flynn057

Dear friends, This reflection is bittersweet for me since I officially retired from home schooling this year. I haven't posted on this blog in a few years, and I think this will be my last entry here. I do know that blog is still read, mainly via Google searches on literature studies, so I'm leaving it up as a resource. I was just reminiscing back on home schooling during the middle school years. My first child started 6th grade in 1998 and my tenth (and last) child just finished 6th grade in May.  That's a lot of years with middle school students in the house. My youngest  started public school this month for 7th grade, and is making a good transition. I'm very relieved about that since t his summer I went back to work part time (on a crisis and human services referral phone line). Next month I start seminary full time too, starting out with Church History, Christian Ethics, and Inductive Bible Study (much of which is literary analysis).   A nyway, I was just thinking ...

Dear friends, A couple of days ago, I wrote a post on www.startwellhomeschool.blogspot.com  about  What We're Doing for Elementary School This Year .  We're also home schooling two middle school students: a son in 8th grade and a daughter in 6th grade.  My son has always been home schooled, while my daughter attended a public elementary school for the last four months of the last school year. Our family is continuing with the home school co-op that we've been in for several years with the exception of one year we just home schooled - at home. Here is a run down of what we're doing in and out of co-op. My daughter is taking 6th grade math, with only one other student in her class. They are using the McDougal Littell text, along with a student notebook volume.  For science and history, she is in mixed level classes with 4th-6th grade students.   The science class is using the Apologia text about flying creatures , which is mainly birds and insects but include...

Dear friends, This is an assignment I gave to my 7th-8th grade English students in our home school co-op several weeks ago.  They really seemed to enjoy this one! Virginia EXPOSITORY WRITING ASSIGNMENT "HOW TO" INSTRUCTIONS This week your assignment is to write about how to do something.   This writing skill comes in quite handy because giving people instructions is a regular part of real life.   Here are the steps to writing a great "how to." 1.       Choose a topic that is simple enough to be explained on a single page. It should be one that you already know enough about, or can research easily, to make it clear and interesting.  Here are some sample "how to" topics: ·        How to make a hot fudge sundae ·        How to organize your bedroom ·        How to pump up bicycle tires ·        How to play a favorite ...

Creator, Creation & Creativity An excerpt from The Real Life Home School Mom: It's a Life in Revision As home school moms, we long to fill our children’s hearts and minds with good things! We are not just talking about behavioral rules or academic skills, but a thirst for beauty. We are right to focus on the cross and salvation as the foundation of our faith, but we also need to reverence the Lord as our Awesome Creator. Think back to Genesis about how our Lord marvelously called our world into existence. Paradise! Beauty! Purpose in life! Oh, how sin marred this ideal, but creation still points us to our Creator. In fact, Romans 1:18-20 says: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever ...

Dear friends, Here is the newest audio version of my workshop "The Real 3R's of Literature: Read, Reflect & Respond." This is from my presentation at the Books & Beyond 2010 conference in Orlando. Read, Reflect & Respond Life has a purpose! Reading has a purpose! Down with ignorance and apathy! The discipline of reading, reflecting and responding helps us learn to think more deeply and relate to others more wisely. We are less likely to be duped and more likely to engage in real life. We will have something worthwhile to say in a conversation. We will be prepared to meet life challenges. Reflecting and responding increases long-term retention of information, beyond the test. Our response often includes practical application and action to transform our lives and culture. Reading improves comprehension, logical thinking, creativity, writing skills, grammar, spelling, etc. Reflective reading feeds the spirit and inspires our souls. Readers become leaders! The ...

In my home school co-op English class, I try to incorporate fine art. This week, we are continuing a literature study on Scott O'Dell's novel The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day , a tale featuring Bible translator William Tyndale during the Reformation era. To correspond with that, we are doing a Charlotte Mason style picture study of one of Albrecht Dürer's self portraits, followed by two homework assignments on descriptive paragraph writing using the paintings in this blog post. Next week in class, we will continue talking about Dürer, specifically about the theological impact that his contemporary Martin Luther had on him. We will be writing a persuasive paragraph for the writing assignment then. In case you are wondering how I am going manage doing picture study with a class of 18 students, I actually have four decent sized copies of the "Self-Portrait in Fur Coat." One is in a book on Renaissance art that I've had for several years. Then, on the Books-a-M...