The Strickland School

Look a what we're doing in school!

2011-02-02T11:09:00.001-08:00

Its been HARD to get back into the routine of school! We have been getting there slowly but surely.

We added a new elective to our studies. Our daddy and the girls are learning GUITAR! We bought this curriculum called "Learn and Master" Guitar made by Legacy Learning Systems and put together by Gibsons Guitars.

We love learning new things, but it seems hard to budget the time and the money for private lessons. This is the PERFECT set up for us.

Basically our dad looks over the teachers guide and gains an understanding as t

o whats to be learned the week ahead. Then everyone sits down and watches the video lesson. They practice with the video, and all week long. They have a workbook that

helps them learn the new chords and such.

Everyone is learning- so I am sold! This is a two year program, that we can do on our time, and save money! Read more about this particular program and much more by clicking on the link. http://www.learnandmaster.com/guitar/

Socialization

2010-08-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

-- is a term used to refer to the process of inheriting norms, customs, and idealogies. It may provide the individual with the skills and habits necessary for participating within their own society.

I read an article titled "A Whole New Look at Socialization" by Marilyn Molewyk. It really put pretty words in a wonderful order that coincide with our values on the subject. I'm so simple minded and really- she spoke of every one of our thoughts and ideals.

She mentioned at the end of the article her future goals for socialization are focused on raising her children to be Godly men and women. She goes on to describe what that entails. And I loved every word of it! So I adopted it and shaped it to family and wanted to share it here.

We want to raise our children to be Godly men and women who:
~Are comfortable being who they are, no matter who they're with.
~Understand the misconceptions behind social hierarchies and accompanying social rules.
~Function with Godly integrity within a society of social game players.

We want them to comprehend and embrace:
~Their unique, God-given personalities and talents.
~Their identity and value lie in their relationship with God.
~That God loves them for who they are, not for what they do.
~That we're all equal at the foot of the cross, regardless of race, gender, beauty, possessions, achievements, etc.
~That God's opinion, and obedience to His opinion, is more important than other peoples' opinions.

We want them to demonstrate the Godly character traits of a good friend:
~Loyalty
~Compassion
~Self-awareness: recognizing, identifying, and owning one's emotions/motivations vs. carelessly inflicting them on others.
~Integrity: being the same person in all situations and with all people.
Authenticity: able to get real with others, admit weakness, and ask for help, not hide behind a mask.
~Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
~Honesty: includes not manipulation or using passive-aggressive behavior to get something one wants.
~Ability to handle envy in a Godly way.
~Courage to stand up for, protect, and defend victims of injustice.

Should have effective and empathetic communication and conflict resolution skills, including the ability to:
~Examine and discuss motives
~Talk through misunderstandings
~ Ask for and offer forgiveness
~Speak the truth in love
~Set and enforce healthy boundaries vs. being a dominating jerk or a passive doormat.

I think if my hubby and I can impart a majority of these attributes into our fabulous four-they will have no problem cultivating and maintaining deep, meaningful relationships throughout their lives.

Astronomy

2010-07-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

"Night is a world lit by itself."
~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

We are studying Astronomy this summer and loving every bit of it. The summer night sky is amazing! You can see so much when it gets dark.

We are using the Apologia "Exploring Creation with Astronomy book as our guide and journalling in the Apologia Notebooking Journal.

I couldn't ask for better curriculum to guide us through our universe. We are even referred to great on-line websites.

We just finished our study on Mercury. What an intruging planet. We spent alot of time at the MESSENGER website. Click here to read more about the MESSENGER and its voyage around Mercury.

Maybe, if time and capacity willing, I can post more about our Astronomy studies here this summer. :)

Ancient Rome

2010-03-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

We are super excited about our studies on Ancient Rome!

This picture is of our "class" bulletin board displaying what we will be learning and experiencing in the next few weeks. (click on it to zoom in)

In art, we will make a mosaic masterpiece, in science we're exploring Natural Disasters including volcanoes.

