Over the next few weeks, I am going to be blogging about our curriculum choices for my kids for the 2008/2009 school year. Many ask me what I use and why I use it….so, this gives me a great opportunity to share all my top picks for this fall, and the whys behind the choices. As many homeschooling mommies know….a LOT of thought goes into each and every book and lesson plan!
Isabella will be in 4th grade. Ethan will be in 2nd and my Helaina will be a big K’er. Oh, and Ashton is a preschooler!
Each year we do copy work which serves many purposes. The first is that it improves handwriting and grammar. By reading and copying beautifully structured language, then you are learning it at the same time. Furthermore, the best thing that you are learning is true Christian Character. We chose to do Joy Marie Dunlop’s poetry copy work books that are organized from A-Z. This is perfect for us, as a Weekly Letter Units will be the reoccurring theme this year with my youngers….so, it is another way to unify their learning with the family.
Here is an article by the author:
Raising Kind and Caring Children
by Joy Marie Dunlap
How many times does your child beg and badger you for more and more things? “Aw, Mom, can I please? I’ve got to have it. I don’t have enough to do! But I want it! I want it, I want it!” Our consumer culture has trained us to buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume. What is a mom to do?
There were several reasons my kids rarely bugged me to get things for them. First of all, we simply didn’t have the money and they knew that. Secondly, we started out with a highly gifted firstborn who there was no way to keep up with just by buying toys. Any new toy only kept him occupied for a few days. He needed a constant barrage of things to do. So we had to get over the consumer trap right from square one.
I did a lot of praying, because giftedness is not only a gift, but also a sticky problem for a mom of toddlers. God led me to first have my son, Josh, help me with all the housework, then to play with him for the rest of the day. To my surprise, he really liked helping me, starting at one and two years old. He held the dustpan while I swept, handed me clothes to put in the washer and dryer, picked up toys (but fled the vacuum cleaner with its terrible noise!).
Looking back on almost 24 years of child raising, I am a firm believer in the need for a child to help out around the house. Helping out forms a foundation for a child’s character, leading to the ability and willingness to wait his turn, come when called, share his toys, and be kind to others. But with all the goofy characters on TV, the ads urging your children on to have more and more fun and indulgence, and the negative influences of a society that insists a child must live in a world of only fun, fun, fun, how do we teach them to become helpful and kind?
Children need a positive example, or rather, as many positive examples as possible, to balance America’s preoccupation with endless fun, to lead them in the right direction, away from self-centeredness, toward helping, giving, and caring. With so few good examples around them, it can help to look for good examples to set before them in books. Whether or not you feel that good kids in stories seem unreal, reading about kind, helpful children can be a huge influence on a child’s life and attitude.
I have written a manuscript (printing) penmanship book full of kind and helpful children, giving your child an example to copy, both on paper and in daily life. It has cute old-fashioned illustrations and Bible verses to =copy and learn as well. It’s called A-Z Kind Kids Care. I wrote it with the understanding that it is hard to raise caring children, and moms need all the help they can get. With careful training, you CAN raise good children
Each year we do copy work which serves many purposes. The first is that it improves handwriting and grammar. By reading and copying beautifully structured language, then you are learning it at the same time. Furthermore, the best thing that you are learning is true Christian Character. We chose to do Joy Marie Dunlop’s poetry copy work books that are organized from A-Z. This is perfect for us, as a Weekly Letter Units will be the reoccurring theme this year with my youngers….so, it is another way to unify their learning with the family.
Here is an article by the author:
Raising Kind and Caring Children
by Joy Marie Dunlap
How many times does your child beg and badger you for more and more things? “Aw, Mom, can I please? I’ve got to have it. I don’t have enough to do! But I want it! I want it, I want it!” Our consumer culture has trained us to buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume. What is a mom to do?
There were several reasons my kids rarely bugged me to get things for them. First of all, we simply didn’t have the money and they knew that. Secondly, we started out with a highly gifted firstborn who there was no way to keep up with just by buying toys. Any new toy only kept him occupied for a few days. He needed a constant barrage of things to do. So we had to get over the consumer trap right from square one.
I did a lot of praying, because giftedness is not only a gift, but also a sticky problem for a mom of toddlers. God led me to first have my son, Josh, help me with all the housework, then to play with him for the rest of the day. To my surprise, he really liked helping me, starting at one and two years old. He held the dustpan while I swept, handed me clothes to put in the washer and dryer, picked up toys (but fled the vacuum cleaner with its terrible noise!).
Looking back on almost 24 years of child raising, I am a firm believer in the need for a child to help out around the house. Helping out forms a foundation for a child’s character, leading to the ability and willingness to wait his turn, come when called, share his toys, and be kind to others. But with all the goofy characters on TV, the ads urging your children on to have more and more fun and indulgence, and the negative influences of a society that insists a child must live in a world of only fun, fun, fun, how do we teach them to become helpful and kind?
Children need a positive example, or rather, as many positive examples as possible, to balance America’s preoccupation with endless fun, to lead them in the right direction, away from self-centeredness, toward helping, giving, and caring. With so few good examples around them, it can help to look for good examples to set before them in books. Whether or not you feel that good kids in stories seem unreal, reading about kind, helpful children can be a huge influence on a child’s life and attitude.
I have written a manuscript (printing) penmanship book full of kind and helpful children, giving your child an example to copy, both on paper and in daily life. It has cute old-fashioned illustrations and Bible verses to =copy and learn as well. It’s called A-Z Kind Kids Care. I wrote it with the understanding that it is hard to raise caring children, and moms need all the help they can get. With careful training, you CAN raise good children
You can find these copywork books at the following links
1) for 1-3rd: http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=24297&it=1
2) for 3rd and up (cursive): http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=21147&it=1
These will be done once a week in our home by Ethan and Isabella, but will be talked about in further detail the rest of the week. Helaina and Ashton will color the pictures while the older’s are copying. It is my prayer that the words won’t just fall to paper, but will fall deep into their hearts as well and “hopefully” be practiced out in our home (one can only hope and pray:-).
It is <>awesome<> that you’re going to share this. You have done such an amazing job with your kids. The evidence is not only all over the walls of your homeschool room, but SO evident in their hearts.I love you, and your Mommy heart, Jo.
Loving this! It is so helpful for me to see and learn from you. I have a lot to plan and I love getting ideas. thanks girl!