Free Water Cycle Unit - Short and Simple!

We are getting ready to start a week long event on the water cycle! Each lesson will be super short and use things that I have at home. The kids don't do super well with worksheets and my printer is broken so I made this up to do with them next week. It will be free and easy to teach and yet still get across to them the water cycle and what it is.

Water Cycle Unit
Appropriate for K - 5

Monday - http://www.kidzone.ws/water/  This is an excellent resource to explain the water cycle.
Hands on activity: Fill 3 cups with 1 cup of water. Put one in a sunny window, one in a room away from a window, and another one in the window with a piece of plastic wrap covering it. Have the child(ren) discuss what may happen to the water in the cups.  Ignore the cups until Friday.

Tuesday - Make it rain! http://www.greenkidcrafts.com/make-it-rain/

Wednesday - Solids, Liquids, Gases - Get several ice cubes, let the kids handle them. Ask "What is happening to the ice cube?" (it is melting) Why? (their hands are warming the water up) Explain the ice cube is a solid and the water that is dripping off of it is a liquid. Ask them "How can water be a gas or a vapor?" Have them put all their ice cubes in a pan or a skillet on the stove. Turn the burner on. Observe the heat melt the ice. When the water begins to sizzle off the skillet, point out that the water is now a vapor.

Thursday - Get some books on the water cycle, aquifers, different bodies of water and/or drought from the library and read them. Have the kids write and illustrate their own story on something related to the water cycle. This should be fun, so don't stress over spelling and the like.

Friday - Create a project that demonstrates the water cycle. Pinterest has a lot of great ideas. We are going to do one similar to this one here - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/21532904441032917/
There are a lot of cute ones on paper plates if you have them!

A Place for Everything Part 3: My Discbound Planner

In my ten years of homeschooling I have used all sorts of planners. I used home made planners in the early years. Then I moved on to the Well Planned Day and then the Ultimate Homeschool Planner and then back to WPD with the On the Go planner. I found good and bad in each of the systems I've used. As you probably know, if you've read the previous two posts, I love to plan. I love getting my thoughts down on a planning page, especially if colorful pens and papers are included in the process.

I recently saw a post online about the Discbound system. I'd never heard of this before and I started looking online at this system and how others used it, very curious if it would work for my homeschooling. I was pleased to find a mom on youtube that had used this system for her homeschool planner! It was like she'd spent a little time in my brain and developed a planner around my hopes for a homeschool planning system!

I have a love/hate thing with binders. They are big and bulky and the only advantage they have is that you can move pages around as you need. I like spiral bound books because you can fold it in half and write on the left and right sides of the notebook easily. But they are so... permanent! You can't add pages, you can't move them around. And my Type A, perfectionist side dislikes this! Very much! I want to be able to move things and add things as I need. This is the reason I've not yet made a Tapestry of Grace student notebook! But this year, I get to have my flexibility and the spiral feel to my planner and the student books by using this system! (More on my next blog post about the Student Notebook.)

I went to the Staples site to find this beautiful Martha Stewart planner cover! I did order the larger discs because I knew the small ones that came with the planner just wouldn't last once I added all the pages I had in mind! I also ordered extra pocket pages to use as dividers, and a zip lock page to carry pens and papers. I took the huge plunge to order the hole punch, as well. I figured, if I'm going to make my own planning pages, PLUS use this system to make planners for my son's Tapestry of Grace books (I will post about this in the future as well), I better have the hole punch. I have not regretted that purchase!!

So let me introduce you to my work in progress. I hope you can see from the photo how the discs work. They have a ridge that the page wraps around, which keeps the pages in place. However, they can be pulled out and put back in to another part of the notebook.

I put the zip page in front so that I could put all my colorful pens, Post-Its and other items handy. Normally, I keep my pens and markers in a carry-all (pictured in the previous blog post). But if I'm leaving home with the planner, I like to slide them in the zip page. The planner has an elastic band to keep it closed, it has little slots in the front to hold papers and other items, and it has a pen holder on the right side (back) of the planner. And I just love the color! However, if the color isn't 'you', no problem! Staples has other colors, just look in their search engine for the ARC system.

