Wise Man collage

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Kim Halloran-Fry

I was so pleased with the collages the children made for the Epiphany, even if we didn't make them prior to nor even ON the Epiphany since we had a full weekend. Sometimes they are actually in a better frame of mind after we have discussed and we carry on the season as long as possible anyway. Bottom line? Whenever you create a beautiful thing is the right time. (pssst – you can still do this. : ))

We discussed the traditional names of the Magi – Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar and the spiritual significance of the gifts they brought. Gold was a fitting gift for a King. Frankincense was connected to priestly ritual and indicated diety. Myrrh was used for annointing and foreshadowed His redemptive death. We talked about gifts we can present to God today. He has no need for material things but we can offer our good attitudes, our charity to others, our peaceful resignation to His will – all every bit as precious.

Then we gathered old scrapbooking paper and created these collages based on this tutorial. There is no pattern given so we just got the gist of it and made makeshift templates from spice lids and so on.

note: A wonderful tradition, which was common in the part of Germany where we lived, is the chalking of the doors with the new year's number and the intials of the Magi. If you've never heard of it this article explains.

as they grow

Posted on October 19, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

One thing I loved so much during the preschool years were our Montessori trays, self-contained activities presented on a wooden tray complete with all the materials needed. Truth is, I loved dreaming up Montessori trays, but my days were not chock full of empty hours with which to put them together. There was also a good deal of tray straightening and supervision required once they were created.

A mom asked me for more thoughts on this next stage of home learning and family life with no littles underfoot. This would be one of the new and different dynamics. Little people become bigger people who still love their projects. They can now print a tutorial and gather their own materials. In fact, you might stroll out from the laundry room or office and find a scene like this one.

Oct 2017 pumpkin donut web (1 of 1)

Now instead of demonstrating and directing and overseeing I am invited in to admire and give a few pointers, or better yet, to not give a few pointers. I love to hear their thoughts about what worked, what didn't work as well, and how they might do things differently next time.

PS though? There is still some straightening up to do after. ; )

October Basket and Binder (decontructed)

Posted on October 4, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Friends know my deep, abiding love for Pinterest. Let me tell how much easier homeschooling, homemaking, and all things creative are today! I remember the tremendous struggle it once was having a list of poetry to memorize, for instance, and not being able to track down a particular piece in print. Countless dead ends or false starts accrued simply because there was no way to access all the materials or patterns or whatnot. My gratitude for the internet, generally, and Pinterest, specifically, is therefore profound. So many resources right at your fingertips. You have to be smart about how to gather and make use of them however. Good ideas you cannot quickly access will not likely be put to use. It is wonderful to have it online but since we cannot and would never dream of doing all there is to do it helps to decide which of those fun things would make the most of our month and then start to plan.

I am busy printing out pages and creating binders for each month so our lists are at the ready and can be slipped out when we run to the store or library. Some of things included in our binders are:

recipes we plan to make

craft or decorating projects we hope to finish

books we will look for,

poems we will recite

hymns we will learn

seasonal worksheets

coloring pages

quotes (seasonal or liturgical)

Before I put these in page protectors I snapped some photos of some of our October pages:

There are numerous links to free fall printables, so one of those will be the cover.

One or two crafty or food ideas for each week to include feast day desserts and a birthday cake and a gift.

Oct7

The book basket is never exhaustive but rather just a smattering of titles pulled from our modest stash which will be supplemented by library books, ebooks, and online articles.

Oct7

Some links we are enjoying:

MP3 Catholic Kids Saints

St Francis animated video

St Francis bio and talk

Vintage film St Francis

St Therese film

Catholic/liturgical links

Seasonal decor ideas

If you keep seasonal binders, baskets or pin boards I would love to see them!

the two best tools for homeschool moms

Posted on October 2, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

It wasn't the most expert job ever but the girls' first go at designing and making doll clothes 'all by ourselves' was fruitful in so many ways.

When I caught wind of what they were working on my mind began rapidly populating a syllabus with lessons about seam allowances and finished edges and a dozen related points before I caught myself. An article from years ago by homeschooling pioneer Jessica Hulcy came to mind. She was a leader in hands-on, thematic studies. She would probably have lesson plans for this right? There should be plans. Thorough plans. And supplies. And lots of books. No doubt, as time goes on, we will indeed explore all the above. Right now, though, I am reminding myself of the time that wise woman said that the best tools she could equip homeschool moms with were a gag and handcuffs, for themselves, for just such moments as these. The idea is that there are few things better than personal experience to instill a need to know and to light the fire of their imaginations. Sometimes the best gift you can give a child is discovery, complete with the freedom to make many imperfect preliminary steps.

