2013/2014 Taffy Academy

During my blogging sabbatical, I spent a lot to time rearranging and reorganizing our school room.  Being as I lost two of my students, three actually when I take into account that Strawberry does most of her studies in her room… where it’s quiet, eh hem. I figured it was time for a good old rearrange!

The view looking right.

The view looking left.

I love it.  All the books make me happy.  I would still like to replace my plastic table with a conference table.  Our plastic table wiggles when somebody uses their eraser.  That’s kind of annoying.  Mr. Taffy is also on the look out for a cheap wall TV with a built in DVD player so I can show the kids education movies from time to time without them huddling around the lap top.

My Sonlight Books  and educational DVD’s.

Here’s the fall line up for the children starting with the oldest.

Strawberry Taffy-11th Grade

• Chemistry-Apologia
• Geometry-Teaching Textbooks
• English 3 (American Literature)-Excellence in Literature
• History-Constitution 101 & 102 (Hillsdale College)
• Graphic and Web Design- Team Tree House on-line program (She’s already started this because she’s VERY interested in it.)

I put links in the text if you are interested in learning more about each of her subjects.  I’ve also got an elective planned for her called:  Training in Biblical Womanhood.  I bought her several books that she is going to slowly read and journal her way through.

I found this awesome book holder at a garage sale.  This was on my list to find for our school room!

Blue-Raspberry Taffy- 5th Grade

• 5th Grade Math-Teaching Textbooks
• History-Sonlight Core D & E (combined American History)
• Latin- Song School Latin 2
• Science- Considering God’s Creation
• Language Arts: Sonlight Core D & E (Reading), Easy Grammar, All About Reading Level 4

Strawberry Taffy-3rd Grade

• 3rd Grade Math-Teaching Textbooks
• History-Sonlight Core D & E (American History)
• Latin-Song School Latin 2
• Science-Considering God’s Creation
• Language Arts: Sonlight Core D & E (reading), Easy Grammar & All about Spelling Level 4

You can see Blue-Raspberry and Bubble Gum are pretty much doing the same curriculum, I just have different expectations for each of them.  Bubble Gum read’s terrifically and won’t have any trouble with the reading, Blue-Raspberry reads terrifically too, he just doesn’t enjoy it as much.  (smile)

Laffy Taffy- 1st Grade

I did things differently with Laffy than I did with my other children.  I couldn’t stomach another round of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  It’s a great book, but it’s SO boring and I’ve been through it 5 times already…ugh.  So I used All About Reading PreReading with him.  Usually my children are reading by the end of Kindergarten, granted he just turned 5 toward the end of kindergarten but still, he’ll be starting 1st grade and he doesn’t know how to read yet.  Though he knows all the letter sounds and how to write them on demand.  This year we’ll put all the pieces together and he’ll be reading like a champ before I know it!

• Reading-All About Reading Level 1
• Spelling- All About Spelling Level 1
• Math-Miquon Math Starting in the Orange book and working our way through them all, I’m not sure how long it will take, might take a couple years, might only take 1.
• History/Literature/Science-Sonlight Core A or K depending on what you’re used too.  I primarily wanted a list of age appropriate reading material, to read to him and to have him start reading to me. 
• Handwriting-Just a work book I got from a friend.

I’m using workboxes for him this year so he can visually see how much he needs to do and consequently know when he’s almost done. 

I read on the Duggar’s Blog that during school hours the children aren’t allowed to talk about anything non-school related.  I am totally considering copying this amazing idea.  So much chatter and so many uninteresting questions and too much redundancy, it really makes me crazy sometimes!

The Tot School Area.

We are starting up August 5th, with a four day a week schedule so we can still enjoy the summer weather and meet our friends at the beach once a week.  Until we start up, I have a BIG issue I have to pray through.  I’ll share that next time.  Here’s a hint:

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Weekly Wrap-Up #??

