I love October! Next to April it's my favorite month. And actually, April and October a lot alike. They are both gateways to a new beautiful season. Our maple leaves are red already and we're letting our lawn go dormant now. And it is definitely apple-picking time. We almost went last Saturday but time escaped us so we'll have to put it off for a few more days. An orchard near us will let me have all the apples on the ground for free and I plan on taking all I can find, and making lots and lots of applesauce and apple pie filling. Maybe they have pears (I can't remember) ~ we could use some more pear butter... Canning season! Not to mention pumpkins! I'm very excited. I'd like to get a few families to go with us and we can come back to my house for a canning party. Although I could be dreaming. I'm sure not everyone dreams about produce.
It's also at this time of year that I get excited about being a homeschooler. I leaf through the Veritas Press Catalog and practically drool~ such wonderful, beautiful books. I'm working on an Amazon wishlist composed of the books we'll need first. (I love Amazon because you can get the books used and save money. And saving money means more books!) The wish list will be really helpful, especially around Christmas time, I think. Ok, maybe I'm jumping the gun a little. Dabney is 3 now, but very soon, I'll be going through the phonics with her and hopefully she'll be reading within a year. First though, I want to be proficient in the phonics myself.
Happy October everyone!
4 comments:
Hey Mandie. Well-I can tell you one thing-you are not the only one to get all dreamy about produce. I do! You know what ELSE I get dreamy about? Books and homeschooling supplies! What a great GREAT idea-to create an amazon wishlist. I have thought about that too...but I know (FOR A FACT!) that my parents and parents in law refuse to buy 'practical' things as gifts. Which, is getting to be quite a problem-because I want our home to be as free from clutter and 'stuff' as possible and because~it would be such a NICE thing not to have to spend so much money OURSELVES on this stuff.
I love the Veritas Press Catalog. I am being sort of Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde about the Phonics museum. I want SO badly to get it but it is KILLING me to fork over that kind of cash! My friends John and Abby asked for 'contribution' from the grandparents instead of Christmas gifts and got a check....AND christmas presents. The adults in my family would give me looks to KILL if I asked for 'help' with that. Of course, they think we are NUTS to homeschool ANYWAY-so why would they ever even CONSIDER helping us?!?
Ugh.
I will say, I had fun perusing your list though! I have read many of those (or thought about purchasing them TO read!) I am always amazed at how similar you and I are.
I had grand plans for Corynn to be reading by now (to start 'schooling' at three-obviously, they didn't come to fruition. As soon as I figure out what to do about phonics, I will be starting. I am thinking-mid october. At the LATEST Nove. 1st. It isn't a 'real school year anyway. Just a trial run for both of us-but she is certainly ready to read.
Anyway. I had so much fun popping onto your reading wishlist-I wanted to show you mine. You will see how similar we are. (Except...er...all the books on my wishlist are for ME! I am SO greedy...)hehehe
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1WQUCR5RJDNM/
!!!!! Sometimes our similarities freak me out a little. I've been stalking the phonics museum for more than a year now. If you're going to buy it, that definitely the place to do it. Your comment is so funny, because Tim and I vowed after Christmas last year that we are buying only books and curriculum (and maybe clothes) for our kids this Christmas. Toys from grandparents, etc are ok, but not from Mom and Dad this year. We just have too many and it's a struggle to keep the house uncluttered.
I have the Writing Road to Reading! My mom gave it to me after she taught Caitlin and James to read. I'm so excited to use it but I have to memorize the phonetic sounds and spelling rules myself so I can teach well. At first it was like a different language to me, but as I re-read, it makes more sense and I'm beginning to catch on now.
As for your Amazon list, I'm reading "Paedofaith" right now! It's on my nightstand. A friend from church loaned it to me and I'm absolutely loving it (I've only read the first chapter or so). It's so refreshing and thoroughly Biblical. Even the first chapter has refreshed my mind regarding my children and my approach to them. I had planned on blogging about it but I was afraid people would think I've gone off the deep end.
Great minds really do think alike!
This is so cool!
About Writing Road to reading...do you have the phoneme cards? I see on their website that they have phoneme cards AND an audio cd set that you can hear the sounds being created. The thing I am NOT excited about Writing Road to Reading is that there is no real structure for the parent. You are sort of on-your-own with the lesson plans, and having not been homeschooled myself and having NEVER done this sort of thing before, I think I NEED that direction. That is one (of the many) things that appeal to me about the phonics museum. It is all laid out for you.
If you like paedofaith I bet you would really like Feed My Lambs. I have not read the former, but I have the latter-and that has changed my view on things. Matt was already on the road to paedo communion but I had been struggling with it all (being staunchly RP my whole life...). That book helped to change my way of thinking. We kept it all under our hat for so very long, because I knew what the reaction would be when family found out we were (GASP!) paedo-communists (as Matt and I call them...hehehe) Anyway. It came out a few weeks ago when a qustion was asked that couldn't be avoided or overtalked. And that did NOT turn out very well, let me tell you. It really hasn't been the same since. I get frustrated because my parents hurl the negativities but know NOTHING about it-and have blatently refused to research it. They don't even say it right. I hate that people can make such rash decisions and not even try and further their thinking-or study up on a subject. Argh. Anyway-that was a tangent. Now I am DEFINATELY going to keep my eyes out for that book, per your reccomendation!
Thanks!
Phonics is my absolute favorite subject to teach! Once you get the hang of it, it makes so much sense because of all the rules.
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