Triad Catholic Homeschool

Deep into the School year yet?

2010-10-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

The first 4-week session of the Triad Catholic Co-op is over. It has been a lovely, lovely first 4 weeks. The shorter day has been a blessing for all of us. For one things, I do not get home exhausted. And that makes for a happier day for everyone.

This Friday is a "day off" and just in time for me to take my crew to a near by pumpkin patch. Nice time for a field trip.

Next week will begin our second 4 week session. Most of the classes will remain the same. I'm changing my class though to Art. Liz created some lovely home holy water fonts I'd like to make with the co-op. Followed by some garden stepping stones, corn husk dolls and (more) Shrinky Dinks ornaments. I just love Shrinky Dinks.

We are beginning to plan an Advent Activity Day for December. Then a real winter break. Good for the weather, the colds and to get in some whole weeks of school before gathering again in February.

Hope the school year is off to a good start in your home. Peace Be With You!

New Fall Schedule

2010-05-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Plans are in the work for next year. If you are interested providing a Catholic education for your child, at home, please leave a comment. All of us at the Triad Co-op would love to meet new friends.

As mentioned before, we are scheduling our year in 5 week blocks to allow more flexibility for our participating families and for the course offerings. Hope to hear from you!

Protecting God's Children

2010-04-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

Good news! Triad Catholic Co-op Moms have taken an important and terrific step forward by becoming certified through the Virtus Program required in our Diocese.

It has been years since I participated in the program, but after taking the online courses to become re-certified, I am reminded how important this class is for protecting MY children (and yours too!).

Kudos to the group for stepping up to the task, and for acting on what we already know: We love our kids!

And want them to be safe.

National Poetry Month

2010-03-31T04:35:00.000-07:00

Plans are in the making for next year's co-op. Those will be posted soon. Meanwhile, the upper elementary girls class spent some time this year studying poetry. This link arrive in my email today, so great! From Evan-Moor Publishers celebrating National Poetry Month.

Best result from the poetry class for our family is the wonderful narrative poem Anna wrote to help us all look forward to spring while appreciating the long, long winter. One her own, she spent a while writing and re-writing a "poem for Dad" because he was so ready to see Spring!

Thanks Mary for leading the class and inspiring Anna to write more!!!

Family Advent Activities

2009-12-05T12:56:00.001-08:00

How will you keep "Jesus the reason for the season"? In particular how will you celebrate the anxious waiting for Christmas?

Visit mum2twelve for the Jesse tree readings as well as other family Advent traditions.

Happy Advent!

Catholic Homeschool Community Growing

2009-11-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

Just 3 years ago, when I began homeschooling, I searched the web as best I could for local Catholic Homeschool groups. Few and far between. As in, there were few groups and I lived far between them each.

But today, that's a different story! What good news! Visit ARCH, (Association of Roman Catholic Homeschoolers, a ministry and support group for Roman Catholic homeschoolers in the Triad) to find various portals Catholic Home School groups available in the Triad area.

So exciting to see how much our community of homeschoolers has grown in such a short period of time!

God, continue to guide our schools to seek you, to know your Truth and Word and to find fellowship with one another!

Where has the time flown?

2009-11-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

Already reaching the end of our first semesters activities. Tomorrow we celebrate All Saints day, much like years in the past. My favorite activity tomorrow will be the Litany of the Saints. I like that better even than singing "The Saints Go Marching In".

In other news, Bill and Michael were able to participate in a local homeschool science fair. They didn't win but learned about "how your teeth rot" and enjoyed seeing all the other projects as well.
Several families enjoyed a field trip to Apple Hill Orchard. On what turned out to be the only dry day that week!

One other activity this fall, I did not get pictures. Some of us joined in making rope rosaries in honor of the Month of The Rosary, October.

So glad to be a part of such a great community of Catholic Home School Families! Leave me a note if you stumble here. I'd love to hear from you.

Revised Fall Schedule

2009-08-14T06:16:00.001-07:00

Final planning meeting last night. Made the adjustments needed and got details for the book lists. Things I am particularly excited about are:

the science lab, that was so great last year
Fr. Draper being kind enough to teach our Catechism class
Art through Faith (of course I love anything Art and Faith)
Trail Guide to US Geography, I know the boys will enjoy this
Merchant of Venice (glad that this will support Lee's high school studies)
PE stays! Thank you Yvonne!

Again, I hope you can click on the picture to see the schedule in a larger view. If you are interested in joining this coop, we are always glad to welcome newcomers. Leave a comment so I can reply with more information. Or you can just come to visit for a day and see for yourself.

First day is September 9th, we meet for 11 weeks in the fall and then start again January.

Fall 2009

2009-08-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Summer has flown by and we will have our final planning meeting this week. Some of the highlights of the upcoming year include:

the return of Latin for elementary through middle school
a Christmas program about the Saints
the middle school book club was a hit, so we are continuing this for the MS
Sewing!