It’s been so long since I’ve written one of these that I can’t even figure out what number I’m on.  Well, we are almost done with our 2012/2013 year and that’s all that REALLY matters!

We’ve been doing some interesting things this week…

I put our normal stuff on hold because I found this hidden on my laptop.  My oldest daughter is still VERY much interested in all-things-Irish, so finding this was fun.  Now her little sibs will have something interesting to tell her.

           

Their copy work has been a famous prayer written by St. Patrick and when they finished the tracing and copying portion, I had them highlight all the prepositions, because there were MANY! 

We’ve started our Sonlight History.  I’m not really on any schedule so to speak, but I am going in the order they suggest.  So far the kids LOVE it and during the reading time they are finding interesting things to do.

They took the big markable map and matched up the state pieces from another puzzle.  I didn’t instigate this, they just thought it looked like fun.  This map…for some reason, has become the delight of the school room and somebody is always looking at it or playing with it, or if you are Marshmallow Taffy, rolling up in it like a burrito.

Marshmallow was such a good girl this week.  This is the first week she hasn’t drove me crazy…she was actually content and quiet.  We discovered she can handle dot painting and she LOVED it!  She also discovered she can maneuver the plasma car with great pizazz!

Strawberry Taffy has had a very special week.  My sweet daughter was blessed with a trip to Florida, to see her very best friend. 

Her friend is a snow bird, so she’s only here in the summer and fall.  We don’t normally, or haven’t in the passed let her, or any of our other children do something like this.  When questioned about it by a friend, this is what I said,

I know…it just sort of happened.  I’m so beyond arguing about anything and so desperate to let my children know how much I love them.  Mr. Taffy and I both had peace about it.  Strawberry and Gracie have such a special relationship, it may be a once in a life time opportunity for her.  Gracie’s Dad flew down with her and is flying back up with her too.  I don’t think we would have been okay with it had she been all alone at the airports.  I’m so glad she’s getting a break and having some fun.  She is tireless in her help to me, always cheerful, willing to do anything I ask.  She works so hard at school.  She deserved a GREAT reward.  We even gave her spending money and I bought her some new (Goodwill) clothes too.  We lavished her.  She will not forget this.  She called me Monday night in tears…she NEVER cries.  She’s just not a crier like me…but wow was she having a hard time being away.  She was SO embarrassed to be crying.  She was just homesick.  So sweet.

Obviously I changed some names, but that is what I wrote, and this still pretty much sums up how I feel about it.  She comes home Friday evening.  We can’t wait!  I’ve missed her terribly. She keeps me company during the day.  We are both introverts so we know how to give each other space, but we also know how to be silly and yak, yak, yak and she makes me the BEST smoothies EVERY afternoon!

While she’s been gone we had an epic snowstorm!

School was cancelled for the older two and Mr. Taffy stayed home! Of course, our homeschool went on as usual but they got plenty of time to play out in that delightful white fluff!

I think we got at least a foot of snow.  And, believe it or not, we had our bedroom window open all night during the storm, it was pretty mild out and I KNOW I could smell spring on that back of that storm.  I can still smell it if I breathe deep enough.

Breathing Deeply,

Mrs. Taffy

Homeschool stuff (LONG!!)

It’s been a while since I’ve done a homeschool post.  I did post the used-curriculum stuff, but I thought it might be encouraging to know that we are still plugging along here.

We started school in August and have about 10 weeks left.  Unbelievable!  It’s going by so fast!  We’ll be done the first week of May.  I just got my 4th and 2nd grader planned out through March.  Blue-Raspberry will be finishing Teaching Textbooks 4. That’s pretty exciting!  Strawberry is finishing Algebra 2 this week!  I love it when stuff starts dropping off the agenda.

