Homeschool Ballet: Rigoletto

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The homeschool ballet program at HADC is top notch!  This was our first year to try ballet and both girls were in the same class.  The teacher’s prayed with the girls before every class and every performance. 

The company does a huge production every other year, and this year they adapted the story of Rigoletto for ballet.  The directors always consider the message of the story for the glory of God.  Some mothers drive nearly an hour to bring their children for class–it’s that good. 

I have a short video clip from our dress rehearsal of my daughter’s dance.  It is beginning ballet and most of the girls are 6 years old.  My oldest, Heidi (10), was also in the class since this is her first year dancing, and the younger girls really looked up to her.  She will be skipping a level this fall  to join girls closer to her age and will take 3 classes a week.  It’s amazing to see how she has gained confidence and poise, but also how it has helped rewire her brain.  Heidi’s learning disability is slowly becoming less and less and  it is my hope that if we continue with Ballet and Violin that it will be nothing but a faint memory.

It’s so fun to go to a place where we share values, and a love of teaching our children.  When I first arrived, I entered a room full of godly friendships and good influences for my girls.  It’s a safe place to grow.

Having fun in the wings before the show

I love the tiny feet waiting for bows

Bravo Girls! I'm so proud of you.

Fishing For Phonograms

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Where does the time go?  I shot this video more than a year ago and now it’s time to play these games with my next youngest child. 

I love the Spell to Write and Read program for teaching phonics and spelling.  It’s very teacher intensive, but I haven’t found another program that captures the English language and spelling rules as well as this program has.  If you are using SWR or Writing Road to Reading, you will enjoy using this game to help reinforce the basic phonogram sounds.  Watch the video to see how it’s played and download the printable templates to make your own game here:  Fishing for Phonograms

HomeSchool Organizing Thoughts

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We officially start the new school year August 24th, but are finishing up a few chapters from last year’s work.  This gives me the perfect opportunity to test a new schedule and organizational system before launching it with our new curriculum.

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My school day looks different from most.  I have 5 children, 3 school aged, and 2 busy toddlers.  Three of my children take violin lessons and 2 of the violin students are also learning piano.  I run 3 home businesses, look after the toddlers, and try to keep up with meals and housework during the school year.  While I love the idea of unit studies and eclectic Mom designed curriculum, the practical application of that in my home was a disaster.  After reading Managers of Their Schools, I finally felt free to make the choice that was best for my family educationally–traditional curriculum.

After a long talk with my Sister-in-love, who also has 5 children similar in age to my own, I made a rough draft of my school schedule.  Each child starts with personal devotions, immediatly followed by music practice.  We learned the hard way that if practice isn’t first, it doesn’t happen. Throughout the day, I have 30 minute windows of time with each child for individual instruction, but the children largely work independently.

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Using a set curriculum means that I can plan a start date and stop date for my school year.  We have 183 days scheduled with Daddy’s work holidays planned off and a nice break in December for baking cookies and other holiday preparations.  I went through my curriculum books and calcuated how many lessons a week each child would have to do to finish the books.  Then I made folders for each child for each day of the week.  Red is Monday, Orange is Tuesday etc.  Each folder is labeled with the Child’s name and the day.

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Inside the left pocket is labeled “Work to Do” and the right pocket is labeled “Finished Work.”

On Saturday I can fill the folders with work for the week and put them in the handy organizer that you saw at the top of the post.  When the child finishes their work, they slide their folder in the top tray underneath the weekly folders for grading.  When the work is graded and I talk it over with the child, I move the folder to the bottom tray to wait filing in the portfolio.  So far the system has worked beautifully.  No more lost papers, and the kids can see first thing in the morning what they have to do to be done for the day.  As soon as the work is done, they can use the rest of the day to play or pursue creative outlets like cooking, sewing and sports.