Thursday, August 23, 2012

Daily Schedule - Free Printable

I made a blank daily schedule for homeschool and/or homekeeping, enjoy!

Daily Schedule Blank

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

History Notebook Cover Page - Free Printable

I made these for K's history notebook that will eventually contain all 4 years of her narrations, maps and activity pages:



History Notebook Cover Page History Notebook Side

Understanding Washington Homeschooling Law

I've had a lot of questions about laws concerning homeschooling in Washington state and now feel qualified to answer them as I took a certifying course covering the law.  The course was offered from a local university and created by a woman who was actually there and part of the law when it was first created.  As a law-abiding citizen, we should follow these laws and especially since we don't have to "prove" we did, we should for own conscience's sake and for the protection of our homeschooling freedoms.

________________________________________________

Reporting Age = Washington law states that the compulsory attendance age for children is 8-18 years of age.  This simply means that children aren't required to attend school until they are 8 years old, or in this case, start homeschooling.  Attempts to change this age to 6 have been made but so far the law hasn't been changed.

Days of Instruction = Under the home school statute (which means you are entirely on your own and not under a private school or public school), you are required to school for 180 days every year OR meet an annual average of 1,000 hours.

Required Subjects = You are required to teach 11 subjects every year in Washington state and they are: occupational education, science, math, language, social studies, history, health, reading, writing, spelling and art/music.  These are not optional, you have to include each one every year starting at age 8.

Requirements of the Parent Teacher = To teach your child(ren) under the home school statute, you must meet ONE of the following, if both parents are teaching, they must both meet one of the following:

  1. Supervised by a certificated person, which has contact with the child one hour per week and evaluates the child.  This "certificated" person must be a current, licensed WA state teacher.
  2. Have 45 college credits or the equivalent in semester credits
  3. Certified under a home-based education course from a college
  4. Deemed sufficiently qualified by the superintendent
*I meet the third one as I've completed and been certified by a college course on home-based education.

Reporting = You must file a Declaration of Intent (DOI) every year to your local school district by Sept. 15th or within 2 weeks of the start of the public school quarter, trimester or semester.  You can mail these in.  You only need to start filing these when the child turns 8 and from then on every year.  By law, you only have to give them your child's(ren's) name and age - nothing else besides your signature and address.

Testing = You must do one of the following every year after the child turns 8 and KEEP the results in the child's permanent records.
  1. Standardized test administered by testing official - you can not administer these yourself, the child either goes to the local school district to take the test during the annual testing time or you can pay a local test administrator who is qualified to give the test.  The scores you keep to yourself, you don't have to turn them in to anyone!
  2. Have a current, certified WA state teacher evaluate your child.
*I do the second one from a local teacher and then retain the records as proof we completed one of the two testing options.

________________________________________________

In a nutshell what I had to do to homeschool on my 'own' is this: complete a certifying course before my daughter was 8 and file a DOI on her birthday and every Sept. thereafter.  Teach the 11 subjects every year for 180 days or 1,000 hours and have her evaluated at the end of every school year by a certified WA state teacher and retain the records of all this.

Here is an example of what can meet the 11 required subjects:

  1. Occupational education - "marketable" skills such as domestic/homekeeping, car/bike maintenance, cooking, keyboarding, employment, volunteer work, etc.
  2. Science - life science, earth science, physics, biology, nature study, etc.
  3. Math - mathematical concepts and procedures
  4. Language - proper speech/grammar, vocabulary, etc.
  5. Social studies - geography, religion, government, map skills, etc.
  6. History - US history, world and religious history
  7. Health - nutrition, physical education, safety, etc.
  8. Reading - phonics, comprehension, etc.
  9. Writing - copywork, dictation, essays, reports, etc.
  10. Spelling - learning to spell words
  11. Art & Music - appreciation/exposure to art and music

I also recommend joining the Home School Legal Defense Association yearly for legal protection in the case of the truancy officer showing up at your door or CPS.  If they do happen to show up at your door, you simply ask them to hold on, grab the phone, call your lawyers at HSLDA and they will walk you through the process and/or talk to the officer or social worker.  Know your rights and know the law or you could find yourself in trouble!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Chemistry Notebook Cover Page - Free Printable

K chose a red notebook for this year's science: chemistry.  I designed a simple cover page and side strip for her notebook and you can download it for free if you would like to use it as well.