The pretty, colorful dividers were no longer available on Staples.com. So I made my own with scrapbook paper. You could use anything to divide your sections.

The first few pages came with my planner. They have personal reference information. One thing I like about this is the holidays at a glance pages. I also like the years at a glance that offer years from 2013 to 2016. And it has a Special Dates section where you can jot down anniversaries, birthdays, and appointments for each month. Of course, I had to add a little washi tape to the pages for a splash of fun.

I took my Homeschool Mission page out of my old binder, used the special hole punch, and put it in my new planner to help keep my focus. Right behind this page I have placed my family routine (in a perfect world...)

My first pocket page is the divider for the Month at a Glance pages. I put a sticker tab at the top that I found at a local scrapbook shop. I can use the folder to put any sort of papers in, but if I don't need to use it this way, it still makes a great divider. I placed a page behind this with a Bible verse to help keep me inspired.

I made my own monthly pages and tabbed the top with the first letter of each month. I like to see my month at a glance, jot down events, etc. I start with June since it's my homeschool planner.

At the end of the monthly pages you'll find my 2nd pocket page divider. This begins the week at a glance pages that I created on my computer. Inside this pocket I am currently planning to hold my week of pages from the main Tapestry of Grace binder. These pages are held together with a small brad.

The weekly pages I created have the subjects down the left side of the page, and days of the week across the top. I also have room to plan my meals and write my to do lists for the day. And for fun, I put little glasses of water on each day so I can mark them off as I drink water. Somehow I forget to drink enough water through my day. I have Saturday and Sunday on the far right as well as a small area to jot down my thoughts for the week. What worked? What didn't? What do I need to remember next week? One last thing that isn't in the photo is the small gray paper the size of a book mark. I bought these also from Staples and it sits high enough to act like a divider so I can open directly to the week we are in currently. But it also will be where I write the books and pages my boys need to read for their Tapestry assignments that week. Then I can pull it out and let them use it as a book mark, and they can also place it inside their TOG disc bound student notebook.

My next section is my scope and sequence for the year. I can glance at the page and see what exactly we are covering, and it becomes a part of my record when our year is over. We take every 7th week of from our school work, so by now you've probably come to expect washi tape... I've put washi tape down those weeks to help them stand out. I haven't filled in the chart completely just yet, but I've printed what I had done to show you. I'll pencil in the rest of the chapters we'll do each week when I have time to sit and plan.

This is our family routine. I only wish each day went so smoothly. Remember my post (Part One) that explained my split personality? I am so easily sidetracked that I have to at least have a routine set up, and then if we hit 50% of what I hoped, we're doing great! The older my kids get, the easier it is to be on a routine because they are more self directed. Just remember, no routine/schedule/planner is your task master, it is just a tool!

I have other planning pages like the schedule for Biology, the list of books I already own (comes in handy when shopping at used sales so I don't buy duplicates), and the teacher copies of the maps for Tapestry. I will probably be moving things around as my year goes by, but that's ok! I can easily pull out a page and place it in its new home! Binder meets spiral!

I am eager to give this system a try this school year! I think it just may be the answer I've been looking for all these years. Feel free to ask questions or even add comments below on great ideas you've had with planners! Happy 2014-15 school year!

~Christa

See also
A Place for Everything Part One
Part Two
Part Four
Part Five

Reformation Day Lesson Plans and Resources

Since we don't participate in Halloween, we have chosen to celebrate the alternative holiday of Reformation Day. Strictly speaking, we are not reformed or Lutheran (non-reformed Christians do celebrate Reformation Day but it does tend to be associated more with reformed Christians), but we do appreciate the impact that Martin Luther had on the protestant church and his bravery in confronting the false theology of the Catholic church's teachings during a time in which it was so dangerous to confront such a power. Since the information can be found all over the internet, I am just going to post excerpts and link to the sites rather than retyping it all in my own words. How lazy is that ?