Gathering all the materials myself and preplanning a foolproof unit might have resulted in a picture-perfect project the first time around. For so many reasons we are off to a much better start now. Now, they are curious: Why do you sew on the wrong side of the fabric? How do you get the seams to go on the inside? what happens if you leave the cut edges raw? What makes the dress go on easier? Now, they are curious and motivated. Now, they can't answer those questions fast enough.

What they needed most here was not a dress but an experience, a series of connections that could explode into dozens of other possibilities. They got that.

There will be more experiments. They will come out a little better every time. Their competence and creativity is amazing and before we know it we will be coming to them for tips, just like we go to their brothers and sisters for their areas of expertise. This, after all, is the real goal for us – not just to impart to them what we know, but to watch it mingle with their other life experiences to become something new and different altogether.

Sept 2017 sew web (1 of 3)

Main Lesson Monday

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

These are a smattering of the notebook pages the kids have created this month. Not perfect, but perfectly delightful to me.

Hours

So one of my favorite lessons grew out of our recent thrift store find of Classic Poems to Read Aloud. We memorized All Things Bright and Beautiful last week. It was actually memorized in a matter of hours once I bought packs of gum as a reward. I am nothing if not pragmatic, y'all. So after that I had pulled out Hillaire Belloc's Mathilda for a hilarious contrast. They thought it was a little gross and creepy so we discussed satire, parody, and cautionary tales. They recorded the definitions and we found the rest of his tales here. Each picked out one to record in their notebooks. They still they are gross and creepy and I am still amused.

Some math pages:

Hours

We print out the free puzzles of the week for each grade level from Critical Thinking Press. I truly believe that never before has critical thinking been more………critical. These puzzles sometimes hurt my brain but they get everyone talking and working together, especially this week when they DID NOT INCLUDE A SOLUTION. Don't worry. I'm not bitter or anything. We are just still hashing this one out. Go ahead. Download. Then tell us who you think stole the headphones 'k?

And some random real life practice finding nouns in a magazine article. It is often easy to figure out a pattern in a language exercise book. Then they are at a loss when faced with actual text someplace else. This practice got us discussing abstract nouns since the mid elementary student who underlined in blue found most of the concrete things quickly, but missed the abstract – which is totally age appropriate per the whole Trivium age group delineations. This was a quick game and isn't perfectly checked either btw. There are more anchor charts and grammar pages to help springboard discussion over on my pinterest board here.

This next page just makes me laugh. Every time. (yes, I know it is misspelled)

Your life lesson of the day is right there. That "slightly downhill' part? It's a concept to live by if ever there was one hahaha! Working hard on that over here. Just gonna leave that there and wrap up now lol.

first solo stitching

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Tess took her first sewing class away from home this month. She made a notebook cover with pockets and ribbon tie. Her overall impression was that there was a lot of pinning, cutting, and ironing involved and it was worth it.

Following this success she and her little sister are enrolling in the full semester course starting soon. It is so very exciting for me to see which directions each child goes creatively and to be able to accompany them on their way.

Starry, starry, school days

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

This has been a stargazing sort of summer. We have studied constellations before and I will tell you straight up I am NOT very good at finding them in the sky. That may change this year given some of the books we have found and the projects we have done. My first favorite is the Stikky Night Skies book (link below) which is every bit as awesome as the Stikky Trees book was. It leads you along step by step into trickier configurations. Somehow it breaks down this wild spattering of white dots into something you can begin to sort out. Or maybe most normal people can sort this out? I definitely needed extra help.

As always, Pinterest is my BFF, my bestie, my personal assistant, my teacher's aide. "Hey Pinterest, what have you got for constellations?" Pinterest shot back with marshmallow and toothpick constructions and some flash cards. I was also beside myself to find this chart by Alice Cantrell. I have loved her work forever and am so pleased she has something that works for this unit.

Upside? You can eat the leftovers.

Here are a few standouts in our stack:

Stikky Night Skies

Find the Constellations

Child's Introduction to the Night Sky This was another fave. Chock full of trivia and history to include the stories of the constellations. These work well for narrations and notebooks. A keeper.

The Stars

Zoo in the Sky

Star Spangled Summer Studies

Posted on July 15, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

That sounded catchy. It's actually far more impromptu and serendipitous than thoroughly preplanned, however it has come together so nicely. First, it's hot. Just blasted hot. Second, September is starting to fill up with fun travel plans. So we jointly decided to do some projects now while we are otherwise melting and will have a head start on the autumn semester which is always full to the brim.