Can you click on this picture to see it larger? I hope so.

A few changes need to be made, Melissa, fearless PE leader has moved. We will definitely miss you! Who else will be brave enough to referee kick ball with the 3-MS group? And if you look closely at the schedule, there are still a few question marks remaining.

It will all come together later this week. I know I am looking forward to our next co-op year!

Celebrate! May the month of Mary

2009-05-14T05:42:00.000-07:00

Mary, We love you!
My favorite part of the whole year: May Crowning!

Fr. Draper led the group in song while the children placed flowers for Mary at the statue outside St. Francis. (Not all the families arrived in time for the procession, but that's ok. I got their pictures later :-)

Bill and Andrew take their turn.

All the students line up before the processin begins.

The Elementary Class - Continents
Everyone brought show and tell for this class and Mrs. Jean brought really delicious Amish bread to share too, yum!

Ready to share.

The boys Catholic Mosaic class

My second favorite part of the year: Art Class!

The children really enjoyed watercolors today. I learned as the weeks passed that it is totally acceptable to encourage the kids to "use as much color as possible". They really made some colorful pictures today, and worked for the entire class time.

Even the boys took their time to create something unique!

Not letting any dust gather, we meet to begin planning next year's lessons soon. We all agreed the group science class was a good idea to continue next year. The book club was a lot of fun for the Middle School students too. Other ideas up for discussion include: Latin, Biology lab for High School, and A Uniquely Catholic Christmas Program.

Thank you to everyone for such a great year! We have so enjoyed our time at St. Francis. Especially to Fr. Draper for saying Mass each week.

Happy Summer!

Knitpicky

2009-03-14T02:53:00.000-07:00

The girls had a great field trip recently. Mrs. Olive took them to Knit Picky in Winston Salem. What a great yarn shop! The items they had were so beautiful and handmade, the yarn so soft and luxurious. Mrs. Olive showed the girls different types of yarn, some hand made and some hand dyed. The trip was the start of their spring project. Fun!

Co-op Snow Day

2009-03-06T07:31:00.000-08:00

Nothing like getting together with like minded individuals for an educational snow day!

The weather was just right for this moment to happen. The Middle School boys built a small army of snowmen. Shortly after, the Elementary School boys attacked! What a great lunch break.

(Ellen and Mary, all I can say is "When the cat's away...")

North America

2009-02-02T05:04:00.000-08:00

The Kindergarten Class with NORTH AMERICA. The map is bigger than the children! In addition to making this map, the students worked on eight Saint cards to learn about martyrs from N. America. The cards are attached to a ring and will be added to as they learn about more continents.

The 1st-4th grade boys are working on this too. Bill had fun, was impressed by the size of the map and how much blue it took to color the ocean!

Book Club

2009-01-20T05:23:00.000-08:00

Our middle school students are reading and reading. Here's what on their list for this semester:

Holes
Hatchet
Kit's Wilderness
The life of Pi

Thanks Christi for leading the book club!

Great Idea!

2009-01-20T05:14:00.000-08:00

Snow really, really is a great part of God's creation. We see it so rarely around here, I am extra thankful for this particular Great Idea of God's.

To continue our month of Snow in Art Class, we are painting with SNOW tomorrow. I found this idea on the web, ummmm, somewhere.

Equal parts flour, salt and water. (I will use 1 cup each)
food coloring
blue or black construction paper
small Dixie cups
cotton swabs
plastic spoons

This is a finger painting project. The spoons and cotton swabs are to help the children along. Once you mix the paint, separate it into the small cups. Stir in a few drops of food coloring. Then let the children use the spoons to scoop up a little onto their paper. Use the cotton swabs and fingers to spread the paint into shapes.

Once this drys, it is very white, sparkly and a little puffy.

Save a Tree?

2009-01-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

Well, not sure about that but the kids in Science learned about the many different ways people use plants. One of those ways is my favorite: PAPER. Kathy H. was brave enough to lead this group in actually making recycled paper! Thank goodness she had an extra pair of hands to help with all the mixing and pouring. Laura K. also guided the little ones in this very exciting class. Even the babies were captivated by the mixer whirring.

This activity is certainly one to do with a crowd. If you go to the trouble of tearing the paper and mixing the slurry, you might as well make as much as you can. Thanks Kathy and Laura for all the prep work, the memorable lesson and the speedy clean up!

(If I had to choose between all the activities the kids have done for "the one with the most potential to make a HUGE mess", making paper might tie with last semester's "panty hose digestive system". Fortunately both Kathy and Katie were well prepared to maximize the learning and minimize the mess.)

Homeschool Art!

