The first time I sat in front of the google search page and typed,”Christian Homeschool Curriculum”, I was completely unprepared for the barrage of information to flood across the screen. I read for hours…until the screen blurred and my eyes crossed (not pretty!). I did this research each evening for several days. To no avail really. There were so many ideas and study plans and methodologies and catalogues and opinions. I had no experience with which to filter through or narrow down. I ended my internet search more overwhelmed than when I started. In the years that have followed, I have learned to depend on the recommendations of friends who are also homeschooling.
On our last furlough, my wise, brilliant, stunning friend Jana (☺ you are SO welcome!) recommended a new curriculum many of her friends were using.
It is called My Father’s World and I LOVE IT!!!!
I choose to plug it here, because, while I have enjoyed many of the aspects of programs and curriculums we have used over the years I have never found THE one that fits our family perfectly. Until now.
You see, I am a task oriented list maker. Most curriculum packages are, in essence, really LONG lists. Most curriculum writers include the “disclaimer” which says, “Do NOT expect yourself to complete every activity, blah,blah,blah, choose what is best for your family, blah,blah,blah, no one can complete everything, blah.”
Truth--I’m really not good at the filtering. Despite the writer’s warnings I see before me a list. I start at the top and begin checking stuff off. At the end of the day when the list isn’t complete, I begin gathering discouragement.
Well, that has all changed with this curriculum written by a woman who understands me.
Okay, I know, its not ALL about me. ☺
This curriculum has basically 4 full days of activities--a good combination of read alouds and hands on activities and discussion.
Many of the books are the same as other popular and strong curriculums but they are served in smaller bites.
It is very easy to use for more than one age student.
My kids LOVE the program and the books!
A large majority of our science projects have actually worked!
It was HALF the cost of the previous curriculum we were using.
And at the end of every day there are more checks on the list than not!
Everybody wins.
Check it out at www.mfwbooks.com
Tell them Cheryl sent you. ☺
5 comments:
Lately I've been putting my fingers in my ears and whimpering, "No, no - please, no, Lord". My daughter is not enjoying school right now, and we're trying to figure out why and what to do. Homeschooling?? I've always said it is great for others, but not for me. I am amazed by you moms who do it and send blessings your way. Now I need to go pray some more. "Please, no, Lord..."
Cheryl,
Callie and I have been blessed reading your blogs! I am sure we will be reading and responding more to you!
We love you!
Krista and Callie
drop me a line if you'd like science experiment ideas. Here's the one we are going to do for science fair this weekend.
Why DO M&M's melt in your mouth but not in your hand?
Required materials -A good oven thermometer and M&M candy (might be tough to get since your local Target isn't local). But this should work with any candy that has a hard shell coating.
Put the candy in the oven. Gradually raise the temperature. Record what happens.
What you'll find is that the candy doesn't melt. Eventually it will split open and the chocolate liquid seems to be boiling creating enough pressure to crack the shell.
If you'll put fresh candy in a glass of water - it will start to disolve.
M&M's don't melt in your mouth - they disolve in your saliva.
A cool gross boy thing would be to collect a jar of saliva and see if the candy disolves differenlty from plain old water.
The hard outer shell is a sugar crystal which melts at 186 C.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose
Chocolate on the other hand melts at 17 C. Actually the coco doesn't melt, it's the fat used to make the candy. They make a special blend of high melting fat candy for the soldiers in Iraq. The really yummy stuff from Belgium uses a very low melting fat so it melts very quickly in your mouth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate
With this experiment you can learn about temperature, energy, phase transition from solid to liquid, crystal structure, crystals disolve in a liquid
------ exp #2 ---
Study the effect of temperature on viscosity by pouring syrup (and motor oil if you don't mind getting a pan dirty).
Measure the time it takes to pour a known amount of a viscous liquid at different temperatures. You can also feel the viscosity by just stirring it.
--- exp #3 ---
Air pressure PV=NRT
Heat up the air in an open plastic coke bottle with a hair dryer and then toss it in some ice water - the air pressure inside will decrease and the bottle will collapse. You can also just let it slowly collapse at room temperature - which lets you talk about the time it takes for heat to leave the bottle.
If you insulate the bottle with a wrag it will take even longer for the bottle to collapse. But eventually they'll all reach the same steady state equilibruim temperature which is the temp in your house.
---- exp #4
We did this in 7th Grade at Nimitz Jr. High.
Stick a peanut on a pin
Light the peanut on fire - be patient, it will eventually catch fire
Use the fire from the peanut to heat a small vial of water
Measure the temperature rise.
It takes 1 calorie to heat 1 gram of water one deg C.
So you can calculate the number of calories in a peanut. Your body uses those calories to do work.
--- Exp #5
How much energy does it take to climb the stairs?
How much do you weigh?
How high are the stairs?
The work done in raising an object is equal to the force applied multiplied by the distance through which the object is raised. The gravitational force that must be overcome is equal to the object's mass multiplied by the acceleration due to gravity, so the object's gravitational potential energy, is given by
Energy = M x G x H
where
m is the mass of the object
g is the acceleration due to gravity (approximately 9.8 m/s2 at the earth's surface)
h is the height to which the object is raised.
When applying this equation it is essential to use consistent units. Most scientific work is now done in SI units, in which case mass is measured in kilograms (kg), acceleration in metres per second squared (m/s2), and distance (here height) in metres (m). The resulting energy is expressed in joules (kg m2/s2).
1 joules = 0.239005736 calories
Convert joules to calories and you know how many peanuts you need to eat to generate enough energy to raise an object (such as climbing the stairs or getting yourself out of bed).
I met with Heather Abney a few times to discuss different curriculums. I am excited to use the "Father's World" curriculum and jump into the whole home-school curriculum thing. :) Glad that you have something that is good for the family!
"Wise, BRILLIANT, STUNNING????? Who IS this woman? Sounds like someone I need to know. Didn't know you knew 2 Jana's that homeschool! LOVE YOU- even more now! Ha! Jana
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