True to form this idea occured to me AFTER the 4th. Since the unit study police don't actually exist we are making a whole patriotic month of it over here. This is part of our stack this week:

top

King George

Which led me to read up on George III and Charlotte and their fifteen fine children. And porphyria and whether or not he had it.

To pull all the separate 'real' books together I have my new favorite ever notebook book. I may have been so gaga over this series I bought them all. They are something like ten bucks at Amazon right now and I am kicking myself for getting mine at B&N but I couldn't stop myself. Years ago – TEN years ago now when I was in perptual motion all day with tiny people – I wrote about guerilla homeschooling. This series makes it super feasible to do that. They give you a broad overview of the topics and general skills your students should have mastered when they leave middle school. The pages are laid out exactly like a bullet journal type of notebook you might have put together yourself. I'm in lesson planning heaven.

The middle schoolers are making this interactive notebook (pssst its free) and sort of crazy over the whole thing. They balked at writing essays about the era, but then complained they were running out of room to put aaaaaaall the cool information they had in their notebooks. That second one is an awesome problem to have as a teacher though. It is helping them learn to distill all that fabulous information to the main points.

They are adding their own maps and things. This was inspired by a page in their book. (linked above)

An art project "in the spirit of" from here. More American symbol art lessons and more American Revolution projects here.

Abbie is working on some latin and English notebook pages:

There has been a LOT of cooking happening – which involves a whole bunch of math and direction following. Here is a July dessert that has no redeeming virtues other than it's color coordination and fun factor. Pioneer Woman's Holiday book as a variation on this recipe which we used.

So that's how July has been shaping up. Summer school this year – which I usually only recommend if you are getting nice restful breaks throughout the main part of the year which we do have.

So. Much. Fun!

The Best Part of Education

Posted on May 12, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

In the best sort of "take your child to work" scenarios, we met my husband at his base squadron's environmental awareness event this week where the children were able to do some catch and release fishing with the DNR folks.

This gentleman has been to our home and has a wealth of stories to tell about climbing up the sides of mountain to rapel down into eagle's nests for banding and monitoring of endangered birds.

Here he is explaining another way they attract birds of prey for banding. The very fine netting in back of him is used near shrubs and brush to catch tiny songbirds near a testing range. Part of their job is to keep careful counts of the flocks to ensure they are not unduly disrupted.

This beautiful falcon is one of the rescued birds used for educational presentations. It is a great visual for kids who read a lot of historical fiction and biographies to see these maginificent birds which have partnered with people throughout history.

Obligatory kids-in-the-wheel shot of the huge tractor used for brush management and reseeding of the range.

And goslings. Oh my heart. This is exactly how our family has always traveled, with kids sandwiched between mom and dad.

“Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. Brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pine- cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets. And any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education.”

— Luther Burbank (American horticulturalist and botanist, 1849 – 1926)

Day at the Capitol

Posted on April 8, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

A few weeks ago the little homeschool group we have been joining for field trips had planned a tour of the capitol building. Since we had a commitment that morning I hadn't expected to attend. Our appointment wrapped up early however, and I quipped that we could have gone ahead and done the field trip after all. My husband said why don't you guys just pack up and head down?

Why not indeed? Though if you knew me you'd know that while I am always game for spur of the moment outings when I am riding shotgun, it's different when I am the driver and navigator both. Especially since I don't know everyone in our group well enough to recognize them at a distance. First thoughts were that it was too late, there wasn't enough time to check out directions and confirm with people and about a dozen other reasons why it was too much trouble. The second thought was go, Kim. Just get in the car and it will be great.

And it was.

We not only got a tour but a thorough history of the building and the circumstances surrounding its construction and our statehood. The land it sits on came into the hands of the state through a windfall of inheritance tax money from a railroad tycoon.

Mar 2017 capitol web (7 of 16)

The murals just below the rotunda depict early missionaries and settlers.

The beehive is the state symbol and it figures prominently throughtout the building.

Mar 2017 capitol web (7 of 16)

We were fortunate that one of our state representatives took time to visit with us and arranged for the children to sit in on a hearing discussing upcoming measures. Being kids, and being tired by that time, there was glazing over. Later that night though we saw our local television news channel had been there and was covering the same things we learned about in the evening news.

It was a beautiful day and they came away with a firm idea of the three branches of government as well as a clear visual of where and how they work in this state. Bonus was we were right down the street from Whole Foods so we stopped and had an overpriced fun lunch while we were in town. And I didn't get a parking ticket and didn't get lost. Not that you were probably concerned but just wanted to throw that in.