Saturday, September 21, 2013

Homeschooling With a Crawling Baby

We learned to homeschool during nap times but since my soon-to-be 10-month old is napping less now, we have had issues with homeschooling while he is awake.  We can put him in the pack n' play but it only lasts so long because it is such a small space.  We can also put him in his room with the gate at the door, but we have to check him a lot to make sure he isn't chewing the diapers (which he has done) or getting something else that we didn't think he would get into.

So, I needed a solution - some way to keep him in the homeschool room with us, but without access to the bookshelves.  There are too many openings between the kitchen and the living room, so gates wouldn't work and then I came across the SuperYard XT!  I had only seen pictures of it in an octagon shape but then I came across another mom who used it as a rectangle near her dining table.  AHA!  We got it today and even though it isn't secured on the ends, I think it will hold up to keep him in this space by the table while we school.  I do plan on taking down those posters and tacks on the wall.  It also folds up nicely and is portable.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Little Pilgrim's Progress

My daughter finished reading Helen Taylor's Little Pilgrim Progress and she loved it!  It is a simpler version of John Bunyan's classic, Pilgrim's Progress, written for children 8-12 years of age.  The first half of the book deals with a boy named Christian and the rest of the book is about Christiana's journey.  K was so excited as she read through the book and most of the time, she didn't stop after her 30-minute assigned reading but begged to read "just one more chapter!"  She was also able to understand the allegories and it opened up deep conversations about the Christian walk and living for God.

We also got Little Pilgrim's Progress Adventure Guide by Deanna Conrad, a homeschool mom, and it helped with discussion about the book.  It included scripture to look up for each section to bring out the allegory even more with God's Word.


Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Foundation of Latin = World of Possibilities

"In one century, we went from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to offering remedial English in college." ~ Joseph Sobran  

I've received a lot of scoffs since my daughter started taking Latin last year.  The normal response is why learn a dead language?  When I would try to explain why Latin is important and that English was based on it (80%), I still can't seem to convince some people that it is a worthy endeavor.

The path we are doing with our program is taking Latin for 10 years and at that time K will have reached scholar-level in Latin.  However, it doesn't stop there, there is a greater purpose for this FOUNDATION.  Not only will K have a full understanding of Latin, but she will also be able to learn many other languages easily because they are 90-95% based on Latin, such as: French, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Romanian and even Russian will be easier to learn.

There are endless possibilities when you have a Latin-scholar - multilingualism is an asset, not only in our world, but also for the cause of Christ!  I plan on also teaching my son in this path and who knows, maybe he will be able to be used by God to preach in many languages and countries!  I'd say that is a worthy endeavor!



Articles:
Why Study Latin
10 Reasons for Latin - Part 1
10 Reasons for Latin - Part 2