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Wednesday, October 24

Homeschool on the Range



About Yvie
With 20+ years experience in education and counseling, I have a passion for helping other homeschool moms!

I've worked in elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as at the collegiate level, in both a teaching and school counseling capacity. For over ten years, I have been homeschooling our two boys - one gifted and one special needs - and understand the struggles that many moms face.

I teach blended online classes for high school language arts and history, as well as offer school counseling assistance, at Sparks Academy.

About the Homeschool On the Range
After years of constant travel with work, our family has settled onto a small acreage in the country and is looking forward to practicing the art of simplicity.

 We homeschool our boys and are learning about homesteading, and we will be sharing our adventures here.  We utilize a combination of Charlotte Mason and unit studies methods, and love reading aloud together - even with teens! 

 Here you'll find homeschool posts (mostly aimed at middle and high school age, as that's what we have), animal husbandry and gardening posts, recipes, and the occasional book review.

Visit my Published Works
Welcome to our little slice of heaven!

 

Vacationing in Cabo - 2017                     Teaching an Online Class - 2021

Email to grlrunner82 (at) gmail (dot) com.

Want to Guest Post?

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Upon article submission, we will review and determine if it is a good fit for the blog.  If accepted, we will schedule and send you the date it will be published.


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Monday, October 1

A World of Adventure!

We headed in a new direction this year, with a boxed curriculum.  To get the kids excited about the new curriculum, I unrolled six feet of butcher paper and had them make a large mural to show what we will be learning.
First up this year?  Six weeks on Ancient Egypt!  Leaving Egypt with Cleopatra, we will travel to Ancient Rome....home of the Spartans, Caesar, and some pretty neat Lego sets that the kids already have their eye on.  Naturally.  They're doing a good job of 'selling it' under the guise of "but it's educational!  it's what we're studying!"
After Rome, we will hop over to Ancient Greece and study Greek mythology and Aesop's Fables.  Our second semester will be begin in the Dark Ages, the Medieval Times.  I foresee a trip to the Dallas area to visit the Medieval Times arena...  Following the Dark Ages comes the Age of Enlightenment....the Renaissance & Reformation.  If we're able to find a Renaissance Faire during our spring travels, it will be a great addition to this unit!  Finally, we will wrap up our general study of world history with six weeks on the Age of Explorers.  This will take us from the 15th century through the early 19th century!   
Having never used a boxed curriculum before, I'm excited to have less 'planning' responsibility this year.  Sure, we're supplementing with art projects, short unit studies, and some additional workbooks.  I felt that the grammar section was weak, so each child has a language arts workbook.  Also, math & typing are not included in this unit, so they each have their Saxon books and spend ten minutes each day typing and playing computer games.  Finally, they have Latin workbooks, as we continue our foreign language studies.  It will be interesting to see how this year compares to the previous ones, on both learning & ease of the school day!

Here's a breakdown of the curriculum we used for the first year of AWOA:
Home School Mascots??
One of the (many) perks of homeschooling is the ability to be flexible and to change the rules mid-stream.  While home schools don't actually need a mascot, we've always chosen one.  Unlike most schools, however, we didn't just pick a mascot and stick with it.  Where's the fun in that?

 
So each year, based on whatever we will be learning in our year-long unit study, we select a different mascot.
  • One year, when we were studying ancient history, we became the Spartans.  
  • Another year, they named themselves the Bumblebees in honor of their aunt.  
  • Still another, they selected the Patriots, since we were studying early American history and the Revolutionary War.  
Last year, as we head into the Westward Expansion and Civil War, they decided to choose an animal - something that exemplified the Old West.  Well...that was the intention at the beginning...

I'd like to thank the good people of Deadwood, South Dakota for their winning enthusiasm and infectious sense of humor.  Thanks to them, for the next year, we are going to be the Ghost Chickens.

To be honest, it's somewhat fitting, since our house also seems to be where good poultry comes to be eaten by coyotes and hawks.  But that's beside the point.  How does one keep a straight face when announcing that they are a Ghost Chicken at school functions?  I love it.  

I look forward a deliciously silly year!  Bock, bock, bock, boooooooooooooooooock!

Ghost Chickens in the Sky 
v.1 A chicken farmer took a walk out on his farm one day
He paused by the coop as he went along his way
When all at once a rotten egg hit him in the eye
It was the sight he dreaded, ghost chickens in the sky
(Squawk and Cluck)

v.2 He'd been a chicken farmer since he was twenty four
Working for the Colonel for thirty years or more
Killing all them chickens and sending them to fry
And now they want revenge, ghost chickens in the sky
(Squawk and Cluck)

v.3 Their beaks were black and shining, their eyes were burning red
They had no meat or feathers, these chickens were dead
They picked the farmer up and he died by the claw
They cooked him extra crispy (pause) and ate him with coleslaw
Ghost chickens in the sky (Cluck)

Looking for a different grade?  Check out our other curricula reveals!

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Homeschool Plans 4th & 7th Grade

One of the biggest challenges to your homeschool year is having the right curriculum.  Each family is different; each curriculum is different; and there's no 'right' curriculum - only the one that is right for your family.  

For a few years, we used A World of Adventure, and we loved it!  Sadly, though, the author quit writing it halfway through the series.  I set off on a mission to find something similar to AWOA, where the subjects were streamlined.  

So what does this year bring?

Fourth
Seventh Grade

**Block scheduling for history and science...alternating days...allows for more in-depth lessons.

We've allowed the boys to pick their own electives, based on their own interests, this year and will be doing them a few times weekly.  However, as their responsibility charts indicate, core school work must be completed before they begin on any elective classes.  The only exception here is P.E., which will be completed daily....since all children need to get out and about and run around!
A little more about The Good & The Beautiful....  

Peek inside Language Arts, Sciences, and History in our YouTube videos! 

Language Arts
The language arts programs cover several different subjects at once - including character, literature, geography, spelling, writing, reading, art appreciation, and grammar.  This kind of streamlining is not only good for the soul, but it's good for taking up less space in the car!  (Which, you know, is important when you're living out of the car while travelling from one job to the next.)  Levels 1-5 are available as free downloads, so that you can check it out and see if it's right for you, but I promise that it's a lot cheaper to buy their print version!  This is hands-down the most affordable curriculum we've ever seen.

History
In the classical style, this is a four-year program that wraps around to begin again after completion.  Each year comes with four different sets of printable pages, spanning kindergarten to twelfth grade, with age-appropriate work.  There are timelines, audio adventures, craft projects, and Charlotte Mason-style read-alouds.  

One of the things that makes this different from a traditional classical curriculum is that each of the four historical eras (Ancient, Middle Ages, Early Modern, Modern) is covered during each year.  Each year, however, a different aspect of that era is covered.  (ie, for Ancient : Year 1 = Egypt, Year 2 = Greece)  

Handwriting

When is handwriting not just handwriting?  When it pulls double duty by reinforcing other subjects!!  The handwriting courses include artwork, poetry, Bible verses, and quotes that support character qualities. The courses also help provide practice with drawing skills.

 Extras - We've worked with other TGTB moms to compile video playlists and other extras to accompany this curriculum.  You can find those at this link.

 High School - See how TGTB is used in the Upper Grades levels.

Looking for a different grade?  Check out our other curricula reveals!

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