We will talk with some tourists (Pawpaw & Nana) who visited the ruins of Pompeii- to hear about their adventure.

But most importantly, we will read and rediscover the story of Jesus' trial, death, and resurrection through the New Testament and in the Roman times.

The studies will continue after Easter to the unfortunate fall of Rome.

MATH-U-SEE

2010-03-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

We have been struggling with homeschooling math ever since the girls came home from public school. Kayla was way behind and we needed to rebuild her foundation and Emily wasn't being challenged enough at home. To top it off, math has not been my strongest subject of knowledge- let alone to teach it!

I often say that the homeschooling curriculum I use is sort of my compass and guides me as I educate the kids at home. Well, we have been lost for some time. It seems like we have been stuck on learning/understanding/memorizing the multiplication facts for a while.

As I researched new curriculum options, I found Math-U-See written by Steve Demme, a homeschool dad, for the homeschool community.

Math-U-See provides a firm foundation in mathematics for students struggling in mathematics and with special needs. Teachers are provided the tools, skills, and training needed to present an explicit, structured, systematic, and cumulative program using multi-sensory teaching techniques.

The curriculum focuses on the individual student, meeting their unique needs. The mastery approach utilized by Math-U-See is designed to give the parent clear understanding of when a student is ready to move to the next lesson. Math-U-See is broken down to teach students specific skills that build as the student progresses. This systematic and cumulative approach uses a definite, logical sequence of concept instruction. The Math-U-See system is structured with step-by-step procedures for introducing, reviewing, and practicing concepts. The student does not move on to the next skill until they have mastered it.

It's been amazing to see both girls succeed in this program. Emily has taken off-moving through the curriculum at her own fast pace, and loves the new challenges. She even kissed me on the cheek the other day and told me "Thank you mom for my new math- I love it!" Kayla is moving along too at her own pace-not feeling like she is in competition with her sister. She has mastered several skills which has boosted her self confidence and has give her a whole new perspective on math.

There is a recommended 4-step approach to use as you teach each lesson that has been very successful for us.
1. I prepare for the lesson by reading all the content in my manual, I watch the video where Steve Demme teaches/explains the new topic and I make sure I understand the content.
2. I present the the new topic to the girls (individually) by letting them watch the video. After the video session, we recap the skill. We Say it, Write it, and Build it trying to use all our senses in acquiring this new knowledge.
3.Then we get out our workbook and practice. There are six pages to practice the new topic. The first three pages are on the newest skill, and the last three pages are a review of all thats been learned up to now.
4. Then I test the girls on their knowledge in the test booklet. If they pass, I allow them to teach it to either me, their stuffed animals, or to their dad. Allowing them to teach and explain what the've learned is not only fun for them, but really shows that they have mastered that skill. Each lesson can take only a few days or even up to a week-depending on their own understanding.

I highly recommend this math curriculum. I would be happy to answer any questions about Math-U-See. To read more about it, go to their website at http://www.mathusee.com

Homeschooling Works - Pass it On!

2010-02-05T19:01:00.001-08:00

We're OFFICIAL!

2010-01-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

Or at least it just feels official, now that we have in our possession our very own electric pencil sharpener, we feel like a certified, bonafied school!

Bring on the pencil sharpening!!

Christmas Around The World

2009-11-30T12:04:00.001-08:00

Because our schooling this year is based with World History, we are going with a fun CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD unit for the Christmas season.
We will cover 6 countries. Sweden, Italy, Mexico, England, Germany, and France. We will be reading from the series of books "Christmas Around The World" by Kristin Thoennes. To look at her amazing books click here.

Not only will be get a good dose of geography and world history, we will also do fun Christmas activities and crafts that are done in these countries. We will eat the traditional treats eaten around the holidays. We will learn the culture and customs through readings and stories and then write about them. Our spelling and vocabulary will also come from this unit. We will learn how to spell and define words like tradition and celebrate as well as the country itself.

In order to get ready for our expedition around the world, we put together our briefcases and passports. Its gonna be so much fun! I hope this is something the girls will never forget!

