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Classical Conversations Cycle 2 Week 5
Are you familiar with the 10-24-7 rule? It isn’t exactly the method that we employ with Classical Conversations, but it’s similar. It basically says that to move something new from your short-term to your long-term memory you need to review the information 10 minutes after you’ve first learned it, then 24 hours later, and then 7 days later. If things were to go according to plan in a CC classroom, we’d introduce the new grammar information to the children earlier in class, then review it at the end of class (not exactly 10 minutes later, but within an hour or two). Then, outside of the classroom, the information is theoretically being…
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Granola Bars . . . or Super Swim Bars!
I love a good granola bar. The kind that is a little chewy and still a little crunchy. I like them to be sweet, but not so sweet that they have that “burn” that sometimes comes from too much sugar, or especially too much honey. This summer, we needed some snacks to take to swim meets (hence the alternate name, SUPER Swim Bars!, by which they will forever be known around our house), and I found a recipe for granola bars that I liked, but didn’t quite love. Now, with a few tweaks, I’m really happy with it and it’s been a hit with the whole family. Granola Bar Recipe…
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Shopping for Groceries Online
I am CONSTANTLY having conversations with friends (or acquaintances) where I mention a grocery item that I purchase online, or I mention how infrequently I go to the grocery store (and mostly for things like bananas and spinach) and my friends are really SHOCKED that I purchase a LOT of groceries from Amazon. Apparently, many people are still not aware of Amazon’s great “Subscribe and Save” program. Using this program, you can subscribe to certain items (not all items are available for subscription) and get an additional 5% discount on the item, plus free shipping. If, in any given month, you have 5 or more “Subscribe and Save” items shipping…
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Great Grocery Deals! 11/10/13
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Menu Plan 9/23/2013
Well, it’s officially FALL! Tomorrow, I’ve got to get going and actually switch out some of the summer decor around here for fall things! I love fall, but the last two years, I’ve been so busy during September and October that it’s usually November before I’ve really thought about getting some fall decor going, and by then . . . it’s pretty much time for Christmas! I’m bound and determined to get it out and enjoy it this year! It’s also probably time to switch to more fall-like food, but I’m just not quite there emotionally, yet. SOON, though, especially if the weather continues to feel fall-ish. In the meantime,…
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Classical Conversations Cycle 2 Week 4
English The Schoolhouse Rocks video about Pronouns (which we’ll continue to cover in grammar thru week 6) is very entertaining . . . and possibly educational. You can find it via a search of YouTube. Science Just to keep in simple, I made a little cycle hand out that can be used while we’re going over the cycles. If you’d like to use it, you may download it by clicking on the image below. The Magic Schoolbus Episode and Book “Wet All Over” covers the water cycle really well. Both the DVD and the book are available at Amazon, and the video is also available on you tube: There are…
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Making Yogurt at Home
If, you’re not making your own yogurt at home . . . well, that’s okay. I make lots of stuff from scratch, but I’m not of the mindset that you’re really falling down on the job if you choose convenience over the extra time it takes to make stuff from scratch. We’re all trying to find a balance that works for ourselves and for our families. I think that balance is probably different places for different people. I like to make stuff from scratch. Partly, because I just like to know that I can, and partly because I really do like knowing more about what’s in my food. It makes…
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Easy Halloween Decorating Ideas
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Classical Conversations Cycle 2 Week 3
A little background: This is our family’s fourth year to participate in a Classical Conversations (CC) community. We participate in the Foundations portion of the program, which is designed for children ages 4 to about 11. The Foundations program lasts for 24 weeks each year. Each week the children cover 7 different grammar subjects (Timeline, History, Math, Science, English, Latin, and Geography), do a short (2-3 minutes) presentation, participate in one or more Science experiments and cover some area of Fine Arts. It’s a VERY busy morning! This week, we focused on reviewing geography. Here are some resources: If you have access to CC Connected, there’s nice little packet put together by another parent…
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Menu Plan 9/9/2013
It’s going to be another busy week around here and I know that I do better when I actually have a plan (of some sort) for what we’ll be eating for the week! All things are subject to change, of course . . . but if you live in the real world, you already knew that. If you’re looking for a menu plan document that works for you, below is the template that I use. You can see it filled out for this upcoming week (the colors are just to remind me of things I need to do, like make something that takes a little preparation or post the recipe…
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Classical Conversations Cycle 2 Week 2
A little background: This is our family’s fourth year to participate in a Classical Conversations (CC) community. We participate in the Foundations portion of the program, which is designed for children ages 4 to about 11. The Foundations program lasts for 24 weeks each year. Each week the children cover 7 different grammar subjects (Timeline, History, Math, Science, English, Latin, and Geography), do a short (2-3 minutes) presentation, participate in one or more Science experiments and cover some area of Fine Arts. It’s a VERY busy morning! This will be a really quick post about just a couple of things that I found to help with review for this week’s grammar. Geography Someone in…
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Lesson Planning Software
This is officially our fourth year of home schooling, and I have tried a little bit of everything when it comes to planning our lessons. When we first started, I purchased a boxed set of curriculum and tried to use the lesson plans that accompanied it. I soon discovered, that while the curriculum was good and the lesson plans might have been good ones, too, they just weren’t good for us. I spent hours that year creating new and complicated lesson plans in Excel, since it’s a program that I’m familiar with, and then discovered something that I probably should have realized: Life rarely goes according to plan. Kids get…