Chemistry Notebook Cover Page
Chemistry Notebook Side Strip

Chemistry Definitions Page - Free Printable

I made a free printable for the definitions in 3rd grade chemistry according to the layout in "The Well Trained Mind."  Enjoy!  This also prints easily for duplex printing (front/back).

Chemistry Definitions Page DUPLEX Printing

Experiment Page - Free Printable

For those that are doing science as laid out in "The Well Trained Mind," I had already created a 2nd grade experiment page here.  However, I discovered when making one for 3rd grade, that she recommends using the same questions as in 2nd grade experiments.  So this experiment page will work for both 2nd and 3rd grade sciences, enjoy!  This prints easily for duplex (front/back) printing as well.

Experiment Page DUPLEX Printing

Friday, August 10, 2012

Completed 2nd Grade Reading Book List

These are the morning and evening books that K read independently, followed by the history and literature we read to her (read-alouds) for 2nd grade.

Morning/Challenging Book List
  1. Beowulf - Osborne
  2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Osborne
  3. The Sword and the Stone - Osborne
  4. Saint George and the Dragon - Hodges
  5. Hamlet for Kids - Burdett
  6. Macbeth - Burdett 
  7. The Song of Roland - Osborne
  8. A Midsummer Night's Dream - Burdett
  9. Romeo and Juliet - Burdett
  10. Finn Maccoul - Osborne
  11. Island of the Lost Children - Osborne
  12. Chanticleer and the Fox - Chaucer
  13. The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur - Hodges
  14. The Fly on the Ceiling - Glass 
Evening/Fun Book List
  1. My Father's Dragon
  2. The Courage of Sarah Noble
  3. James and the Giant Peach
  4. Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth
  5. Lion to Guard Us
  6. The Reluctant Dragon
  7. Magic Tree House - Knights & Castles
  8. A Bear Called Paddington
  9. The Apple and the Arrow
  10. Meet Christopher Columbus
  11. The Story of Chocolate
  12. Good Queen Bess
  13. Starry Messenger
History/Literature Parent Read-Aloud Book List
  1. The Warlord's Puzzle - Pilegar
  2. Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China - Louie
  3. Two of Everything - Hong
  4. Little Red Riding Hood - Ziefert
  5. The Beautiful Butterfly: A Folktale from Spain - Sierra
  6. Three Golden Oranges - Ada
  7. Puss in Boots - Perrault
  8. Count Your Way Through the Arab World - Haskins
  9. Macbeth - Coville
  10. Midsummer's Night Dream - Coville
  11. Hamlet - Coville
  12. A Medieval Feast - Aliki
  13. Leif the Lucky - D'Aulaire
  14. The Inch-High Samurai - McCarthy
  15. Three Samurai Cats - A Story from Japan - Kimmel
  16. Saint Francis - Wildsmith
  17. Raisel's Riddle - Silverman
  18. Liang and the Magic Paintbrush - Demi
  19. Sir Cumference and The First Round Table: A Math Adventure - Neuschwander
  20. The Hunter: A Chinese Folktale - Casanova
  21. Adventures in the Middle Ages - Bailey
  22. Little Johnny Buttermilk - Wahl
  23. Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty & the Beast Tale - Yep
  24. Baboushka and the Three Kings - Robbins
  25. The Littlest Matryoshka - Bliss
  26. The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella - Hickox
  27. The Empty Pot - Demi
  28. Baba Yoga and Vasilisa the Brave - Mayer
  29. Turkey - Festivals of the World
  30. The Duchess Bakes a Cake - Kahl
  31. Blacksmith - Lilly
  32. The Toy Brother - Steig
  33. The Adventures of Tom Thumb - Mayer
  34. The Red Balloon - Lamorisse
  35. Three Sacks of Truth - Kimmel
  36. The Traveling Man - Rumford
  37. Cuckoo - Ehlert

Homeschool Planner Free Printables & Video


I did a short video today of what my homeschool planner is looking like so far.  I showed a lot of free printables and listed where to get them below, plus some more that I haven't used yet.  The main one was free at one time, or at least I got it free somehow (maybe a giveaway or something?), but now she charges $20 for the planner.  I LOVE it because it was almost like the ones I was using that I made myself, but it allows you to prefill and save on the computer and then print.