2009-01-04T06:34:00.001-08:00

Art is back and I am so happy to be able to participate this time, leading a class. On our agenda for Art this semester is "God's Great Creation". We will explore all the great things about earth through Art.

For January we will learn about SNOW! You can too, here! We may attempt some really cool paper snowflakes, but will defnitely learn about snow all month long.

Anna and I enjoyed a day or two of snowflake making this week. Especially since we aren't likely to see any real ones!

New Year, New Schedule

2009-01-04T06:22:00.000-08:00

Can the Spring Semester really be here already? The other teachers are on the job sending out assignments and posting syllabus (or is that syllabi?) for courses about to begin. Here's the new schedule for spring:

Look forward to seeing everyone again!

Other Greater thoughts about St. Nick

2009-01-04T06:19:00.000-08:00

If you read my post on St. Nick, you really must read this. Karen Edmisten's post is sooo much more meaningful. I'll have to add her to my favorites! Not to mention she quotes C.S. Lewis! Who can top him?

Happy Epiphany today!

Yes, There is a Santa Claus

2008-12-10T05:19:00.000-08:00

His real name is St. Nicholas.

Boy, do I wish someone had said that to me when my FIRST child was born. Navigating the tricky waters of Faith and Advertising during the month of December is an no little ol' boat ride.

Especially since we began homeschooling. Homeschoolers are a mixed bag when it comes to St. Nick. Some go all out, others tow a tighter line. Here are a few thoughts I have distilled and have tried to communicate consistently to my children to help make sense of what they see on TV and what they hear in Church or around our Jesse tree.

Is there a Santa? Yes, There is a Santa Claus. His name is St. Nicholas. He lived in Greece around 300 AD
Does he live at the North Pole? Now he is a Saint in Heaven with Jesus. Much farther North than even the North Pole!
St. Nicholas loved Jesus so much that he made many miracles happen.
Those miracles are still happening today.
Does Santa come down the chimney? Santa probably doesn't come down the chimney. Some people don't understand miracles, so they write stories to explain how they think a miracle could happen. Just like a reindeer with a red glowing nose. I love that movie, don't you? It is one way people try to explain Christmas Miracles.
How can those presents show up? It's a miracle, isn't it?
Do you believe in Santa? Yes, I believe.
How can Santa get presents all around the world in one night? It's a miracle, isn't it?

They ask some pretty tricky questions don't they? In the beginning I tried answer with the explanations given in stories like "Twas the Night Before Christmas" but that got more confusing to me over the last several years.

St. Nicholas is real, he does make Christmas Miracles come true. I know that too! Much better to focus on him. We love the video "Nicholas, the boy who became Santa". A beautiful tale of St. Nicholas' life, and very compelling to remember Jesus this season.

Teaching our children to believe in Miracles is extremely important because of course, one happens every day at Mass! But knowing the difference between the Real Power of God and say the not so real power of Superman is equally important.

Merry Christmas, may your children experience a few miracles this season too!

Advent Activities

2008-12-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

We have a new schedule for our Spring Semester of co-op. But that will be posted another day. Here are a few of my favorite Advent activities to share:

Create a Jesse Tree. Although we haven't done this, there are lots of great websites with ideas. Visit the Domestic Church to get started.
Learn about St. Nicholas. I love this website. Used several pictures and activities in our homeschool last Advent.
Create an Advent wreath. Better late than never!
Can't leave out CatholicMom.com

Enjoy the Season of Getting Ready!

Guest Speaker

2008-11-20T03:42:00.000-08:00

This has to be a perk of belonging to a co-op. Where else could I get to meet the president of a college and ask any question I may have about the homeschool-highschool-college transistion? Or about majors? Or about the value of a liberal arts major?

Dr. Thierfelder joined our group for lunch and discussion this week. Hearing his explanation of the value of educating the "whole" person is certainly food for thought. Jenny Ryan, director of Campus Ministry, joined our discussion also. Very inspiring to learn about so many young people enthusiatic for our Faith!

Visit Belmont Abbey to learn more about the history and tradition of Excellence and Virtue right in our own backyard!

Thanksgving Freebies

2008-11-19T05:15:00.000-08:00

Last post had a Thanksgiving activity that is free but not uniquely Catholic. Here's a link to Pflaum Publishing to print some activities that do focus on our Catholic heritage. You have to join on their site, but it is free. These family pages are updated quarterly. Enjoy!

Turkey Day!

2008-11-12T11:42:00.001-08:00

This activity isn't especially Catholic, but it is seasonal and very, simple! Create a turkey out of leaves from your yard. The idea is from DLTK's website, "Fall Leaf Turkey". And I used the body from the this other turkey craft at DLTK. Just to make it even more simple!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Little Rendezvous

2008-11-07T04:08:00.000-08:00

A Field Trip Success! I wasn't sure our family would get to join co-op on this trip to Rendezvous Mtn. The drive seemed daunting and traveling with a baby is always a challenge. Yet the clear weather and a little reminder that trips like these are a "perk" of homeschooling tipped the scaled in favor of going. So very glad we did! Enjoy the pics.

