so I was able to witness her presentation.

And a mom in the room snapped a picture for me. The quality isn't great, but the picture is just so darling of my brave little girl. I am not sure anyone could hear her, but she got up there without any hesitation.



On the same day I watched T give her first presentation, a friend sent me this video. Have you seen this little guy? He is one amazing speaker at the age of 10. (I digress here, but the video is worth it) In case it doesn't upload, you can see it here.



Back to my kids...

K asked at the end of the day, "Do we get to go again tomorrow?" Sadly, she'll have to wait a week but I was so glad that they both had fun.

I was exhausted from teaching the little ones but it was a good exhaustion. I loved being back in the role of a teacher! We have a great class and I am looking foward to it next week!

Classical Conversations Part II

As soon as the thought of tutoring occured to me, I thought why not? Afterall, I had been a teacher. I gave it some thought and decided to call president of our local group for details.

It turned out that I was able to tutor for the fall and she was thrilled. We set up a meeting time to discuss details about the job, the training, and the group. It was a perfect fit for me, and I signed on to teach the K4/K5 class in the fall.

Now the interesting part of this is that I am a former middle school math teacher with an elementary education background. The only elementary grade I felt equipped to "handle" was 5th grade. I just never saw my strengths as including the little ones.

But God knew I'd feel that way and decided BEFORE this moment to prepare me for what was coming. In February, K (age 5)'s Sunday School class was without a teacher when her husband was relocated. They needed someone to take over and to do it immediately. I didn't want her class to be without a teacher, so I signed on. Afterall, it was only the remaining 4.5 months, so I thought I could give the 4 and 5 year olds a try.

Surprisingly, I really liked it. And yes. This was a surprise to me. I was also pretty good at it. Which was a real shocker. After a few weeks, I began to learn what worked and what didn't with their age group. I also got a good handle on their skill levels. We were set. I had a great time with them. Wow. I can teach little ones! Cool stuff!

The really cool part for me was that God was preparing me for what was to come. He knew that the K4/K5 class in this classical group would need a tutor. He knew that He was going to lay on my heart the thought of teaching them. He knew I would not feel confident with this age group, so He took care of that ahead of time.

God is good. All of the time. I love when we get a moment to recognize His hand in our lives in an "ah-ha" kind of way. It is a faith builder and a reminder to me that when we follow His leading, He takes care of all of the details for us.

Can't wait for my training at the end of this month! This next year holds a lot of change for me, but the teacher in my is getting so excited. I am ready to look at curriculum and host a parent orientation! Yippee!

Oh, it feels great to be back in my "niche"!

Classical Conversations

The search began in the spring for a homeschool group or co-op to join for the coming fall. My church hosts one, but it meets in the afternoon. The afternoon is not my preference due to my morning napper, but I thought I would go to a meeting before deciding.

Before trying the group at church, I learned about a new group coming to my area in the fall, Classical Conversations. I had never heard of this group, but have always been attracted to the principles of a Classical Education, so I went to the informational meeting.

I loved it. Everything about the group suited me perfectly!

1. AM meetings. The group would meet in the AM, one morning a week for the younger grades.

2. Kindergarten. This was the first classical education group I found that began in Kindergarten. In fact, they began with K4, so T could join in too!

3. Diverse. The group was amazingly diverse! Yes, they were diverse in ethnicity, but they were also diverse in their curriculum choices and their implementation of the classical model. I was particularly excited about this. These women pulled from a variety of rescources, NOT just classical, to enhance their child's education. I was excited about the idea of a classical education framework, yet a diverse set of moms implementing it!

4. Mom's in charge. This group doesn't assign required homework or assignments. They introduce a "framework" of memory work each week. As the mom, you can determine how to implement the learning in your own home. You can do a lot with the memory work, or very little. The fine arts and sciences would be covered each week by the tutor, which was a nice bonus.

I came home SO excited, but we had to pause. The money was a bit more than we had planned and we weren't sure.

I visited the group at my church and it was also a GREAT group. But my husband could certainly tell that I didn't come home with the same enthusiasm. I knew we'd have a great time, but I still felt the Classical Conversations group was the right "fit" for us.

After some thought and prayer, we signed up, feeling that it was the right direction for our family. We knew we could cut back in some other areas and trust God's leading on this one.

A few days after registering, a thought occured to me: What about signing up as a tutor for CC? I wonder what that involves...

More on that next post...