Intentional Community: Classical Conversations

Today’s Intentional Community is a home schooling community based on the classical approach to education. This particular classical program is called CLASSICAL CONVERSATIONS. Now I have long been an admirer of the classical style of education and have used materials from home school sources that are classical in design, but this is something a bit different. This is a structured approach that supports the parent in the educational goals set within their family. Classical Conversations is a once a week day school where parents and students gather and tutors introduce the new materials to everyone. This gives parents the ability … Continue reading

New Year, New Curriculum

Each spring home school parents all over evaluate the past year.  Last year we did a curriculum change in the middle of the year because the one we were using simply did not suit the child using it. I loved the curriculum and had used it successfully with other children, but the current student not so much. End of year found us unhappy with the skills development in other subjects as well. New Year, New Curriculum and a few outside programs are the result.  We even thought about the public school and a Montessori school. As there are a couple … Continue reading

The Coming School Year

Education of our children is a major concern of parents. We are our children’s first and primary teachers and have the responsibility before God to give our children the education they need to grow into good Catholics and good citizens. This weighs heavily on me every fall as I look at the new curriculum I have chosen and ask myself if I chose rightly. Home School is ever-evolving and I with it. I have a teaching degree and classroom experience, but I have home schooled far more years than I ever spent teaching anywhere. I love it, the challenge and … Continue reading

The Bee Keeping Home Educator

Kinesthetic learners do best when doing. Hands on, action, and linking this with the material to be mastered. This has been a huge shift in my understanding of my vocation as a home educating mom. I’ve a bug nut. This is the kid who for most of her 7+ years has followed insects through the grass, getting up very close to see what they were doing. This is the kid who rescues bees from water buckets and places them on leaves to dry out and does not get stung. This is the kid who needs to be channeled into pollinators … Continue reading

Home School Days, wherein I rant

What to do when your first grader is NOT an early reader? What to do when readiness is slow to arrive? What do you do when well-meaning friends and family fuss because it looks like this child is going to be behind? You take a deep breath and evaluate. Learning style of teacher and pupil.  It is a constant question–what curriculum do I use? I used Seton for a very long time. It was not the first curriculum I tried back in the day more than twenty years ago when I first embarked on home schooling. I tried Kolbe (classical) … Continue reading

Links Page for Beyond Appearances Home School Co-op Presentation

Lovely Garb Links for recreating historical clothing: FABRIC TO INSPIRE: SARTOR:  Reference page to see fabrics recreated from archeological finds. Currently, they have a Viking fabric in polyester and rayon that could be trim. But this is more for reference as these fabrics (especially the silks) are very costly. LINEN:  The ILO19 is a nice weight and good for our climate. The price is reasonable for linen and they run daily sales. WOOL: absolutely period, for every region of the world, for every part of the period you are studying. Every person at every economic level would have had garments … Continue reading

Book Review: FOR GOD AND PROFIT

FOR GOD AND PROFIT is a small book, written by Samuel Gregg, and subtitled, HOW BANKING AND FINANCE CAN SERVE THE COMMON GOOD. The forward is written by George Cardinal Pell. I am simply loving this book. Quotes of Popes and Church Fathers, a clear understanding of our economic system, and written in a way that our High School age students will be able to benefit in their understanding of our economy and how their decisions can influence it so it serves the common good. FINALLY a Catholic book on Finance that actually uses all the documents of the Church … Continue reading

Easter!

CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN! ALLELUIA!!!! I spent Lent this year discerning the directions I have been going, the use of my skills and talents and experience, and I’m read to implement some changes around here. First, I’m going to blog more Catholic Home Schooling. The reason for that emphasis is the diocese once more sent out wonderful Easter greetings in the form of an advertisement for the Parish schools in our diocese. But as always, ignoring the VALID CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WHICH ARE HOME SCHOOLS. CATHOLIC Home Schools get pretty much lip service or a slap in the … Continue reading

The Walls of Constantinople

I just watched a wonderful TED talk on the significance of the Walls of Constantinople to the West.  I enjoyed that this video is both concise and clear. The only criticism I have is that those fleeing Constantinople did not only go to Rome, but to many other major cities. It was not so much the crusaders who brought the culture and knowledge from Constantinople to the west as it was the Eastern Romans themselves. Most of our books call them Byzantines, but they knew themselves as Roman. Go watch the video. Use it as part of your Church History … Continue reading

Historical Fiction for U.S. History

Did you know that Louis L’Amour would scour libraries, court houses, and museums for original source materials such as diaries, old letters, records of all sorts, in addition to newspapers before writing his stories? Supplement a unit study with his books or build an entire unit study around them, Mr L’Amour’s intense research makes his stories a good source for educational enrichment. His westerns are Historical Fiction and better researched than nearly anything else in that genre.  Westerns are a form of Historical Fiction that often gets overlooked. As parent educators we have the opportunity to bring history to life for … Continue reading