I’ve mentioned a couple times how a friend of mine blessed me with an incredible amount of Sonlight material.  I’m still absorbing the magnitude of her gift to me.  I think it may be more than a gift from God, I think it may also be the “thing” that keeps me moving forward.  I’ve been homeschooling for 14 years!  That’s a long time.  I have at least 18 more years to go too.  Wow, I’m almost at the halfway point.  Interesting.  Anyway, sometimes it can get kind of dull using the same thing over and over again.  But this Sonlight stuff seems to be so interesting, if I can keep from expecting too much from myself and my children, I think this may get me through the rest of my homeschool journey!

I had to find a place to put all those books.  So, we went to Menard’s (which I personally detest) and found these black book shelves for under $15.00 each.  Oh what fun I had putting these together and organizing them!  Most of these books are for Sonlight, but I did move our science stuff out there as well.  I was able to put our graphic novels and other special books in a place that the kids could get to them without asking for help.

It’s fun to be able to display some stuff on top too.  Now these book shelves have overflown into the playroom.  Which isn’t ideal, but the kids are all in love with them so it worked out well.  Besides I’m still on this “get rid of stuff” kick so it keeps us from lining the wall with plastic toys.  I’ve gotten rid of some really special thing lately.

I put a few things on the shelves for Marshmallow.  She’s pretty good about not making a mess of my shelves.  Mostly she likes to push the books toward the back of the shelf.

I’ve got each shelf labeled by core level.  My friend was VERY organized and has each book labeled on the inside  for what level and what subject.  She made it so easy to organize them!  I think I am getting one more core, she loaned it out to another friend, if that’s the case I’ll have to  do a little rearranging but that will be a fun challenge. 

Since I was able to move my All About Reading posters, I had room to put a few things up to interest Marshmallow, these color cards and another of shape cards. 

This is our “All About” center.  I got rid of the easel and bunch of other little stuff that was hiding behind it.  This is much better place for that huge metal board.  I just flip it over when we aren’t using it so Marshmallow doesn’t try to start spelling words, which she enjoys VERY much.

The white board is often covered with Spelling too.  They are cruising through level 3.

My window to the world…our current Read-Alouds and the kid’s assigned Readers.  I’ve also got all our supplies hanging there  See all that white outside?  At least it reflects the sun and makes the basement even brighter!

These are my book baskets that hold the teacher books.  I’m thinking of getting another one of those black shelves to put there instead, some of those soft cover books are getting kind of mangled in the basket.

With all the other things going on, the hard emotional things of a healing marriage and a rebellious teen, I’ve been trying to simplify and streamline our day better. I’m so happy with how our school time is going right now.  We start about 8 and are usually done by 10:30.  I’m just working with Blue-Raspberry, Bubble Gum and Laffy Taffy, Strawberry is completely independent though she does spend most of her mornings down in the school room with us.

Here’s what we do.

I start Latin with Bubble Gum and Laffy Taffy while Blue-Raspberry does his math on the Lap Top.  Then I teach reading and math to Laffy Taffy while Bubble Gum does her independent work of: handwriting, math and reading.  While she is doing that Blue-Raspberry is working on his Latin, sometimes on the laptop, sometimes not, reading, and Word Roots.  When Bubble Gum and Blue-Raspberry are done, I read to everybody from our current Read-alouds.  After that we do grammar and spelling together and call it a morning.  Come March I’ll be including History in that schedule so it might take a little longer.  But I’m trying to cut myself a little slack and we only do AAS 3 days a week and Grammar 4.  Some of the younger kid’s things only last 4 days anyway, so if we get behind we can always make up stuff on Friday’s.  We’ve been doing our school time this way for weeks and it’s working very nicely.  Not too much for anybody.  They watch an episode of the Magic Schoolbus and the Kratt Brothers everyday for science.  It’s not ideal, but I figure it’s better than nothing and they ARE learning, so I’m satisfied.