From: ShareFaith

The History of the Reformation
The historical trends that brought about the Reformation began centuries before its actual occurrence. In part, the root causes stem from the Church's departure from the foundational teachings of Christ regarding a believer's relationship with God, believers' relationships with one another, and the means of salvation. By the time of the fall of Rome, in the late fifth century, the Church had already adopted many practices contrary to the teachings of Christ.

Particularly, three perceived errors in doctrine stood out as major flaws that were in direct opposition to his teachings, and these later became the basis for Luther's ninety-five theses. The first error created a priesthood that acted as mediator between the believer and God, suggesting that direct communication between man and the almighty was impossible. The second was the establishment of a pope or pontiff who would exercise authority over the entire Church. The third error related to the attainment of salvation through penitent works and charitable acts, rather than through the miracle of faith.

Indulgences
The catalyst that caused Luther to directly confront these issues, however, was the Church practice of granting "indulgences". The custom was based on a verse in the Gospel of John, where Jesus gave the apostles the authority to forgive or retain the sins of humanity. In Luther's time, the Church was engaged in the practice of selling indulgences as a means of increasing ecclesiastical wealth. The Church justified this practice by citing that, although God released the offender from his heavenly obligation, he was still required to pay an earthly price for his sin.

Such payments (or other suitable acts of charity) to the Church released a person from financial or civil obligation incurred as a result of sin. This practice greatly benefited nobles and the wealthy, who could literally pay for their crimes, and correspondingly severely disadvantaged the poor, who could not. The practice also included the selling of indulgences to the families of deceased relatives to release their souls from Purgatory.

It was the "Jubilee Indulgence," authorized by Pope Leo X to pay for the rebuilding of St. Peter's Cathedral, which incited Luther to take action. As the doors of churches were often utilized for posting public notices, Luther, having written his ninety-five theses, placed them on the Castle Church doors on All Hallows Eve, where many who would attend the following All Saints Day observance would read it. However, it was the recent invention of the printing press that allowed Luther's theses to be circulated throughout Europe, thereby bringing him to the attention of Rome and the papacy.


Doorposts offers a Reformation Day Packet with activities and lesson plans for Reformation Day.

Homeschool Share offers this free lapbook on Martin Luther and Reformation Day.


Free Reformation Day Printables can be found here.



Blessed Beyond a doubt has a nice list of Reformation Day resources.

And don't forget to browse Pinterest for ideas!

What do you do to celebrate Reformation Day?

Updated Long Term School Plans for the Girls

It has been about a year since I wrote out our long term plans for the kids. Of course, as expected things have changed a bit so I am updating it to reflect those changes and to talk about what we actually did for the 2012-2013 school year as compared to what I had planned. Our school year start date has changed to closer meet with the traditional date (it has to do with the sales cycles for curriculum) so we are starting July 15th this year. Here is a link to the old post so you can see how things changed. As a side note, Luke starts this year, but this plan does not include him. I will have to write him up separately as the gap between him and his sisters is large enough that I won't be able to combine much.

I'm going

We are still on track for history. Over the summer we have covered early American history and just started on a Texas State History notebook which will be finished pretty quickly.

2012 Ancient History (Mystery of History Volume 1) COMPLETED
2012-2013 Middle Ages (Mystery Of History Volume 2) ON SCHEDULE TO START MONDAY
2013-2014 Renaissance (Mystery of History Volume 3)
2014-2015 Revolutions (Mystery of History Volume 4)
2015-2016 American History and British History (Long way off so haven’t decided which curriculum)
2016-2017 Ancient History
2017-2018 Middle Ages
2018-2019 Renaissance
2019-2020 Revolutions
2020-2021 American History
2021-2022 Civics and Politics

Science Cycle- I had great intentions. We got through Astronomy and are finishing up Botany right now, but I have decided to lapbook our way through the rest of elementary science then pick up the text books again in 6th grade. Since Keira and Brianna are both doing the same exact work, I am considering them both as 4th grade so they can just stick to the same schedule.

I am still tossing up Apologia for the jr.high and high school. My other thought is Bob Jones. I really like the look of it, but I still have plenty of time to change my mind.