Will share more as we journey around the world, will also post more pics!!

Quilling

2009-11-06T21:29:00.001-08:00

We learned about how to do quilling in our Keepers group recently. We have had so much fun quilling- its become a normal part of our art time at home.

Quilling is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs.

Since we've learned about it, we have been making lots of fun things. There are numerous opportunities out there of things you can make with quilling. Our minds have sparked lots of ideas and we've been playing and making alot.

Here are some pictures of a few things we've made.

New educational tool!

2009-11-06T21:00:00.000-08:00

We were recently BLESSED with a new telescope! We have had so so so much fun looking at the sky at night. We will be studying the Astronomy pretty soon! So exciting! Here are a few pics!

I actually took this picture of the moon!! I put my camera into the lens of the telescope and took a picture of what was seen in the eye piece! SO COOL!

Living on the Nile

2009-09-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

We have been talking about Egypt in the Old Kingdom.

VERY fascinating stuff!

We started with the Nile. Which was so resourceful to the people! The girls painted a mural of the Nile. They painted all the resources, animals, and what people might be doing on the Nile.

Next we read about the Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt and then the merging of the two thus creating a powerful Egypt. (Hence the double crown)

We finished this week off with mummies and pyramids. A life so long ago- so intriguing. If you dont remember your ancient history- I encourage you to check out a few library books about Egypt- very intriguing!

The girls mummified their stuffed animals just like a high priest would an honorable person back then. It was pretty detailed- I bet the girls never forget that process!!

And later they built pyramids out of sugar cubes. It took alot of work and designing to make this happen. We talked about how hard it must have been for all those people building those HUGE pyramids in back then!

King Tut also stopped by too. He will be staying for a while. ;)

Next week we will move onto the life of an Egyptian- should be lots more fun!

Continents and Oceans

2009-09-03T08:52:00.001-07:00

We are memorizing the continents and oceans, so thankful we have this cd to learn our geography with!

A timeline of World History

2009-08-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

We put our first timeline figure on our timeline! The girls were so excited! For our studies in history, we made a simple timeline for our wall next to our large world map. The timeline figures came with our curriculum. Below is a list of the figures (people or era) we will be studying throughout the year.

BC Figures
3500-3300 BC Tower of Babel
3500-2500 BC Sumer
3100 BC Menes, first Egyptian King
2005 BC Jacob & Esau
1400s BC Jericho destroyed by God
1400s BC Exodus
1400s BC Joshua
1250 BC Trojan War
1200 BC Ruth
1190 BC Philistines rule eastern Mediterranean
1175 BC Samson
1170-612 BC Assyrian Civilization
1055 BC King David
704-681 BC Sennacherib rules
669-626 BC Assur-bani-pal builds library
605-652 BC Nebuchadnezzar
600 BC The Code of Draco
563-483 BC Gautama Buddha founds Buddhism
551-479 BC Confucius
539 BC Fall of Babylon
539 BC Cyrus conquers Babylon
509 BC Rome becomes a republic
500-331 BC Cyrus founds the Persian Empire
479-431 BC Greek Golden Age
469-399 BC Socrates
447 BC The Parthenon is built
444 BC Nehemiah
431-404 BC Peloponnesian Wars
384-322 BC Aristotle
356-323 BC Alexander the Great
264-241 BC First Punic War
200 BC Silk route west begins
100-44 BC Julius Caesar
70-19 BC Virgil

AC Figures
753 BC-AD 476 Rome
27 BC-AD 476 Imperial Rome
500 BC-AD 220 Ancient China
4 BC- AD 29 Jesus Christ
AD 36 Stephen, the first martyr, stoned to death
AD 79 Mount Vesuvius destroys Pompeii
AD 250-900 Mayans
AD 285-337 Constantine makes Christianity the state religion of Rome
AD 325 Consrantine called the Counsil of Nicaea
AD 476 Western Rome fell
AD 476-1453 Middle Ages
AD 480-547 Benedict starts order of monks
AD 570-632 Mohammed
AD 622 Islam begins
AD 732 Battle of Poitiers “Tours”
AD 1000 Vikings discover America
AD 1066 Battle of Hastings (or the Norman Conquest)
00's Figures
522-485 Darius rules Persia
742-814 Charlemagne forms a new Roman Empire