On a side note, having a toddler in the schoolroom is VERY stressful.  If she’s not making  mess she’s unhappy about something, she wants somebody’s pencil, she wants a snack, whatever.  When I read out loud I have to be REALLY LOUD because she interprets my talking as, “it’s time to talk with Momma!”  Phew!  It’s exhausting.  Her presence is building character in each of us and for the most part she is delight, but I don’t want you to think it’s all perfect and wonderful.  The reality is, it’s difficult when she’s with us during school.  Thankfully I know this difficult time will pass, I’m just looking forward to that day with GREAT anticipation!

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Homeschool Stuff for Sale!!

I’ve been cleaning off my shelves to make room for more books!  Oh how we homeschoolers LOVE books!  A friend of mine gave me buckets and buckets of wonderful Children’s Literature and I’ve been frantically trying to figure out where to put them all!  I feel a trip to IKEA in the very near future…anyway, I have a few things that I am going to show you in hopes that they may be on your homeschool list for this year or next.  Happy Shopping!

         $25.00-The Story of the World Volume 2

This set is also in really good shape.  For the activity book though, I did tear out the pages before copying them, they are all there, just being held together by a big paper clip.

                                                                                  

$10.00-Organizing Thinking Skills.  Book has been chopped and is stored in a big envelope.
Read Description Here.







$5.00-Apples: Daily Spelling Drills for Secondary Students
Perfect Condition. 
Read Description Here.


$5.00-Apples 2: Daily Spelling Drills for Secondary Students
Perfect Condition.
Read Description Here. 





$5.00-It’s About Time

This is a product I reviewed.  You can read my description here and the company’s description here.
My copy include the cards cut out and laminated as per the books instructions.  Less work for YOU!

$2.00 Each-A Case of the Red Herrings Book A1 & A2
I think these must be out of print as well, I can’t find them on the website at all.  Perfect Condition too! 



$1.00-Eco-Hysteria by Dr. Jay L. Wile
This is an enhanced CD, you can play it in your stereo or your computer, in the computer you’ll be able to see the slides Dr. Wile Used for his lecture.
More information here. 


 Literature:

• Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski-.50
• The 21 Balloons by William Pene du Bois-.50
• Martha Washington by Jean Brown Wagoner (Aladdin Books)-.50
• Stories of the Pilgrims (Christian Liberty Press) Love this book!- 1.00
• The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (Abridged) .50
• Eric Liddell by Catherine Swift-$1.00
• The Cat who went to Heaven-$1.00

Note:  I personally own all of these books, I’m selling them because I had double copies of them.  I haven’t read The Cat who went to Heaven yet, that’s part of Son-light Core 7.
I will only charge actual shipping, which I will confirm with you before we finalize payment.  I can take PayPal (.50 extra to help cover fees), or a check, which will take longer, but I don’t mind if you don’t.
If you are interested in anything, or have any questions, please email me at carissa at wiserstill dot com. Or leave me a comment, with your email address and I’ll email you.  I’ll remove items as they sell.  I’m only leaving this up until the end of March as I’ll be taking whatever is left to a used-curriculum sale.

Thank you for looking!  May your homeschool journey be blessed and satisfying!

Joyfully,
Mrs. Taffy

2013/2014 Homeschool Proposal

It’s that time of year for me.  The time when I purpose to put my ideas and plans to paper, to create a proposal for our next homeschool year so we can take the money out of our tax return.  So without further ado, here it is. 

Strawberry Taffy (Non-PSEO Version)-11^th Grade

1. Language Arts

a. American Literature: A Survey Course - $27.00

b. We own all the books or can get them from the library.

2. Math

a. Teaching Textbooks: Geometry

3. Science

a. Apologia Chemistry

4. Foreign Language

a. Rosetta Stone: Irish 1 & 2 -$299.00

b. This will last for 2 years unless she really gets into it then we may have to purchase another year.

