On the medium of film and marital bliss

Sorry it's been so long since I posted, but I just brought home a newborn, so I guess I'm off the hook for a while. :)

During our first week of newborn heaven, my husband and I --on a Down Under kick--- finally got around to watching this movie called Australia, an epic film we can't recommend enough to people.
After watching it about ten times in a row, we started joking around with each other using lines from the movie, which is how we roll.

There are a number of scenes that we were in hysterics over because they so perfectly exemplified our marital dynamic. The top two are below:






I am pretty sure we reacted so strongly to them because we have had identical conversations, complete with similar hand gestures and threats. Even our children recognized us in them.

Movies can be a great way of breaking tension in a marriage and helping a couple to maintain a sense of humor and long term vision. Though the scenes above are hilarious, they don't feel hilarious when it's you in the middle of them. Something about watching other people go through things, especially in a relaxing setting like while watching a film, is deeply healing....and for us, this glorious and simple film, Australia, has become both a symbol of hope and a sign of our joy.

Which movies remind you of your marriage, and have you ever watched them together?

Mama mondays-- How to make a Curriculum Organizer

We have been using the scripture memory system for some time. It is based on index cards you read aloud each day to save time in scripture memorization which I picked up from Simply Charlotte Mason.
And though it works well, I find that I have the same success just opening my bible with the kids to whatever scripture we are memorizing and reading it every day for a week than I do spending all this time writing out the passages on cards and sorting them/moving them around. The theme in this house is and always will be: "simplify, simplify." Because of this, I had to change the way we did scripture memory because though for some it might be a time saver, and it has a definite appeal, for me, it was too complex and really created a lot of unnecessary work.
With that in mind, I started looking for a good use for this perfectly nice little box and tons of blank index cards.
I eventually began playing around with keeping booklists in it and before I knew it I had created this wonderful system that perfectly meets my needs for sorting and organizing curriculum and booklists.
Up until then, I had been sitting down to do and re-do endless excel spreadsheets or making binders with different tabs that never seemed to work to get my mind organized as I planned ahead for future years. It involved going back and forth between all these documents I had to create with separate booklists I needed to combine by month and year and then re-do according to my children's varying abilities and interests. Now I just move a couple cards around when inspiration strikes and boom. Done.

So, following is a step by step guide to making a really easy and interesting-- and fun-- curriculum organizer for those of us who make our own and need some help with organizing.

You will need: 
One card file box
Index cards
Pens of varying colors
A-Z card index guides
Post it flags or other adhesive tabs
Your booklists and plans for curriculum.

First, Place the A-Z card guides in the very back, and label and number a number of cards with homemade index tabs according to your needs. (I did: Volume I, Volume II, Volume III, and Volume IV (these stand for the Volumes of "Connecting with History," our history/geo/bible modules which extend over four years), Science and Nature, Fine Arts, Resources, PreK/K, One each for each grade level 1-12.) These particular tabs work for us because we have a curriculum based mostly on living books and we combine history/science/ fine arts as a family and by modules from Connecting with History. Yours may look very different.

I put cards containing the complete booklists for each age level behind the appropriate volume tab. Then I put cards for each of the books that aren't on the Connecting with History booklist but that we will/ are reading with each volume because we think they should be. Behind the science tab, we put science/nature specific nonfiction and biographies, same for the fine arts section. Behind the resource section are all the resources I use for supplies, for curriculum, for ideas, etc. Behind the grade level tabs I have one card that contains the core curriculum for each grade level, and then whatever books we will use for that year.
For example, behind the PreK/K tab I have the entire Five in a Row booklist (which forms the core of PreK and K here) and some other books we use each day, and then I put the separate cards for all the additional read-alouds I want to do that year.

The beauty of this is that I can just move the cards around when the next kid hits that grade level and I want to make changes, instead of having to spend forever re-doing excel spreadsheets or binders like I have done in the past. Takes ten seconds instead of twenty minutes, which is great. Behind the A-Z tabs are cards for the books we plan to use at some point  that is either not in use yet or don't fit into the other categories because they are literature.

All the individual cards for books contain: age ranges on the top right for easy sorting, title, author, publisher, a snippet about the book/ notes like which illustrated version to look for, number of pages, separations (chapters?) format (PB/Hardcover, etc) and approximate price on amazon.

And that's it! Super easy to use, I had fun making it, and I've used it every day since making it (because I think about education that much. :D)

Hope it helps somebody out there!

Books, Books, and More Books!

Just finished making up next year's booklists for our homeschool, broken down by month in which we will use them. (to avoid the "I can't afford this" panic I get into when I try to buy them all at once. :D)
The vast majority of these are available in our library, which really helps.
Because we consider ourselves a Liberal Arts / Charlotte Mason school, we emphasize the core in a way I attempted to reproduce from my experiences with the Classical Liberal Arts Academy without using their actual online courses at the moment (ie our supreme focus in the 0-4th years is on Grammar, Arithmetic and Catechism). We use living books and combined subjects to round out the disciplinary and academic intensity and spread out a "feast of ideas" before them in all other areas-- fine arts, history, geography, science, and the like.  That means our book selections have to work in many different areas-- they need to be living, engaging books with excellent (not mediocre) writing, demonstrate excellence in character and religion, cover a large number of subjects at once, and be good for using in narration/copywork/dictations, among other things (I have a weird thing for sturdy hardbacks, for example.) Picky, picky, I know. BUT I'm happy to announce there are some paperbacks on this list, surprised at how much fiction there is,  and that I haven't read them all so I will be discovering with the kids. (yay!)
Because we have a number of children, and because we cycle through history/geography four times during the course of their education, we will reuse many/most of these books.

Most of these come from Ambleside Online, Simply Charlotte Mason, Catholic Mosaic, Five in a Row, The Well-Trained Mind, or Connecting With History. We have been doing this for a year now and it's absolutely wonderful to combine all the age levels this way. The only work my children do separately at this age consists of individual reading lessons and arithmetic. We school year-round, with little breaks here and there.

Enjoy! Hope it helps somebody out there-- I'd love to hear what you guys are doing next year, particularly if you are schooling more than two children.

NOTE: FOR SOME REASON, THE PICS AREN'T SHOWING UP AND THERE ARE HUGE SPACES BETWEEN TITLES. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE AND AM WORKING TO FIX IT. SINCE IT'S LATE FOR ME, I WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW EVENING TO RE-DO THE PICS.  THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

APPIAN WAY ACADEMY BOOKLIST 2012 

(3 Students, ages 3-6, YEARS 0-1) 

TEACHER GUIDES AND PLANS:

Connecting With History Vol I: Ancient History 

Five In a Row Volumes 1-3 + Christian Character Supplement 

Ray's Arithmetic Parent/Teacher Guide

ARTISTIC pursuits Books 1 and 2 (K-3) 

The Harp and the Laurel Wreath 

Bible and Catechism 

Organizer/Lesson Plan Book 

Wildlife Field Guides for NC (Audubon) 

STUDENT MATERIALS: 

Our Holy Faith, Book One 

Catholic Children's Picture Bible 

RSVCE Bible

Phonics Pathways 

McGuffey's Eclectic Readers (Primer and Book One)

Ray's Arithmetic Series: Primary Arithmetic 

(Singapore Math Text + Workbooks levels 1A-2B)

Nature Journals

James Herriot's Treasury for Children by James Herriot 

The Burgess Bird Book for Children 

Getty Dubay Handwriting Books A and B (possibly C)

Founders of Freedom, Bk 1 Land of Our Lady Series 

The Old World's Gifts to the New 

Kingfisher Historical Atlas 

Kingfisher Encyclopedia of History 

Usborne Time Travelers 

Kingfisher Encyclopedia of Science

Blackline Maps of Ancient History 

Rosetta Stone Latin Program 1, 2, and 3

Cambridge Latin Course Unit 1 

Binoculars, Compass, Magnifying Glass

A Large World Map and a Large US Map, Laminated.

Art Supplies and plenty of paper.

Bedtime Reading and Audiobooks throughout the year: (we don't include these in the lesson plans, but we read them or listen to them in the evenings-- no TV. :))

A Child's treasury of Poems

Aesop's Fables 

Grimm's Fairy Tales 

Hans Christian Anderson's Fairy Tales 

Fables de La Fontaine 

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, Edith Nesbit 

The Just So Stories, Kipling 

Charlottes' Web 

Pippi Longstocking 

The Wizard of Oz 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 

Parables from Nature, Margaret Gatty, 

Peter Pan, JM Barrie 

King of the Golden River 

Pinocchio 

Little House in the Big Woods 

The Blue Fairy Book 

The Red Fairy Book 

Pocahontas 

The World Treasury of Children's Literature

Pecos Bill 

TERM ONE:

AUGUST

The Story about Ping, Marjorie Flack 

Lentil, Robert McCloskey 

Madeline, Ludwig Bemelmans 

A Pair of Red Clogs, Masako Matsuno

I Believe: the Nicene Creed, Pauline Baynes 

A Child's book of prayer in art, Sister Wendy Beckett 

Juanita and Our Lady of the Angels, Elizabeth Locke 

Clare and Francis, Guido Visconti 

Sister Anne's Hands, Marybeth Lorbiecki 

Brother Bartholemew and the Apple Grove, Jan Cheripko 

Stories told by Mother Teresa, Teresa/Edward Joly

Noah's Ark, Peter Spier 

Archeologists Dig for Clues 

Archeology for Kids 

The Magician's Nephew, CS Lewis

String, Straight Edge and Shadow 

SEPTEMBER 

The Rag Coat, Lauren Mills

Who Owns the Sun?, Stacy Chbosky

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Viginia Lee Burton 

The Glorious Flight, Alice and Martin Provensen

The Monk Who Grew Prayer, Claire Brandenburg 

Mother Teresa, Demi

Peter Claver: Patron Saint of Slaves, Julia Durango 

The Tale of Three Trees, Angela Elwell Hunt 

St Jerome and the Lion, Margaret Hodges

Gilgamesh the King, Ludmilla Zeman 

Revenge of Ishtar, Ludmilla Zeman 

Last Quest of Gilgamesh, Ludmilla Zeman 

Gilgamesh, Man's First Story, Bernarda Bryson

Old Testament Days OR Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors

OCTOBER

How to make an apple pie and see the world, Marjorie Priceman 

Grandfather's Journey, Allen Say 

Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wendy and Harry Devlin 

Another celebrated Dancing Bear, Gladys Scheffrin Folk

Angel in the Waters, Regina Doman 

Horton hears a Who, Dr Seuss 

My Guardian Dear, Miriam Lademan 

Francis: the poor man of asssisi, Tommie DepAola 

A Saint and his Son: Tale of Tekla, Elaine Murray Stone 

Father Philip tells a Ghost Story: a Story of Divine Mercy, Susan Andrews 

Moonlight Miracle, Tony Magliano

The Great Pyramid, Elizabeth Mann 

Cat of Bubastes, GA Henty

Pyramid, David Weitzman 

The Golden Goblet, Eloise Jarvis McGraw 

Shadow Hawk, Andre Norton

NOVEMBER

Papa Piccolo, Carol Talley

Very Last First Time, Jan Andrews

The Clown of God, Tommy DePaola

Storm in the Night, Mary Stoltz

I sing a song of the saints of God, Lesbia Scott 

Saints: Lives and Illuminations, Ruth Sanderson 

The Spirit of Tio Fernando: a Day of the Dead Story, Janice Levy 

The Pied Piper of Peru, Ann Tompert 

Brother Joseph, the Painter of Icons, Augustine Denoble

Pharoah's Boat, David Weitzman 

The Egyptian Cinderella, Shirley Climo

Boy of the Pyramids, Ruth Bosnik Jones

Tirzah, Lucille Travis

Letters from Egypt, Mary Whately

TERM TWO: 

DECEMBER

Katy and the Big Snow, Virginia Lee Burton 

Night of the Moonjellies, Mark Shasha 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Rober Frost and Susan Jeffers 

The Christmas Miracle of Johnathan Toomey, Susan Wojcieschowski 

The Gift of the Magi, O Henry 

Saint Francis and the Christmas Donkey, Robert Byrd 

The Clown of God, Tommy Depaola 

The miracle of St Nicholas, Gloria whelan 

St Nicholas, Ann Trompert 

The lady of Guadalupe, Tommy Depaola 

The legend of the poinsettia, Tommy Depaola 

the Night of Las Posadas, Tommy Depaola 

The Very First Christmas, Paul Maier 

A Small Miracle, Peter Collington 

The Donkey's Dream, Barbarar Helen Berger 

The Crippled lamb, Max Lucado 

Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors 

Hittite Warrior 

Old Testament Days

JANUARY 

The Giraffe that walked to Paris, Nancy Milton 

Three Names, Patricia MacLachlan

Wee Gillis, Munro Leaf

Owl Moon, Jane Yolen 

Take it to the Queen, Josephine Nobisso 

Mary, Mother of Jesus, Mary Joslin 

The Little Match Girl 

The Last Straw, Frerick Thury 

Story of the Three Wise Kings, Tommie Depaola 

A gift of Gracias, Julia Alvarez

King David and His Songs

St Joseph Series King David 

FEBRUARY 

A New Coat for Anna, Harriet Ziefert 

Mrs. Katz and Tush, Patricia Polacco 

Mirette on the High Wire, Emily Arnold McCully 

They were Strong and Good, Alice and Robert Lawson 

The Most beautiful thing in the world, Susan Brindle 

Brigid's Cloak, an Ancient Irish Story, Bryce Milligan 

the Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica, Kathleen Norris 

Saint Valentine, Robert Sabuda 

Love is, Wendy Anderson

Aesop's Fables 

D'Aulaire's Greek Myths 

Lives from Plutarch (Lycurgus/Pericles/Alcibiades/Cimon) 

The Boys and Girls' Herodotus 

The Golden Fleece , Padraic Colum

MARCH

Babar, to Duet or Not to Duet, DeBrunhoff 

the Story of Ferdinand, Munro Leaf 

Down, Down the Mountain, Ellis Credle 

Make Way for Ducklings, Robert McCloskey 

St Ciaran, Tale of a Saint of Ireland, Gary Schmidt 

Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland, Tomie DePaola 

St Patrick, Ann Tompert 

The Song of the Swallows, Leo Politi 

The Story of the Cross, the Stations of the Cross for Childre, Mary Joslin 

The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein 

Usborne's Ancient World 

Old Testament Days OR Classical Kids

The Librarian who measured the earth 

What's your angle, Pythagoras? 

String, Straight Edge and Shadow

The Children's Homer 

Lysis Goes to the Play 

God King: a story in the days of King Hezekiah 

Theras and His Town 

TERM THREE: 

APRIL

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter 

Mr. Grumpy's Motor Car, John Byrningham 

All those Secrets of the World, Jane Yolen 

Miss Rumphius, Barbara Cooney

Hosanna to You, Jesus, Marisa Mignolli 

Little Rose of Sharon, Nan Gurley 

Through the Eyes of John, Chad Daybell 

Petook: an Easter Story, Caryll Houselander 

The Very First Easter, Paul Maier 

Helens' Special Picture, Davide Previtali 

Saint George and the Dragon, Margaret Hodges

Detectives in Togas 

Mystery of Roman Ransom 

The Story of Queen Esther 

Science in Ancient Rome 

Herodotus and the Road to History 

Alexander the Great, Gunther 

Archimedes and the Door to Science

The Odyssey

The Children's Homer

MAY

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge, Hildegarde Swift 

Follow the Drinking Gourd, Jeanette Winter 

Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson 

When I was Young in the Mountains, Cunthia Rylant 

Gramma's Walk, Anna Grossnickle Hines

The Little Caterpillar that Finds Jesus: a Parable of the Eucharist, Susan Andrews 

The Weight of a Mass, Josephine Nobisso 

The Caterpillar that Came to Church, Irene Hooker 

Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue, Joan Bell 

Pascual and the Kitchen Angels, Tomie DePaola 

Karol from Poland, M Leonora Wilson 

Joan of Arc, the lily maid, Margaret Hodges

A Triumph for Flavius

The Aenid 

Lives from Plutarch (Coriolanus/Cicero/Marcus Cato/The Gracchi/Caesar/Antony) 

Shakespeare's Julius Caeser

JUNE

The Bee Tree, Patricia Polacco 

Andy and the Circus, Ellis Credle 

The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar, Natalie Kinsey Warnock 

Paul Revere's Ride, Henry wadsworth Longfellow

Remembering the Prophets of Sacred Scripture, Marianna Mayer 

the Fish in the Fountain, A Story of Baptism, Susan Bringle 

The Princess and the Kiss, Jennie Bishop 

Little Turtledove finds His Mate, Miriam Lademan 

the Very First Christians, Paul Maier 

The Twelve Apostles, Marianna Mayer 

the Blackbird's Nest: St Kevin of Ireland, Jenny Schroedel 

Across a Dark and Wild Sea, Don Brown

JULY 

Henry the Castaway, Mark Taylor 

The Finest Horse in Town, Jacqueline Briggs Martin 

Truman's Aunt Farm, Jama Kim Rattigan 

The Duchess bakes a Cake, Virginia Kahl

A Child's Rule of Life, Robert Hugh Benson 

The Squire and the Scroll, A tale of the Rewards of a Pure heart, Jennie Bishop 

The Legend of St Christopher, Margaret Hodges 

A Peek into my Church, Wendy Goody