SPURGEON ON ELECTION

"Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the Word of God as with an iron pen, and there is no getting rid of it; there it stands." "I believe the man who is not willing to submit to the electing love and sovereign grace of God, has great reason to question whether he is a Christian at all, for the spirit that kicks against that is the spirit of the devil, and the spirit of the unhumbled, unrenewed heart."

 C.H. Spurgeon

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WEEKLY SUMMARY #3

Not much to report this week.  We took the week off for Thanksgiving.  We did continue our reading out loud, and finished up an Usborne book on the Vikings.

I have been planning out any changes in our school for January, when our "official" school year begins.  There aren't many, but I will put up our "new" schedule next month sometime.

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THOUGHTS ON WRITING

Okay, here are my disorganized thoughts on what to do for writing for my girls.  I need to stay away from sites like The Well Trained Mind, and maybe I'd be alright.  I think I am doing fine, and then see what others are doing, and start looking again.  So here is what I am thinking at this moment.

I really lean toward Charlotte Mason's ideas, with a bit of Ruth Beechick thrown in when it comes to education.  I believe, and have actually seen, that reading good literature does indeed produce great vocabulary, good thinking skills, and natural writers.  I tend to waffle back and forth on whether kids make their own connections though, but again, only when I read about people using more classical curriculum like study guides, Veritas Press materials, etc.  I actually do see my girls making their own connections, and need to remember that!

So, back to the writing thing.  The main educational goal I have for my girls is that they be able to think and learn for themselves.  If I even used a writing curriculum, it would be with the goal that they learn to think through what they are learning via writing.  The writing, in other words, is not the goal itself.  But rather, a means to get to that goal.  I do think writing things out helps us to think, which is why I am writing this out. :-)

Big Girl, as I have said, is a natural writer.  She has never actually done any reports or essays, but I think she could if she had to.  She has a wonderful "voice" from all the excellent literature she has devoured over the years.  I am not sure about her organizational skills though, but I don't really see much need for such things right now.  At this point, I think I will just continue having her write something every day, and go over it with her.  I may start assigning something in particular once in a while, instead of letting her choose every day.  Maybe I will do that with literature.  Perhaps a written narration of what she has read.   I think, in case she does ever need the skills, we will use Jensen's Format Writing in 11th and 12th grades.  I really like the looks of it, and it includes a lot of practical skills that will be useful in life.  I  have also been considering re-instituting dictation with her once a week, since I already have the Spelling Wisdom 3 book.

Now for Little Girl.  I was thinking of including some Beechick-style writing exercises with her, but the more I think about it, the more I don't think it is necessary.  Both girls are writing in journals now, so that covers free writing.  Little Girl will be doing dictation from Spelling Wisdom book 1 for her spelling and whatever else we can pull from the passages.  She will be using some of it for copywork, and we will discuss such things as how a piece is organized, its purpose, etc.  I think that will be enough for her for a couple more years.  Then, at about 12, I will start having her do daily writing like her sister does.  I will be sure to include excellent books in her assigned reading.  I also am going to start requiring narration.  Not exactly sure where to implement that though.  Maybe with whichever her current assigned book is.  Or maybe I will switch.  But I definitely need to start having her do it regularly.

This is mostly for me to come back and read when I start thinking I need to use a writing program.

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SATAN'S HERD OF SWINE

Satan's herd of swine!

(William Secker, "The Consistent Christian")

"You shall not follow a multitude--to do evil."
     Exodus 23:2

The generality of people--are like dead fish, 
which float down the stream, wherever it runs.

The 'voice of the people'--is often the voice 
of the devil.

Satan's herd of swine--is larger than Christ's 
flock of sheep! Let them be ever so mighty--we
are not to fear them. Let them be ever so many
--we are not to follow them.

If we will not have the people of the world to be
our leaders--we shall be sure to have them as our 
troublers. If they cannot seduce us into their evil 
ways--they will oppose us in our holy ways. If they 
cannot scorch us with their fire--they will try to 
blacken us with their smoke. They will speak evil 
of us--because we do not run into the same excess 
of evil with them. Because we refuse to play the 
fool with them--they will say that we are mad.

"Though the people of Israel are as numerous 
as the sand on the seashore--only the remnant 
will be saved." Romans 9:27. The whole piece 
belongs to the Devil--but God cuts off a remnant 
for Himself! 

The trees of righteousness are thinly 
planted--in the world's orchard.

There are many wicked sinners
--to one godly man!