2012-2013 Intro to Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Astronomy (RS4K) COMPLETED
2012-2013 Astronomy and Botany (Apologia) COMPLETED
2013-2014  Lapbooking
2014-2015 Lapbooking
2015-2016 General Science
2016-2017 Biology and Marine Biology (Apologia)
2017-2018 Anatomy and Physiology (Apologia)
2018-2019 Chemistry (Apologia)
2019-2020 Advanced Chemistry (not sure but probably at a college)
2020-2021 Physics (not sure but probably at a college)
2021-2022 Advanced Physics (again probably college)


Math: I have completely ditched Teaching Textbooks. It just wasn't working for my daughter who is easily overwhelmed with visual and audio input. We are now using Bob Jones and it seems to be working well. I talked to her about swapping to Math U See but she asked me to stay with BJU.

2012 Teaching Textbooks 3 COMPLETED
2012-2013 BJU 3 COMPLETED
2013-2014  BJU 4
2014-2015 BJU 5
2015-2016 BJU 6
2016-2017 BJU Fundamentals of Math
2017-2018 BJU Pre-Algebra
2018-2019 Algebra 1
2019-2020 Geometry
2020-2021 Algebra 2
2021-2022 Pre-Calculus and Economics

English: Each year will automatically include spelling and vocabulary. We had to back track a bit to re-enforce some grammar so we tracked to be a year behind on grammar. I plan on doubling up some lessons here and there to get us back on track eventually, but it will probably take the entire year to do so. I added in formal writing with Institute for Excellence in Writing. We are using BJU for spelling and vocabulary and are just going at whatever pace we need to. We are also doing a final phonics run through using Rod and Staff. We should be finished with that by the end of the first trimester.

2012-1013 Easy Grammar 2 COMPLETED
2012-2013 Easy Grammar 3 and beginning writing techniques WORK IN PROGRESS
2013-2014 Easy Grammar 4 and continuing writing techniques
2014-2015 Easy Grammar 5 and continuing writing techniques
2015-2016 Easy Grammar 6 and Creative Writing (Thinking Abeka but that is a while off)
2016-2017 Daily Grammar 7 and continuing writing techniques
2017-2018 Daily Grammar 8 and research paper-Old World Literature
2018-2019 Daily Grammar 9 and Poetry Anthology- New World Literature
2019-2020 Daily Grammar 10 and Creative Writing-American Literature
2020-2021 Daily Grammar 11 and the Art of Debate-British Literature
2021-2022 Daily Grammar 12 and Research Paper (or English 1301 in college)

Foreign Language:

I really need to get on this.



Bible: We are still trucking through the Life Pacs but I have decided to make them a personal study time and have picked up Apologia's World View Series. I honestly have no idea how long each book will take us to get through so I am guessing at about a year each. I am not sure what is going on with the years, but we are pushing through the early sets at a faster pace than I anticipated so it will likely right itself before too much longer.

2012-2013 Life Pac 2 COMPLETED
2013-2014 Life Pac 3
2014-2015 Life Pac 4
2015-2016 Life Pac 5
2016-2017 Life Pac 6
2017-2018 Life Pac 7
2018-2019 Life Pac Practical Christianity and Church History
2019-2020 Life Pac New Testament Survey
2020-2021 Life Pac Old Testament Survey
2021-2022 Life Pac Bible Doctrine
2022 Life Pac Christian Faith and Living


Home Economics:

2013-2016-Health and Safety
2017-Nutrition and Food Preparation
2018-Sewing Basics and Historical Arts (canning, embroidery and so on)
2019-Cleaning and Home organization
2020-Etequette and Hospitality
2021-Holistic Medicine and First Aid
2022- Finances and Consumer Math

My DH will take care of computer science, though I will also encourage them to take it as a dual enrollment class their senior year since most degrees require a college level computer science course. I also didn't include reading but you can read our 2013-2014 list here.

Of course all this is subject to change as needed. I will also allow them to chase some self-led interests, but over all this is what I believe they need to have a well rounded school experience with a Biblical world view. Let me know if you see something missing!