Tag Archives: homeschool

Early Church History

In the midst of the uncertainty it seems silly posting what the boys learned for Early Church History, especially since libraries are closed.

But part of me still wants to hold on to any normal I have so here it is.

After using a curriculum for the boys history, I needed a break from a traditional curriculum.

I did look but did not like anything I found at the time so decided to write my own.

I was reading this book, The Story of the Christian Church that I got while attending bible school on our way to Minnesota and decided that it was so interesting that I wanted the boys to read it.

So I made a study that worked around this book, as well as a worksheet that went with it.

 

I did add other books to our study also.

I really wanted them to read Ben Hur but after I started it, I thought it might be asking too much.

I found the Focus on the Family Audio Drama of it though and decided to give that a try.

It ended up being amazing!

And it was not too scary for my youngest three!

It was so good that both boys went ahead and asked to read Ben Hur!

Then they both told me all the differences between the audio drama and the book.

It was my favorite part of this study.

I also ended up getting a free study guide on the G.A. Henty novel “Beric the Briton” from Nicki Truesdell and the boys really liked it.

She has some amazing information on teaching history also so check out her site.

Ides of April” and “Beyond the Desert Gate” by Mary Ray are so good. My boys really enjoyed reading them again.

My 5yr old liked “Spend the Day in Ancient Rome.” It follows a family in their daily life in Ancient Rome with lots of fun project ideas.

We own three books in that series.

Another favorite are the books and movies by David Macaulay.

They go into the architecture of the cities and are so interesting.

Actually as I was looking up his name for this post, I decided to buy his book on castles and cathedrals to go with our current middle ages study.

They are just so interesting.

I was really happy with how our study of church history went!

Do you have a favorite book that is on early church history, fiction or non-fiction?

An Easy intro to Homeschool

With all of these kids and parents stuck at home right now I thought I would share some easy things you could do that won’t ask much from the parents that are probably already stressed out.

First off, take advantage of free classes and resources online right now.

For Older Kids

Science

Super Charged Science (it is having free daily classes right now and they are great for a bit older kids)

Teaching Without Chairs is offering a free study on Viruses for a limited time

Math

Khan Academy Math (my boys have used this for extra practice for years)

Handwriting

-Copywork (have them copy a favorite passage from a book they are reading, after a couple of times you can dictate the sentence to them to get some spelling and grammar)

For Younger Kids

Math

ABC Mouse (free trail)

Math seeds (free trail)

Reading

Starfall

ABC Mouse (free trail)

Reading Eggs (free trail)

Leap Frog Videos (I have loved these to teach letter sounds, Letter Factory is my favorite)

Adventure Academy (free trial)

Science

Cincinnati Zoo daily Facebook live videos (so many zoo’s are now doing this so check out your local one to see if they are)

Wild Kratts (I love educational tv, some seasons included with Prime)

-Magic School Bus (currently Netflix has all seasons online, there are awesome resources available online to go with these if you want to add more)

Handwriting

Copywork or there are free letter practice apps available for most devices

Really just keep it simple!

This is not a good time to add a bunch of stress to yourself!

This is a great time for child led learning, if you can’t get to books that interest them, check to see if your local library has ebooks.

Also, there are better times of day for learning than others.

Have them do the hardest subject like math first if that works for them, before they get tired.

We also have quiet time every day and that helps a lot!

We use the zoo’s live feed to motivate kids to do quiet time and then come out and watch some cute animals.

I hope this helps someone!

Give yourself grace and let me know if you have any questions.

I would be happy to help.

What we have been up to this week.

We are pretty socially isolated during the day normally but with everything going on it feels different. With the extra stress I am trying to give myself extra grace in schooling so that I have more to give my kids. I make sure we get our main subjects done every day but other than that I am taking advantage of the free online classes happening right now.
We have been taking a free online science class called Super Charged Science and it is excellent. She is an amazing teacher and I am letting it take the place of me teaching my youngest three science for right now. Check out her facebook page for free classes. I liked her robotics class so much I purchased the course.
Building catapults
Learning about lasers
After that we still do quiet time for my sanity sake. Ha Then we watch the Cincinnati Zoo live keeper chat which has been a fun treat to our day and something to look forward to. It is on their Facebook page if you want to check it out.
Add to that daily walks(which we did anyway) and lots of outside play(when the rain allows)!
It was pouring when we would usually go for a walk so we checked out a local waterfall instead.
What are you doing to fill your days?