5. History

a. History 101: Hillsdale College

b. Constitution 101: Hillsdale College

6. Electives

a. Preparing to be a HelpMeet by Debi Pearl-$14.00

b. Joyfully at Home by Jasmine Baucham- $17.00

c. It’s (not that) Complicated by Botkin- $15.00

d. One Thousand Gifts by Ann VosKamp-$10.00

Blue-Raspberry Taffy-5th Grade

1. Language Arts

a. Daily Grams (Grammar)

b. *Sonlight Core 2 & 3 (Reading)

c. All About Spelling Level 4 & 5- $39.95+shipping level 4 (Spelling)

2. Math

a. Teaching Textbooks: Grade 5

3. Science

a. Considering God’s Creation

4. History

a. Sonlight Core 2 & 3

5. Geography

a. United States

b. Galloping the Globe

c. Sonlight

*A friend of mine has retired from homeschooling and she has graciously given me 4 years worth of Sonlight.  I am so blessed by her generosity, I have always wanted to try Sonlight but have never been able to spend the money.  I have buckets of books in our school room that I have to find a place for now…that’s a small inconvenience though!  Wow!

Bubble Gum Taffy (3rd Grade)

1. Language Arts

a. Daily Grams (Grammar)

b. Sonlight Core 2 & 3 (Reading)

c. All About Spelling Level 4 & 5 (See Blue-Raspberry)

d. Startwrite (Handwriting)

2. Math

a. Teaching Textbooks 3

3. Science

a. Considering God’s Creation

4. History

a. Sonlight Core 2 & 3

5. Geography

a. United States

b. Galloping the Globe

c. Sonlight Core 2 & 3

Laffy Taffy-1st Grade

1. Language Arts

a. All About Spelling Level 1 (Spelling)

b. All About Reading Level 1 & 2-$99.95 + shipping (Reading)

c. Startwrite (Writing)

2. Math

a. Haven’t totally decided what to use here, I have plenty in my school room to supplement him though.

3. Science

a.Considering God’s Creation

4. Geography

a. United States

5. Thinking Skills

a. Learning Resources Creative Color Cubes-$20.00

Marshmallow Taffy-Tot School

· Do-a-dot paints-$14.99

· Learning Resources Smart Snacks Alpha Pops-$14.99

· Magnatab Lowercase-$20.00

There you have it.  I have two graduating this year so I won’t be buying any more curriculum for them.  Only the items with prices next to them are things I need to buy.  I’m feeling pretty good about my proposal.  I was very committed to using what I already had and that has helped to keep expenses down.  I will also be adding several CLEP tests to my proposal and various expenses for the Teach them Diligently Conference that we are attending in Omaha, NE come May. EXCITING!!

Have you made a plan for the next school year?

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Weekly Wrap-up 16

I didn’t make a collage of all the food I cooked this  week, I didn’t really make anything note worthy.  But I did some special cooking with the children, you’ll see that in a bit.

This week we wrapped up our Thanksgiving Unit.  We had a such a great time, all of us!

They had a lot of fun gluing in the all the lapbooks and decorating the cover.

The Fronts.

The insides!

Along with finishing up their lapbooks we also did lots of reading.  I read them most of the books I got from the library.  One book, An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott, had a recipe in the back.  In a moment of inspiration I suggested we make the recipe.  Wow, you should have heard the squeals of delight!

It was delicious, they did a GREAT job!

My original plan was to let them make soft pretzels as a closing activity for our Thanksgiving study.  Pretzels hold no significance, I just thought it would be fun.  And thankfully it WAS fun!

On the highschool front…

Banana Taffy and Chocolate Taffy got fitted for their graduation cap and gowns this week.  So exciting!

Strawberry was supposed to take the PLAN test this week.  I totally screwed that up.  I had the time down wrong…we were a half hour late, the test already started.  I’m out the money, which is disappointing but not tragic. I’m more frustrated with myself for getting the timing wrong.  I tried so hard to make that happen.  Ah well…can’t do anything about it now. I guess I just have to find another test for her to take.  On a happier note, she is so excited to have 2 weeks off from school.  She was pretty much giddy all day!

Are you taking next week off?  Enjoy the time you’ve dedicated to being Thankful!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy