Wednesday, October 21, 2009

the non-TOG stuff

At the heart of our school work is Tapestry of Grace, but, as the sidebar indicates, we have a few other things going on too. Here is a quick update.

Math - -still good; I like being able to pull from two resources; McKenzie is loving the analogies. I usually have to make her stop and move on to the next thing.

Science - overall good; It is working for both girls, which is nice. I did buy anatomy coloring books that we are using to supplement the anatomy reading. I am also finding myself adding experiments. If you are willing to use R.E.A.L. science as a starting point it is fine. If you would rather have all you need at your fingertips don't use this one

Grammar - I continue to be satisfied with Easy Grammar. We are using the daily grams workbook and the larger lesson book.

Spelling - Spelling Power sure seems like a lot of work for a spelling program. I am not following the program exactly, which doesn't seem to be working. Now I have to decide, do I spend a few hours organizing spelling or do I bag the whole thing. Advice?

Phonics - My first grader is using Veritas Press phonics. Last year I did not need the teacher's guide. This year I saved a ton $$$ and only bought the student workbook. As it turns out I wish that I had the teacher's manual for the first grade material. I am making it work since I have two years worth of Saxon phonics to pull from, but if you are thinking about using Veritas just buy the whole thing.

Friday, October 16, 2009

a common goal

We are wrapping up unit one of year two. For those of you not using Tapestry of Grace, that means that we are beginning to transition out of the middle ages and into the renaissance. Today we talked about the life of Jon Wycliff and I did a quick review of some of the people we had talked about through out the week. Joan of Arc, Johann Gutenburg, Jan Huss I went rattling through the list. My third grader said to me, "it is like they were all working on the same things and didn't even know."

Wow. That was so true. All week I had been reminding the girls that these people had given their lives. Being the only woman in the army must have been lonely. Devoting yourself to one goal despite financial ruin must have been challenging. Standing for the truth of the Bible, even if that meant standing against the bishop, would have been scary. McKenzie pulled it all together for us. All of these people surely had times when they felt alone. And yet, they were not. God was using each of them to usher in the reformation.