Free monthly menu planner
http://www.noordinarymomentsblog.com/2012/01/monthly-menu-planner-editable-pdf.html

Free Yearly School Calendar (one you can highlight/label)
http://fivejs.com/free-printable-school-calendar-2012-2013/

Free Homeschool Planner Printables
http://highland.hitcho.com.au/Forms.htm
http://homeschoolcreations.com/index.html
http://fivejs.com/category/homeschooling/free-study-charts-worksheets/homeschool-planning-free-study-charts-worksheets/
http://donnayoung.org/forms/
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/gettingorganized/printable_planner.php#.UCVqpqNmOSo

Other Free Homeschool Planner Printables I haven't used
http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/07/free-downloadable-homeschool-planners.html
http://carianthony.blogspot.com/2011/07/free-homeschool-daily-planner.html
http://home.comcast.net/~askpauline/hs/homeschoolforms.html
http://oklahomahomeschool.com/forms.html
http://www.printablehomeschool.com/
http://www.hslaunch.com/mypage/files?csearch=Organizational
http://homeschooling.about.com/od/schedulingforms/Homeschool_Scheduling_Forms.htm
http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/recordkeeping/qt/reckeep.htm
http://www.holdthatthought.com/free.php
http://freehomeschoolresources.info/free-resources/printable-homeschool-forms/
http://peacecreekontheprairie.com/large-family-homeschool-forms
http://eclectichomeschool.org/resources/downloads/default.asp
http://new-bintexas.webs.com/freecurriculumplanner.htm
http://www.quickstarthomeschool.com/freebies/homeschool-forms/
http://thelifeinbloom.wordpress.com/printables-3/

Online Free Homeschool Planners
http://www.homeschooltracker.com/tracker_basic.aspx
http://www.homeschoolskedtra

Monday, August 6, 2012

3rd Grade Curriculum Index of Posts


I did several posts of the subjects we will be doing with pictures of our curriculum and kits, etc., this is the index of the posts.  Simply click on the link for each subject to see that post:

Bible
Grammar, Writing, Spelling, Latin and Math
Science - Chemistry
History
Art, Home Economics and Music

3rd Grade Art, Home Economics and Music

For art, we do lots of crafts, lapbooking and various kits but we also want to go back and finish the first book of "Artistic Pursuits" that teaches art history, concepts and various projects:


For home economics, other than teaching K as I clean and cook, we plan on going back to level one of "Pearables Home Economics" and also hoping to start and possibly finish level two:



Lastly, for music, I plan on utilizing "Beethoven Who?" music teaching guide, "Stories of the Great Composers" book 1 with the audio cd, and K has been doing piano and violin lessons for over a year now and will continue with both.  I also have various printables, such as instrument flash cards that I will be using and an assortment of online games to do with the orchestra and instruments.




Sunday, August 5, 2012

3rd Grade History

We are continuing on with "The Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times."  We got the book along with the activity guide that comes with the questions, sample narrations, maps, book lists and various activities to go along with each chapter.  I also got the audio cd as my daughter loves to listen to it and we, as a family, listen to them on long drives or vacations.  Then, I also got the tests, which we do orally most of the time, though this year I might let K fill them out.


Volume 3 covers the years 1600-1850 which is a lot of early American history and I got a few books and paper dolls to go along with this time period:




I also got a few model kits that go along with this time period:

3rd Grade Science - Chemistry

We will be spending the entire 3rd grade year on Chemistry!  We are both excited because who doesn't love to mix things and see what happens?  Each week we will be doing 2 experiments, looking up definitions and studying the science encyclopedia.  I also bought some extra things to play around with and may even get more kits halfway through the year if K really enjoys chemistry.  We also got a few games, an audio album with songs about chemistry and some posters/charts for the homeschool room.

For our science encyclopedias, we will be using Usborne's Internet-Linked First Encyclopedia of Science and Usborne's Science Encyclopedia with Internet Links:


For the experiments and definitions, we will be using Book 1 & 2 of Adventures with Atoms and Molecules:


For some extra fun, I got a few kits



We got a chemistry board game and a game using flashcards for the periodic table:



Since K is mostly a kinesthetic (hands-on) learner, we also got a molecule set for her to play around with.  It really helps create a visual and understanding in chemistry:


K loves catchy songs that help her learn and I found an awesome audio album for kids about chemistry!  I've listened to some of the beginnings of the songs and they are all good, they cover hypothesis, atoms/molecules, compounds, being a chemist, solids/liquids/gases and on and on.  It is from Twin Sisters and contains 12 songs:




Lastly, here are the posters or charts we will be hanging in the homeschool room this year to go along with chemistry:



3rd Grade Grammar, Writing, Spelling, Latin and Math

We will using First Language Lessons Level 3 for grammar:


 Writing With Ease Level 3 for writing:


For cursive, we are continuing on with Memoria Press' New American Cursive book 2, she will also be doing cursive in Latin, which I will post with the Latin curriculum below:


For spelling we are using 2 different curriculums: Spelling Workout C & D and All About Spelling Levels 3, 4 & 5:





K begins Latin this year with Memoria Press' Prima Latina.  We are also using the DVD teacher to free me up some time.  I got the New American Cursive book that goes along with the Prima Latina lessons to give K extra practice in writing cursive and Latin.  Other than the teacher and student book, we also have a lesson cd and flashcards for drills.


We love Saxon math and will be using Saxon math 3:


3rd Grade Bible Curriculum

We are still going through Memoria Press' Christian Studies 1 again, we had gone through it in K but decided to put it away until K was older and could do the questions, studies and tests.  We started it a few months ago and take about a week per lesson because we read the KJV Bible instead of the children's bible for the lesson. 


We plan on putting together a model of the tabernacle to learn about how God had them set it up and what it was for.  We plan on using this kit along with a workbook on the tabernacle.



After we finish up Christian Studies 1, we plan on going right into Christian Studies 2:


The model I chose to go with this book is Solomon's Temple here.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

3rd Grade Daily Subjects Schedule & School Times

I wanted to show you all how I plan what we do each day, how many days we do each subject and the estimated times for the school day.  You can view our yearly schedule and how I laid out the 36 weeks and time off here: http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2012/07/3rd-grade-yearly-schedule.html

First, I plan how many days of what subject we need to do each week.  This is all according to how many lessons were in each book and then doing the math to figure out what we needed to do to finish within 36 weeks.

Days per Week per Subject
Bible - daily
Reading - daily
Spelling - 4 days
Grammar - 3 days
Writing - 4 days
Cursive - 3 days
Latin - 3 days
Math - 4 days
History - 2 days
Science - 2 days
Art - 1 day
Music - daily practice; 1 day of composer/orchestra/instrument study
Home Economics - 1 day


Then, I sort them into a daily plan:


Daily Subject Plan
Monday - Bible, Reading, Grammar, Writing, Cursive, Spelling (both), Latin, Math, History and Music practice

Tuesday - Bible, Reading, Grammar, Writing, Cursive, Spelling (both), Latin, Math, Science and Music practice

Wednesday - Bible, Reading, Grammar, Writing, Cursive, Spelling (both), Latin, Math, History and Music practice

Thursday - Bible, Reading, Writing, Spelling (AAS only), Math, Science and Music practice

Friday - Bible, Reading, Art, Home Economics, Music, Projects and Music Practice



K's heavy days will be Mon.-Wed.  Thursday is lighter but she has music lessons that day, so really it is full as well.  Friday is more of a fun day with art, crafts, home economics and history projects.  However, every weekday she will be doing bible, reading and music practice.  The weekends are free days or occasionally we will use Saturday to make up for a day we may have took off during the week due to appointments, sickness, etc.

As you can see, we only need to do grammar, Latin, spelling (Spelling Workout), and cursive 3 days a week.  We do writing and math 4 times per week and then history and science twice per week, alternating days.  You may notice that some days say we do both spellings, this is because we do 2 spelling programs: Spelling Workout and All About Spelling.  We can't seem to let go of either, so we just work them in.  We plan on finishing all the levels of All About Spelling by the end of 4th grade, and then we will continue on only with Spelling Workout from then on out.

Next, I plan in time per subject needed.  These are estimates as I don't know yet how fast or slow K will work in these new curriculums.


Estimated Times per Subject per day
Bible - 15m
Music Practice - 25m

Reading - 30m morning/60m evening = 90m
Spelling - 30m; 20m on AAS only day
Grammar - 20m
Writing - 15m
Cursive - 10m
Latin - 30m

Math - 30m

History - 90m
Science - 90m

Art - 60m
Music study - 20m
Home Economics - 30m


Finally, to get a daily time estimate, I plug in these estimated times per subject above into each day to estimate those days school time:


Daily School Time Estimates
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - 5hr 45m
Thursday - 4hr 45m
Friday - 4hr 20m + any project times


We will be pretty much aligned with the estimated times in "The Well Trained Mind" for 3rd grade, which is 4hr 52m per day.  Those times DO include reading, an hour of which is done in the evening after dinner.