Week 1 Winters Promise Adventures in the Sea & Sky

Guide:  Week 1

• We read from Sailing the Seas Through History and from Sailors, Whalers & Fantastic Sea Voyages.
• We totally did not have time for the reading for Science scheduled this week.  It was only because of me being sick and doctors appointments so we'll catch up soon!
• We worked on tying different types of knots.  We utilized our Cubscout book as well as the following website for instructions on the knots.  http://www.boatsafe.com/kids/knots.htm
• We watched 20,000 Leagues under the Sea with Amazon Instant Video. (We watched the Disney Version-link at the bottom of the page)  As always you may want to prescreen :-)
• I am using the Book 20,000 Leagues under the Sea as a read aloud. We read Chapters 1-4
• For Art we did Pastel Sea Creatures using the 1-2-3 Draw Ocean Life by Freddie Levin.  We each just picked out one sea creature.
• Runner did the drawing from 1-2-3 Draw Ocean Life.  All my boys painted Sea creatures with Water Colors and my youngest Bear made a Jellyfish craft.  (See my Pinterest for Ideas!)
• We also watched several Youtube videos on Jelly fish (prescreen as you feel necessary!)

I have a Pinterest Board that I'm trying to keep track of all my *Extras* so feel free to take a look.  Many of the ideas are geared towards my younger guys so I can include them.

http://www.pinterest.com/rmtzkreplin1/winter-promise-sea-sky/

Curriculum 2014!

Wow!!  It's taken me much longer than I expected to feel like I found a good fit for our family.  I'm not only thinking about Runner but also about my other two guys that I'm praying will start homeschooling in the Fall!
First I want to tell you what I've chosen because I am SOOOO thrilled to have stumbled upon it!

Winters Promise Adventures in the Sea & Sky is our main curriculum for Runner who is 10.  Adventures in the Sea & Sky is written for the 4th-6th but see below because it is so flexible!
http://winterpromise.com/

So far we are loving every minute of it!!  Runner who is easily dis-tractable (ADHD) and has only a tiny amount of interest in learning much is having tons of fun!  I'll tell you some of the things I just love about this curriculum below.

• It could easily be adapted to older or younger children.  Winter Promise even sells a separate learners guide for older children or another one for the younger group.  I feel like there is lots of meat in the regular Curricula that for our family the older guide wasn't necessary.  
• Lots of options to enhance the study are provided in your guide book!  Video selections, online options for further exploration, and art projects for your family to enjoy.
• THE CAPTAINS LOG!!! Oh what fun this Log is and I know it is something that we will keep and treasure for years to come!  This Log is a super fun way to keep my son engaged and to see that he is learning.
• It's a year long study (could easily go longer depending on the ages and the depth you want to explore)
• Great Literature!
• Everything is laid out for me in the guidebook!  Super easy for me to take a glance at the week ahead and then utilize my Amazon Prime to get small supplies I may need.  Note:  most supplies are things you will have around the house!!
• This curriculum covers History & Science.  Though not official I say it covers Art as well.  Anything else that you'd like to add you should supplement.

So here is just a brief list of some things we are learning about:
Characteristics of a ship
People of the Sea (ancient sailors, expert shipbuilders, trade in the East-just to name a few!)
The Renaissance
Industrial Age Ship Building
20th Century Ships
Aviation & Important people who were involved
Adventures in Space
Oceans & Seas
Weather
Astronomy

So my list above is a skim of all the AWESOMENESS that Winter Promise has to offer.  Please go check them out, you wont be disappointed. I'll be blogging about our adventures on this fun journey and hope to spread the word about this great curriculum that we love so much.

I reviewed and tried several options before I really felt like we found a good fit for us.  I'll admit I went for things I felt like *everyone* seemed to be using.  I found a couple things that were a great fit for ME....not for Runner.  Some of the options I tried were Mystery of History I and Story of the World I.

I will be blogging as we plug away with what our weeks look like as we plug ahead.  Please join us!

A homeschool journey derailed....

Our journey to homeschool....

My husband and I started out with what we thought was a good plan....yet at some point we took our eyes of our goal and ended up derailed from our plan to homeschool.  Our story began with a great desire to teach our children at home.  At the time our oldest was 5 1/2 and our youngest was 3 1/2.  We prayed, felt led and jumped in headfirst.  I bought a nice fancy curriculum that showed up on my doorstep in a BIG box with lots of goodies.  If that doesn't get a homeschool mom excited I don't know what will!  My Fathers World Kindergarten deluxe edition is what I had chosen.  I liked that the program was faith based and had lots of hands on learning.  It didn't take long for me to realize something wasn't working out as planned.  My little guy wasn't receptive to me teaching him....at all.  Our days were filled with crying,arguing and lots of complaining (sometimes me, sometimes the little guy- I think we took turns :-).  When the fall rolled around we thought we were wiser having given this whole homeschool thing a go.  We decided that school would be better equipped to teach our son.  We loved the idea of homeschool but felt we had learned it just wasn't going to work for us.  After all the teachers get trained in different teaching methods and learning styles, what could possibly go wrong??  So we forged ahead confident in our new decision that our son just didn't learn easily from me and I didn't have the knowledge or skill to make it work.  Our little guy was in school until 4th grade.  Actually, until about 3 weeks ago.

My little guy is now 10!  And my middle son is 8.  Did you catch that?  I said middle son, yep we added another little guy to the mix, he's 4.  I'll tell you much more about each of them and their journeys in the near future.  Currently we only homeschool our 10 year old- not sure what else to say besides, it's complicated!

So.....what went wrong with plan?!?!?!?

1. We lost sight of WHY we had chosen to homeschool.  For us those reasons were our faith, what we felt called to do, and the educational opportunities and flexibility we felt homeschooling presented.  
2. We believed many lies.  Most importantly that God didn't equip us with the skills needed to do this job and.....are your ready....I'm not to afraid to admit it...well maybe I am!  After our little homeschool stint that failed horribly, we believed that our son would be better off in Public school.  (now please understand, the reason that last part is such a big deal is because we felt called to homeschool and then WE strayed from our conviction.   As you read above I have two other kids currently in public school, so no hard feelings, okay?
3. We tossed in the towel way to quickly!  We should have stayed the course.  Looking back I can clearly see now consequences of our decision to not stay the course. Oh how I wish I would have had confidence in my decision and for those moments that I felt lost that I would have just hit my knees in prayer seeking Gods Wisdom and not letting my own insecurities run wild.  
4. We listened to other people.  Now please know I am not blaming anyone else for us deciding to not continue homeschool.  I will say however that what we feed our minds-it grows.  And if we allow the doubts of others to take over, Satan will happily water that seed.  Soon you'll have a thorny weed that's taken over what you intented to be a beautiful garden.  We should have meditated on truth and clung to prayer when times got tough.

Much time has passed and we are grateful for second chances.  Grateful for Gods grace and forgiveness.  Grateful to be starting our journey again.  I look forward to sharing our life with you and hope you comment and share some of your life with me.

Blessings,

Melissa