Here Holly and Joseph are waiting on the Ranger to explain about "friendly logging" strategies.
I'm the logger cutting down the "trees". I hope this was time I was being eco-friendly!

Mary Hannah and Elizabeth are being cut to make perfume, of course!

A pleasant group of trees, awaiting their fate!

Gathering for the forest lesson.

What a mom can see from the Ranger Station: Our beautiful Appalachian Mtns.

What a baby can see from the Ranger Station.

Yvonne, Nicholas, Joel and Ellen take in the view.

Eager students learning about the animals in the forest!

Trick or Treat!

2008-10-21T05:51:00.000-07:00

Halloween is almost here! I can't believe it. One of the best parts of participating in a Catholic Homeschool Coop is the ability to celebrate our faith in every holiday.

Last year we held an All Saints Parade, helping our children dress as a Saint and learn about that person's life. Bill choose St. Francis and dressed as a soldier, pre-saintly life! Little Mary Hannah choose St. Therese of Liseux and dressed as Theresa would have at Mary Hannah's age. Theresa was a beautiful little girl and her parents tried to keep her from being to prideful with so many compliments.

The best article I have seen yet is in this month's edition of Faith & Family Magazine. The pictures and saints descriptions are great to start your own costume. My favorite of all of these is St. Michael the Archangel, a warrior angel, what's not to love about that?!

Also here are a few other useful links on being Christian and celebrating Halloween: Should CAtholics Celebrate Halloween? and Debra Furman owns a business just to make saints costumes in Kansas.

Enjoy the holiday, best wishes controlling the massive amounts of candy :-) , and if you can share a story or two of the Saints to your children too!

There are others!

2008-09-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am all excited about the K-3rd group. But there are others! For the 3-5th graders, there is a great literature unit on Sarah Plain and Tall. I loved the movie, and know the girls are enjoying the book!

Mary is leading this class. The unit study is from the 5 in a Row series. According to their website, it is not marketed but a scret shared among friends! Our daughters are enjoying this course, so consider it shared!

Upcoming Field Trip?

2008-09-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

Hopefully our troop of interested learners will be making a journey to Dan Nicholas Park towards the end of October. More details as they become available.

As I mentioned before we began the year with a trip to All-A-Flutter Butterfly Farm. After several exciting and successful trips last year, we are doing are best to hit the road again this season too!

Tour A Continent

2008-09-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

For the month of October our K-3rd grade group will be learning about Africa! Here's an outline of what they will cover. (Thanks Liz for the update and for leading the group this month!)

Week 1 Continent Outline: Students will identify, label, and draw. I'll be using Uncle Josh's Outline Maps to print out a map of Africa. Deserts, forests, oceans, mountain ranges, and lakes will be taught and located on the map. Activity: We will be learning an African song, "Siyahama," that the students will perform at the end of the unit.

Week 2 Animals, Attractions, and Landmarks: Students will learn about animals that are native to Africa. Basic facts about the Pyramids, the Great Sphinx, and Victoria Falls will also be presented. Activity: Each student will create a mural in which they will be able to glue pictures of animals and landmarks. We'll continue to practice our song at the end of the class.

Week 3 Saints: We'll be learning about African, Catholic saints, including St. Charles Lwanga, St. Monica, and St. Augustine. We'll be able to place where they were from on our mural of Africa. Kids will be able to take home some coloring pages to be completed at home for a coloring contest. Activity: Continue practicing song for performance.

Week 4:Unit Wrap-Up: We'll be reviewing the unit on our last day and collecting all saint coloring pages to be entered into a contest. The prize will be a goody bag filled with a surprise! Since there are about 18 students in the class, I'm thinking of dividing up the contestants into age groups. But no one will be empty handed as I'll also be presenting the class with their finished murals and some yummy African treats. Then we'll give all the parents a treat with our presentation!

Welcome!

2008-09-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

The fall's courses for a Kindergarten - 3rd grade group is so great. But most of all I am excited about the Science class. We are studying from Harcourt Science text books at home and the students are completing the hands on experiments at co-op! Katie is the hard working mom who has stepped up to the challenge for this great course.

To start the year, we went on a field trip to All-A-Flutter Butterfly Farm and brought home monarch caterpillars to watch grow. Most recently, the students were learning about plants growing and what is needed to help the plants grow and be healthy, like air water and nutrients.

My next favorite course for this age group is the Tour A Continent class. All the moms are taking turns to lead this group, one per month. Definetly what being in a co-op is all about! Sharing the work and the fun.

The older classes are getting to learn some neat things too. But I should save something for another post!