1100-1897 Kingdom of Benin
1162-1227 Genghis Khan
1170-1827 Ludwig Beethoven
1191-1868 Samurai warriors
11th, 12th, & 13th Centuries Crusades

1212 Children's Crusade
1215 The Magna Carta
1215-1294 Kublai Khan
1220 Incan Civilization begins
1254-1324 Marco Polo

1337-1453 Hundred Years' War
13th Century Mongols
1300s-1600s European Renaissance

1412-1431 Joan of Arc
1440 Johann Gutenberg invents printing press
1451-1506 Christopher Columbus
1452-1519 Leonardo da Vinci
1453 Muslims conquer Constantinople
1460-1521 Juan Ponce de Leon seeks the Fountain of Youth
1466-1520 Aztec Emperor, Montezuma II
1475-1564 Michelangelo
1475-1517 Vasco Nunez de Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean
1485-1547 Hernando Cortes conquers the Aztec Empire
1491-1547 King Henry VIII
1497 Vasco da Gama sails to India
1497 John Cabot sails to North America
14th Century Black Death kills one-third of Europe's population

1517 Martin Luther launches the Protestant Reformation
1519-1522 Magellan leads circumnavigation of the globe
1531-1533 Francisco Pizarro conquers the Incan Empire
1558-1603 Queen Elizabeth I rules England
1564-1616 William Shakespeare
1588 British Navy destroys Spanish Armada
1590 Sir Walter Raleigh founds the first unsuccesful colony in America

1607 Jamestown established
1618-1648 Thirty Years' War
1638-1715 Louis XIV
1672-1725 Peter the Great
1685-1750 Bach

1712-1786 Frederick the Great
1756-1791 Mozart
1750 Industrial Revolution begins
1770 Captian James Cook discovers Australia
1775-1783 The American Revolutionary War
1789-1799 The French Revolution
1794-1858 Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry opens Japan to trade

1815 Wellington defeats Napoleon at Waterloo
1819-1901 Queen Victoria
1820-1910 Florence Nightingale
1853-1856 Crimean War
1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War
1883 Krakotoa erupts
1899-1902 British-Boer War

1902-1970 Gladys Aylward
1912 Titanic Sinks
1917-1920 The Russian Revolution
1943 Hill of Fire (Paricutin) explodes
1950-1953 Korean War
1982 Joanne Shetler dedicates Balango New Testament

Teacher Work Days!

2009-08-17T11:26:00.001-07:00

I've been working hard lately on getting the Strickland School ready. You could almost call it a teacher work day around here, although Ive been working here and there throughout this month getting things together.

You might wonder, what does one do to get prepared for homeschooling? Well, other than getting stocked up on prayers, I have been laying out all the curriculum for the year. Ive also been putting together our school room and gathering and organizing supplies.

This is where the majority of schooling will be happening this year.. We have two desks upstairs for quiet times to do self-instructed work.

We will ease into school the first week of September and be fully up and running mid September. We have a routine we have been working on, and will iron out any kinks along the way.

I would love to share more about curriculum, but low on time! Maybe next post!

And so it begins!!

2009-08-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

After much debate and research, all the curriculum is being ordered and delivered! All the hard work (writing the curriculum) has been done for me, I just need to lay it all out, organize and setup it up for the year. SO EXCITING!

9 REASONS WHY WE HOMESCHOOL

2009-07-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

After many teachings, wisdom, thoughts, prayers, and time, we have concluded nine main reasons why we homeschool. Im sure there are more. But they are likely to fall under these catagories.

