Task Card Response Samples

Abby is finishing her study of the Solar System using the Montessori style task cards I made for Sarah years ago.  Here are a few of her recent posters. 

If I Can Do It, Anyone…

I have been seriously art challenged all of my life.  I remember loving the process of creating art as a child, but the results were discouraging.  A few of the art classes I tookin school taught a specific technique and I loved those, but most of my art experience would rightly be classified as seasonal crafts. 

I planned on outsourcing our family’s art needs when we started home schooling, but reading Drawing With Children (Brooks) when Sarah was in first grade opened my eyes to new possibilities.  Over the years we’ve done some outsourcing, but have ended up working on most of our art together.  We’ve used and enjoyed the Artistic Pursuits curriculum.  The 4-6th grade books that allow students to work independently cover a lot of material even though my girls haven’t felt inspired by quite a few of the projects. 

I’m taking us on a bit of a different path this summer.  I’ve been spending some time on Harmony Art Mom (Barb)’s website and have been inspired by her practical suggestions in areas of my weakness (art and nature study!).  I was already planning on cataloging the trees, birds, and animals that live on our property this summer.  Now we will do so and take or find pictures to use as a basis for art copywork.   I’m excited to pull our nature study and applied art together in a purposeful and refreshing way.  I am planning to alternate weeks where we use Artistic Pursuits with weeks where we copy a work of art from our history studies or from nature. 

This one is mine.  Sarah has declared that I’ve moved beyond preschool and into elementary school.  I’m humming one of the songs from Peter Pan and inserting the words, “I can paint, I can paint, I can paint, I can paint, I can paint!”  It looks like a bird! 

A Tour of Next Year’s School Room

I’m lazy at heart – or I know my weaknesses.  The fact is that if I can’t see it and if it isn’t ready to go, it won’t get done.  I also seem to have a good bit of Montessori left in me despite my love of Charlotte Mason and Well Trained Mind ways.  Hannah and Holly stalled out on Latin earlier (than usual) this year due to my neglect in copying pages ahead of time.  I don’t know why it’s too much for me to copy pages mid-way through the year, but there it is.  I don’t think we’ll have that problem next year as all of my copying is done.  (We can invent new ones instead!). 

Pulling next year’s school together has been a bear – a literal bear.  It’s taken months longer than I felt it should.  The biggest factor in the increased workload was determining a direction for high school and choosing materials for to support that direction.  The penultimate source was the number of children in our home.  At five, we’re not that big of a family, but pulling together every subject for all of these levels was a challenge for me!  List after list has been made and accomplished.  We’re not 100% there, but all of the hard stuff (like copying – ha!) is done.   I’m planning on using a 20% off coupon at Office Max this weekend to buy a few more supplies and then we’ll be officially set for next fall.  (Yes, I’m the one who turned term papers in early during college, in case you’re wondering). 

Here’s a glimpse of our school room from the door.  The tour will take you immediately left to a bookshelf you can’t see and follow around the perimeter of the room toward the right. 

Sarah’s history books and a few of her binders for next year are on top. I still need eight more books from Amazon, but this is a start.  Hannah, Holly, and Abby’s history reading will be sorted and stacked on the next shelf down.  Library books are sorted and added to these piles as they arrive.  Abby will continue using workboxes for independent and enrichment work.  Beret Anna will still be using Montessori style shelves. 

The left side is for the older girls.  Science cards are in the card files on the top followed by a shelf of 2nd and 4th grade science materials.  Reference books and Hannah and Holly’s Latin are on the bottom shelf.  The other shelf has a few activities for Beret Anna that we can flesh out and swap out as the year progresses. 

Beret Anna’s play corner.  I’m hoping to find a doll house at a garage sale or on Craig’s List this summer as we no longer have one. 

Our “tower.”  I’ve designated this side for picture study.  We’ve had these art cards in small folders for years as we’ve used them as part of the Child Sized Masterpieces program for preschoolers.  I decided to change things up a bit and use them for picture study and copy work this year instead.  They might be explored a bit more readily with this new presentation.

The front of the tower.  Most of Sarah, Hannah, Holly, and Abby’s school books are kept here.  Sarah’s large items spill over to her desk in the guest room.  Subject binders are labelled and ready to go.  Folders holding checklists, calendars, memory work, hymns, and morning payer are also ready to go. 

My materials are kept out of reach and in sight.

Together Time Materials – The blue folder has morning prayer and the hymns we’ve chosen for the year. 

My enrichment binder with copies ready to go

Tapestry Dialectic and Rhetoric Evaluations are printed and ready to use

The other side of the tower where memory cards and science readers are displayed.  I’ve found that having a place for these items helps them happen. 

File drawer with a variety of narration and response pages – history charts, copywork and introduction sheets, Tapestry worksheets, pre-writing charts, and art files. 

Now I can relax and really enjoy summer.