Pebbles lie abundant in the streets
--but pearls are rare to find.

Sinners are certainly the greatest company
--but they are also the worst company.

Remember, the multitude of people, are like the
droves of cattle--which go to the slaughter!

Those who follow after others in sinning--will 
be sure to follow them in suffering! Alas, the 
largeness of the multitude, will not extinguish 
the fierceness of the flame! The great number 
of those immortal faggots--will but  intensify 
the fury of the eternal fire!

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ERROR DEMANDS TOLERANCE

"If anybody comes along espousing some message and asking for tolerance, you can be sure it's error because error demands tolerance, whereas truth demands scrutiny." —John MacArthur

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WEEKLY SUMMARY #2

We didn't really do a lot this week, knowing that we are taking off next week.  We probably won't actually do much for the rest of this year, since we will be starting a new year in January.

BIBLE

Gospel survey, to Jesus' temptation in the wilderness.

ARTIST, POET, COMPOSER

Same as last week.

GEOGRAPHY

Finished up a couple picture books on Australia.  Also finished The Story of Australia Landmark book.

SPANISH

Just reviewed what we have already done.  I make index cards with the vocabulary and other information from SFC.

HISTORY

Started on Little House in the Big Woods.  Read some in an Usborne book on Vikings.

READ ALOUD

Still reading Little Men.  Very good book!

Also, we got this neat book called Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out that is full of neat stories and even some poems about the White House.  We have only read the first few stories so far.  They are very short.  So far, so good.

ENGLISH

A started on verbs.  Big Girl will take the verb unit test in EG Plus when we start back.

SCIENCE

Big Girl finished up a unit on weathering and erosion in her physical science.

READING

Little Girl finished the Burgess Flower Book.  Big Girl finished Stepping Heavenward.

MATH

Didn't do much in that this week.  See last post about Big Girl's math.

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ALGEBRA DIFFICULTIES

Well, Big Girl hit a snag yesterday in her LOF beginning algebra.  She had gotten a third of the way through the book, and things have suddenly really escalated.  There were a couple problems that neither she nor I could figure out, so we emailed Mr. Schmidt.  He promptly got back to us with the explanation.  Great service!

So, I had Big Girl start with one of those problems this morning, before starting her next problem set.  Well, she still couldn't do it.  So I told her to go ahead and do the next city (that is what some of the problem sets in LOF are called).  She gave it a good try, but I am thinking she just may not be developmentally ready for algebra yet.  Not that she has any learning problems or anything.  Just that all kids develop at different rates, and many are not ready for this level of thinking at 14.  

So, we are going to start the Key to Algebra books that I already have here after our break next week.  After she has completed them, we will try LOF again.  If she still can't get it, we will figure out something else at that point.

I should mention that while Big Girl is great with words, and is a natural writer, she is not a number person.  All of us are not talented in the same areas, and I believe in concentrating on the gifts God has given us, and only doing what we need to do in the areas we are not gifted in.

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WEEKLY SUMMARY #1

Here is my first attempt at a week in review.   I'll try listing things by subjects and see how they look.

BIBLE

We started the CLP Studying God's Word for the Gospels this week.  I read the lesson and the Bible text to the girls while they eat their breakfast, then we discuss it.  I don't really use the questions in the book, but the lesson overviews and information is really good.

HYMN

We sang O Come O Come Emanuel this week.  Very pretty song.

ART

Our current artist is Frederic Remington.  He painted mostly western scenes, and also did some sculptures in bronze.

COMPOSER

We are listening to Sergei Rachmanonoff.  I don't really care for him much, but the girls like him.

POET

We are reading poems by Emily Dickinson, and the girls are memorizing her poem, Because I Could Not Stop for Death.

GEOGRAPHY

Our first country is Australia.  We printed out a map and Big Girl colored a flag for our bulletin board.  We read about it in the world atlas, A Trip Around the World, Children Just Like Me, and are still reading the Landmark book, The Story of Australia.

HISTORY

We are currently reading about the vikings in our TQ Middle Ages.  We finished Beorn the Proud and a See Through  History book of the vikings this week.

For American history, we have been reading about Laura Ingalls Wilder.  We finished a biography of her this week and will start on the Little House series next week.

READ ALOUD

We are currently reading Little Men, by Louisa May Alcott.

INDEPENDENT READING

Big Girl is reading Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss.   Little Girl is reading the Burgess Flower Book, a COFA book, a Wishbone book, and she just finished a Boxcar Children book.  She also reads her Vos Story Bible every day.

MATH

Big Girl is working on her LOF algebra, and Little Girl is finishing up her MUS Gamma in the next few weeks.

ENGLISH

Both girls are working with verbs in their respective English books.  Big Girl did her daily writing and Jensen's Vocabulary.  Little Girl worked on a list and dictation sentences from Spelling Plus, but we are changing that this coming week.

SPANISH

We are steadily working through Spanish for Children.  Big Girl is also using Visual Link Spanish on the computer, and Little Girl is using a kid's Spanish computer game.

I got out some of my old journals and read some to them this week, and they both decided they would like to keep their own journals.  So I gave them some cloth-covered books I had here to use. :-)

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HOMESCHOOL THOUGHTS

I think I may start using this blog to record our homeschool journey.  We are starting our sixth year homeschooling.  We go year round, taking off when we need or want to.  Our year "officially" begins in January.  This January, Big Girl will be "officially" a ninth grader, and Little Girl fifth.  

We don't actually do grade levels though, and just take things as they come.  If we don't like something, or it isn't working, we change it, regardless of when it is.

Here is what we are currently doing:

BIG GIRL

Easy Grammar Plus:  She is about a fourth of the way through this now.  It will probably last another year and a half.  Then, I am thinking we will use Our Mother Tongue and odds and ends for review until she graduates.

Life of Fred Beginning Algebra: We are loving LOF.  I started her with the first two books for review, and she really liked them, so we will continue with LOF for as long as we want. I am not sure she will do much more than algebra though, and maybe some kind of consumer math later.  We will take it as it comes.

Jensen's Vocabulary: I really like this program!  She has to use a root list to figure out the meanings of her new list each lesson.  Each lesson has several worksheets, intended for a week's worth, but we take two weeks for each lesson, and I add in a couple activities to stretch it out.  She is really learning to use roots to figure out new words.

Abeka Physical Science:  She is really just reading through this.  I think she will do Apologia Biology next.  She did Apologia General, and said she liked it much better than Abeka.  She says things were explained much better.

Megawords 4: Will be finishing up this level, and not continuing.

Building Thinking Skills 3 Verbal: She really liked this, and is almost finished.  I think I will get her the Critical Thinking book 1 next.

Writing: She writes something of her choice every day on the computer, and I go over it with her and help her make corrections.  She really is a natural writer.

LITTLE GIRL

Rod and Staff English 4: We are really only using the grammar part of this.  I really like R&S and already have books 5 and 6, which we will use as well.

Math U See Gamma: She is finishing up this level in the next couple months.  She loves MUS, and we will start on Delta next.  Then, when she is finished with Delta, I will move her into the LOF books her sister used.

Spelling Wisdom: I am actually starting this with her next week.  We did SWR for a while, and she has learned it really well, but it was just taking too much time in our day.  Then, I got Spelling Plus Dictation, which we have been using for a couple months.  I like the idea, but didn't care for the simplistic sentences.  I really think spelling comes more from a knowledge of the rules (which she already has) coupled with lots of writing and actually using the words.  I like that Spelling Wisdom uses wonderful quotes and literature, and isn't just bland, disconnected sentences.  We will use one passage per week, working with any words she doesn't know SWR-method.

Abeka Science 5: She is just reading through this because she really likes science and wanted to.  

BOTH 

TruthQuest History: We are currently using the Middle Ages and AHYS 3 guides.  I use both guides at the same time with both girls.  We love the wonderful books we are reading with this!

Poet Study: We study one poet at a time, memorizing one of their most famous poems, and reading other of their poems daily.

Composer Study: We read about one composer at a time, listening to his works for a month or so.

Artist Study: We study and read about one artist every month or so, looking at some of his paintings online daily.  We are working through American artists now, and will go back to the beginning when we finish with them.

Country Study: We recently finished our 2 year study of the states, and are now starting the same kind of study of the countries of the world.  We look at maps, read tons of books, look at internet sites, and will try some recipes from each country.  We will take as long as we want on each country until we are finished.  If we ever do finish, lol.  

Bible: We have just started using CLP's Studying God's Word for the Gospels.  It is a chronological study of the Gospels.  After this, I am making my own chronological study of Acts thru Revelation, placing the other books where they fit into Acts.

Spanish For Children: I like the way this teaches grammar along with vocabulary.  The girls also use computer discs to supplement.

Besides all this, we read tons of other books as well.  I think I might do a weekly review, like I have seen on other blogs.  

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