1. Educational-Meeting the individual needs of each child. They are both diverse, we can celebrate their strengths and help them grow in their weaknesses. We also have opportunties to learn "Outside of the box".
2. Instructional-Lots of verbal interaction, first hand experiences, enjoying the unexpected, and the chance to discover.
3. Developmental-Teaching our children to REASON, and to reason from a biblical view.
4. Physical-Meeting their physical needs- with time. A great book on this topic- "Honey For A Childs Heart".
5. Moral-A chance to disciple our children! To build character and moral values.
6. Social- Teaching them leadership. Not neccessarily to run with the crowd.
7. Relational-To re-establish what a family really is. Our family is close. So many wonderful ways to grow in relationships. (with parent to child, child to child, peers)
8. Spiritual-Time to Strengthen their relationship with God, implement devotions on a daily basis.
9. Kayla, Emily, Dylan, and Taylor- The opportunity to nurture them, the flexibility of our family, opportunities to go on mission trips or vacations, to be able to advance them in their abilities and skills.

Homeschooling our children is a HUGE investment. We sacrificially invest our time, resources and our money to teach our children at home. Sometimes, fleshy desires and doubt start to creep in, but Lord reminds us that our investment is also an eternal one. I imagine we're making huge gains in our investment portfolio. ;)

Colossians 2:8 (NIV) says "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." I personally feel responsible for the hearts and souls of my children! I must see to it that no one (who shouldnt) takes them captive!

A story

2009-06-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

Today I went to a homeschooling conference in Austin. I attended one seminar titled "9 Reasons Why You Should Homeschool" It was believable how much encouragement and inspiration I recieved. At one point, the speaker, David Quine, (who is the author heading Cornerstone Curriculum, a Christian based educational curriculum) read this story to us. I cried. I needed to hear this. This is one of the major reasons why we pulled our children out of public school.

Once upon a time the animals decided they should do
something meaningful to meet the problems of the new
world. So they organized a school.

They adopted an activity curriculum of running,
climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to
administer the curriculum, all the animals took all
the subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming; in fact, better
than his instructor. But he made only passing grades
in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was
slow in running, he had to drop swimming and stay
after school to practice running. This caused his web
feet to be badly worn, so that he was only average in
swimming. But average was quite acceptable, so nobody
worried about that-except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of his class in
running, but he developed a nervous twitch in his leg
muscles because of so much make-up work in swimming.
The squirrel was excellent in climbing, but he
encountered constant frustration in flying class
because his teacher made him start from the ground up
instead of from the treetop down. He developed
"charlie horses" from over exertion, and so only got a
C in climbing and an A in running.

The eagle was a problem child and was severely
disciplined for being a non-conformist. In climbing
classes he beat all the others to the top of the tree,
but insisted on using his own way to get there.

The obvious moral of the story is a simple one- each
creature has its own set of capabilities in which it
will naturally excel- unless it is expected or forced
to fill a mold that doesn't fit. When that happens,
frustration, discouragement, and even guilt bring the
overall mediocrity of complete defeat. A duck is a
duck- and only a duck. It is built to swim, not to run
and certainly not to climb. A squirrel is a squirrel.
To move it out of its forte', climbing, and then
expect it to swim or fly will drive a squirrel nuts.
Eagles are beautiful creatures in the air, but not in
a foot race. The rabbit will win every time unless, of
course, the eagle gets hungry!

What is true of creatures in the forest is true of
humans too. When you are forced to meet someone else's
expectations, that are beyond your capabilities,
frustration, mediocrity, phoniness, and total defeat
is predictable.

Welcome to the Strickland School Site!

2009-05-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

My name is Tressa. I'm a wife of almost 12 years and mother of four. We have decided to homeschool our girls who are both finishing their 3rd grade year.

Last year, while ordering curriculum for homeschool, I had to fill out my contact information and what institution I was ordering for. At that moment, I realized we would be called "The Strickland School".

The Strickland School site will be a log of our journeys in homeschooling. Im always inspired when I hear of other homeschooling family's trials and triumps. I hope you too will be inspired here.