Getting Ready to Study About Civil War

Summer's almost over and school is here.

It’s been a while since I’ve written so I’d like to give some recommendations of things that have been helpful to my kids in our homeschooling.

Books

I’m always on the look-out for wholesome books.  We bought Katie Sue Goes West by Eleanor Clark recently for our Kindle and were pleasantly surprised. 

Katie Sue Goes West is very well written and is a story within a story about a girl who has to move west.  There are a lot of historical facts and background sprinkled throughout the story.  There are some bible verses as well but it is done in a very natural way that is not too preachy. My daughter really enjoyed this and I really enjoyed reading this book as well.  This would be a good book to read if you are studying about pioneers.  I would recommend it for ages 10 and under. 

I haven’t read the other books in this series but I know there is another book dealing with World War II.

William Wilberforce
We studied about slavery leading up to the Civil War.  One very influential person in the abolitionist cause was William Wilberforce.  We read the biography which was very good.  Then, we watched the "Amazing Grace" movie which was very well done.  I was surprised that my kids enjoyed it so much and wanted to watch it again.  There are a couple of intense moments but I recommend it highly.



Civil War
We are getting ready to study the Civil War, which I very much look forward to doing. Here are some lapbook resources I am using in addition to the Sonlight curriculum :

Websites for Lapbooks
http://dynamic2moms.webs.com/War Between the States page
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/civil_war_lapbook_templates.php

I also just bought this History Pockets since my kids like to make lapbooks and do activities.  There are also other History Pocket books for Ancient Civilizations, Revolutionary War, etc.



Anyone have any other ideas for studying the Civil War?

Summer Reading List

I am always on the lookout for quality books for my kids to read.  Now that it's summer they have even more time to read.  I thought I would post this question:  What good books have your kids read lately that you recommend?

I'll start off with some books that my kids read recently that they really liked (Most of these books are on Kindle but many I borrowed from Plano's ebook library) Most books here are 3rd grade level and up:

Zucchini by Barbara Dana
This book is about a ferret who runs away from the zoo.

Born to Trot by Marguerite Henry
This one is about a boy who has a horse that can run very fast.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (Newberry Award)
This is about a gorilla who remained in captivity in a cage in a mall for years who later discovers he has some special gifts.

Neversink by Barry Wolverton
This book is an animal version of America's breakaway from England.  My son enjoyed reading about the details of this fantasy world in Antartica.

Crunch by Leslie Connor
A boy's parents get stuck because they don't have any gas to fill up their tanker.  He tries to take responsibility for parents' farm/bike shop.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again

Summer Ideas?

 Summer's here!  I'm proud of my kids for finishing their homeschooling well.  We finished last Thursday.  Now what?  We have to be creative when we are overseas and there are few activities for children here.  I plan to go and visit our local friends here more this month before Ramadan.  Besides that, I am trying to brainstorm ideas for what my kids could do:

• Swim. We got a metal frame pool from a friend who had to go back to the U.S.  The kids love it.  Our roof is too rough so we have put it in our shower room where it just fits.  It's a good thing we have two shower rooms.  It's big enough that our kids can swim back and forth a little.
• Do arts and crafts.  I bought some of Klutz books for the kids to do.  They love them.  In another post, I would like to post some good websites for art/craft projects.  Does anyone know of any good websites?
• Play piano.  I never got to teaching my kids piano during the school year.  I have been trying to teach them a little.  
• Summer reading.  Maybe we can start a book club!  If anyone knows of any good books, we can make a summer reading list.  Those available on Kindle are especially helpful.
• Teach the kids how to type.  I saw some websites for learning how to type which seem ok.  I may just decide to buy some software if that is not enough.
• Read through the Kurdish reading books.  I got these from the public school nearby but I never got around to having the kids read these.  I want the kids to keep up with the language.
• Maybe get kids together and play organized sports or do exercise together?

Does anyone have any other ideas?

Hope you all have a great summer!

Oregon Trail Lapbook

I have been supplementing my American history with lapbooks this year.  We are currently doing a great lapbook that is on the following website:  http://www.lapbooklessons.com/OregonTrailLapbook.html

It's been fun and they include links for information.  I recommend finding other websites as well for information and bookmarking them for the kids to put on the lapbooks instead of just letting them surf the internet for information.  Otherwise, this will be too time consuming.

Question about Teaching Science to Two Kids

Right now, I am in the middle of Sonlight Science D (Biology). We are a little behind because of our year in K public school last year.  We’ve enjoyed this science the most so far.  Now I’m trying to decide if I should finish it this summer and then start Sonlight science E (Electricity, Magnetism, and Astronomy) next school year.  The other option is to finish the second half of Sonlight D Biology next school year and do Apologia Botany or Zoology the second half of the year.

I looked at the Sonlight Science E books for next year and went into a bit of a shock!  Noah loves science and he loves a challenge but I am concerned that it would be too abstract/complex for Hannah.  I have been teaching my kids science together but now I wondering if I should teach them separately.  Do you have any advice for me?  How did your kids like the Science E Sonlight?  Should I teach Hannah something else?  I have a friend who has some Apologia science books that she is not using.  Has anyone had experience with Apologia and what do you think about it? The only thing is that I do not want to have to do separate experiments for both of my kids.  I wonder if I would be able to teach them well if I do completely different things.  Noah is in fourth grade right now and Hannah is in second grade right now.

Any advice would be great!  :)

Borrowing Ebooks

I am so excited that I found out that the Plano library in Texas is now doing ebook lending for Kindle!  My kids were so happy!  I think they are going to allow more books to be lent on Kindle.  Most books are available on Kindle.  Some are in epub format which you need to upload and convert so that you can read it on Kindle.  The website for that is epub2mobi.com.

I think they will have this available in more cities in the U.S.  This should happen in other countries as well.

Teaching Two or More Children

I thought I would post this question.  How do you teach two or more children?

I started homeschooling an hour or two hours a day when Noah was 4  and Hannah was 2 out of necessity.  We were living in a tiny apartment with my mother in law and we had to do something structured since we only sent Noah twice a week to a mother's day out preschool. I wasn't going to teach Hannah but then she wanted to learn and join in.  So, I got her her own easier workbooks so she could something similar to what Noah was doing.  

They seem to enjoy learning together so I continued on like this and eventually we went overseas.  

Now I teach Bible, science, and history with the kids together. We usually do those subjects first and then do independent work last.  Sometimes we switch for a change.  I teach the level between them for those subjects.  Then, I teach the other subjects spelling, math, grammar/writing, and reading separately according to their level.  I usually give one independent work and then teach the other a subject that needs teaching a new concept.

What do you all do with your children?  How do you teach multiple children?  How is your day structured?  Or has anyone had a better experience teaching their children on different levels for all subjects?

When the children get older, do you teach the children history and science separately?  I would like to hear people's experiences.  :) I think it's helpful to hear from those homeschooling for a while especially! 

 If anyone has any other questions to post, please feel free to do so since maybe you have a question that someone else has as well.