Finishing Strong (Enough)

We’ve had a challenging time since Spring Break as the girls have had two rounds of colds and I’ve had a six week long asthma attack.  So far, only steroids are touching it and I’m not happy about taking any more of them.  Ugh! 

Complaining aside, we’re doing well.  We spent the afternoon packing up most of this year’s school and pulling together items for next year.  That is such a huge project with five children at five different levels.  I need their help with copying, hole punching, making labels, and writing lists of things we still need.  We’re getting close, which is wonderful.  I love to have everything ready for fall in the spring so that I get a real break during the summer as well. 

Sarah has finished English, Math, and Science.  She has a bit of Tapestry and Vocabulary work to finish next week.  Hannah has finished everything but Math. We’re working through a chapter on integers and I’m going to show her a bit about coordinate graphing, the last chapter, and shelf it until next year.  Holly is finishing her last chapter in Math and Abby is doing some math enrichment and a bit more of First Language Lessons.  She needs to read to me daily over the summer, so I’ve moved a few books to the sun room for her. 

We’ve made it to Pres. Obama in history – hard to believe we’ve completed our second four year cycle (and harder to believe that I get to do it four !!!!! more times).   Hmmm, I think I’ll think about that later.    In the mean time, the pool and tennis lessons await.  Ah….

On the Markerboard

We’re making our way through the 20th Century with Tapestry of Grace.   We’ve left WWI and WWII behind and have completed weeks on Israel, India, China, and Korea.  We’ve moved into the Eisenhower years and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement this week. 

Lower and Upper Grammar Books

Enjoying coloring time

Joining big girls at the table during Bible study

Long, winter afternoons are project time. 

Week By Week

We’re in a holding pattern as the girls takes their turn getting and recovering from respiratory flu, but it’s working well.  Math, Science, and Music practice are on deck for all who are feeling well.  Yesterday, we were well enough to do our first Tapestry Introduction of the year.  I’m planning to stretch this week over two as we adjust to longer school days and prepare for a camping trip next weekend.  Transitions are hard on a few of our crew, so we need to be patient and give behavior a chance to meet with expectation, especially with illness in the house. 

Sarah finished her first Apologia Physical Science module yesterday and is working through her Chalkdust Algebra I.  I realized while researching Tapestry DE that the second full page of reading assignments are optional, so I have a plan for paring down her reading so that she can meet non-Tapestry deadlines a bit better this year.  Also on top of her priority list is working toward ease in writing.  She’s had a bit of a stall in that area since our construction project, so that’s our focus before high school.  My plan is to have her edit pieces of her work instead of entire papers.  I’ll find one interesting sentence or idea that she can develop further.  I also need to work with her to find a purpose or audience for her to have in mind while she’s writing – as she tends toward being pragmatic and thinks that it’s not worthwhile to add her 7th grade knowledge to what’s already been written – and it shows. 

Hannah is working through the diagnostic section of her Calvert Six Math text as review.  It’s going well and she hasn’t lost ground since last year.  Yay!  Working diligently through Rainbow Science is a top goal for her as I’d like her to move into Apologia General next year.  I’m going to review our step by step writing process and encourage a bit of a higher standard in neatness and execution for her this year as her foundation becomes solid. 

Holly is also working through diagnostic tests in math and is enjoying an elementary Chemistry kit from a toy store.  I don’t have a specific priority for her this year outside of keeping her challenged in as many areas as possible as that has the curious capacity to keep her love tank full.  She does need to be sure to read and follow directions, but otherwise she can keep going with what she’s doing. 

Abby isn’t feeling well enough to do more than music and play with the cats, so we’re reading to her and she’s being my shadow until we’re ready to get back to her school.  Goals for her are similar to Holly’s.  She isn’t near a transition point and the skills she needs – growth in reading fluency and quickness with math – will come through daily work and normal kiddo development.

I love normal kiddo development.  It’s my favorite solver of would-be-problems.

Gaining Momentum

We’re finally enjoying the momentum of the second half of the school year.  The off kilter nature of January’s holiday recovery has finally passed.  We’ve had a few challenges to conquer and have made more than a few tweaks to our schedule., but those changes are paying off and we’re back in progress mode. 

The girls are passing a sore throat and fever around currently, so we’re in a holding pattern on Tapestry week 18.  Once they complete their current reading assignments we’ll move into the study of Japan and China.  I’ll flesh out next week with extra writing assignments and a project or three.  The Oregon Trail, Goldrush, and Pioneer Life will definitely keep us busy. 

Hannah is nearing the end of fifth grade and is experiencing an increase in her workload in preparation for dialectic/middle school work.  We’ve found that her mid-morning meeting with Mom for assignments led to lunch coming too quickly.  So, we moved her basic subjects back to the beginning of her day to give her more time.  I wasn’t expecting the laid back, happy baby that is Beret Anna.  She made the schedule adjustments I made for her unnecessary.  And, no, I’m not complaining.