Thursday, August 25, 2011

Top Picks 6th - 8th Grade

I promised this post a long time ago....before baby....before move. 

So, here it is.  Finally! 

I'm doing my best to catch up on promised posts.  (Pictures of the house are coming...I haven't forgotten!) 
 
Here are our favorites for 6th - 8th grade.  As I have said before, this is not every single thing we used with each child for each grade, just some of our top picks!



THE BRONZE BOW - Elizabeth Speare


THE HIDING PLACE  - Corrie ten Boom


JOHNNY TREMAIN - Ester Forbes


THE CALL OF THE WILD - Jack London


THE DOOR IN THE WALL - Marguerite de Angeli


SAXON Math Texts
Alpha Omega Language Arts
Learning Language Arts Through Literature
Spectrum Phonics (6th grade)

THE LIGHT AND THE GLORY


FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA

One thing we started doing in the 6th grade was having the kids keep journals.  We've done regular write about your day journals, and weather journals, and prayer journals.  The main thing for us was just to get the kids writing.  (It so much fun to go back a few years later and read these!)

We also continue to do a lot of field trips during the 6th, 7th and 8th grade years.  I'm always looking for a good science field trip.  The children also take music lessons, and participate in family Bible studies, and start their own businesses during these years.  Our boys have had success with lawn mowing businesses as well as a dog walking business.  Teaching the children to work and to be responsible is as important to us as diagramming sentences, even more so!  The children have an increasing amount of work they are responsible for within the family and this is also an important part of our home-school.  All of the children have an area of the home they are responsible for cleaning and keeping up.   During the 6th - 8th grades we continue teaching cooking, baking, and we teach the children how to do laundry.  Anything Dad is doing, he teaches the boys how to do also.  (changing a tire, fixing the dryer, taking care of an errand, etc.)  It's important also during these years to make sure the children are learning about keeping their hearts pure as well as studying a good text on health.  Habits are forming now that have a life-long impact.  We like this book for health


and this is one of our all time favorites for keeping children's hearts.


"School"  becomes even more intertwined into LIFE during these years.  Our home school work does involve text-books but it is so much more than that!

Here is another favorite book......

BETTER THAN A LEMONADE $TAND!
Small Business Ideas for Kids   written by Fifteen Year Old Daryl Bernstein


We also love.......
THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS

This book has everything you need to know about building tree houses, tying knots, identifying insects, and A WHOLE LOT MORE!


I'm including 2 of our reading lists.  I encourage you to make up a reading list each year and have your children read as much as possible. These lists are required reading and the children read lots of other books of their own choosing as well.

6th Grade Reading List:

The Story of My Life, Keller

Little Men/Little Women, Alcott

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, Sydney

The Secret Garden, Burnett

Narnia Series, Lewis

Wind in the Willows, Grahame

Caddie Woodlawn, Brink

Across Five Aprils, Hunt


7th Grade Reading List:

Robinson Crusoe, Defoe

Heidi, Spyri

Treasure Island, Stevenson

Black Beauty, Sewell

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Verne

My Side of the Mountain, George

Summer of the Swans, Byers



Happy Home-Schooling! 

You can order any of the books listed in this post HERE
Thank you!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Getting Back to Menu Planning

It's been a long time since I posted a menu plan.  Actually, it's been a long time since I even had a menu plan.  Bringing home baby and moving into a new house bounced my menu planning right out the backdoor and I've been flying by the seat of my pants ever since.  Today I decided enough is enough and decided to set things right.  Much of the desire to set things right came from a nice long chat (sitting on the deck drinking coffee *smile*) with my husband this morning.  We were discussing children, schedules, money, and all other romantic topics 2 parents of 6 kids can think up.  He is the voice of calm when I am losing it a little bit, which I was this morning (losing it, that is).  He reminded me that our family does best when we schedule and plan and in order to right some wrongs we would have to do better with that.  So...I'm getting back to meal planning.  I made my list, gathered my coupons and headed out to the store right after our little chat. 

Here's my dinner plan. (We've already eaten the first meal but I wanted to give you the full week.)  
 Monday:  Chicken Fettuccine and green beans
Tuesday:  Tacos with all the fixins
Wednesday:  Chili, cheese & crackers
Thursday:  Sloppy Joes, tater tots, carrot sticks
Friday:  Beef Stew, cheddar garlic biscuits
Saturday:  Homemade burritos, chips and salsa
Sunday:  Homemade chicken salad, croissants, fruit

I'm going to use my crock-pot for every meal this week except Sunday's chicken salad.  Days seem to run so much smoother when dinner is cooking itself in the crock pot by mid-morning. I feel more organized and on top of things just by knowing I have a plan.  It's funny the little things that make a big difference.  Meal planning and having a schedule are 2 of the biggies for me!  So on that note, I have to get back to work on our family schedule the romantic man on the deck asked me to work on.  Here's a favorite crock-pot recipe before I go......

SLOPPY JOES

Brown 3 lbs ground chuck in skillet; pour into colander and rinse well.  Put into crock-pot.  Add: 2 onions finely chopped, 1 green pepper, seeded and chopped, 2- 8oz cans tomato sauce, 1- 8oz can water, 2 packages of sloppy joe seasoning mix, and salt to taste.  Cover and cook on low for 5 - 6 hours.  *Note:  If too liquid, remove cover and set on high for 30 minutes.


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