Mija has been reading The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobefor the first time. She's watched the movies before, but this is the first time she's reading it on her own. We have been using The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Study Guideby Total Language Plus. I like TLP because it includes reading, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. I think subject integration is awesome (and easier!) It also includes projects to include to add to the study.
Well, one of the project, of course, deals with Turkish Delight! We determined to find out what it is and possibly how to make it. We found found Nerdy Nummies really helped with this. Nerdy Nummies is hosted by Rosanna Pansino. She develops recipes based on books, movies, tv shows and more, so we were pleasantly surprised when we found the one for turkish delight! Here's her video:
Mija has been on an episode viewing spree since we discovered it! Yes, I've included some affiliate links for the products I've mentioned.
We love Weird Al Yankovic! This week he's been releasing a new video everyday. I wanted to share this one. Hubby has determined that it will be the theme for our grammar lessons this year!
Have you heard of Grammarly? There is more to them than just great memes on Facebook! It is actually an automated proofreading program. Well, today I have a guest post from Nikolas Baron of Grammarly. Enjoy! Using your Write Brain Let’s face it: the bane of your existence when you were in school really was the entire school bit. It was so difficult to comprehend why we couldn’t play outdoors for extended periods of time, especially since countless studies reached the same conclusion emphasizing the importance of play. Clearly, playing trumped the studying card. Yet perhaps the reason why children scorn learning with a hatred is simply because it isn’t fun, or rather, it is perceived as being dull and somewhat ‘important’ for the distant future if we didn’t want to be a road sweeper. However, with today’s advancements, coupled with decades of experience and feedback from millions of bored-to-death students, not improving the method we use to educate will simply be laziness on our part. Since I’ve started working at Grammarly, an instant online grammar checking proofreader, I’ve been researching on organic learning methods to facilitate the introduction of English for children. What I’ve discovered is far from what takes place within four white walls. Though there are tons of approaches to take, I found that interest and interaction are key in tapping into a child’s natural learning processes; it’s all about using their write brain. Let’s start off with the greatest favour you can do for any child: don’t box them in, constantly encourage, and give them the benefit of the doubt when they insist that elephants can fly. Imagination and creativity are essential in injecting enjoyment in learning. Involve all their senses when it comes to writing. This simple application will magically do loads to enhance learning. Writing about the weather, bring them outdoors; writing about culture, let them come to class in their traditional costumes and conduct a show and tell. Try this exercise. First, get them to imagine eating a mint candy with a molten chocolate centre. Tell them to write about what they taste, how it feels in their mouth, how it smells, their emotions while eating the candy, and anything that comes to their mind. Then re-do the exercise with them, giving each child a mint candy with a molten chocolate centre and get them to write down what they see, feel, and smell. Believe me, the vast improvement in their writing will take you aback; it’ll almost seem as though a different kid walked into your classroom. Ever heard of ‘Secret Santa’? Give each child an envelope with their name on it, and assign a ‘Secret Santa’ to each of them. Instead of giving their friends more cavities, get them to write letters to each other daily. Not only will this break the ice in a classroom full of new faces, it’ll also give each child a reason to write daily. The best part is that there isn’t any topic to write about; the sky’s the limit. I’ve heard of teachers taking this a step further and getting global ‘penpals’ for their students, matching their age to other students of their age. I’m pretty sure many kids would be thrilled to have an exotic friend. Now for the tricky bit – making grammar interactive. Rules that are black and white usually don’t sit well with kids or anyone for that matter. But you know what they say, “If you can’t beat them, join them”. Let the kids be in the position of authority to grade their friends’ work. Scouring the page to identify spelling and grammatical mistakes is a brilliant start for them to identify what other people are getting wrong. After manual grading, they can run the written text through a comprehensible software such as Grammarly to see which errors they missed out. The best part about this program is the detailed explanations given to clarify why certain sentences may be wrong. The software picks up on literally everything, from grammar to spelling, and even sentence structures. The purpose of education shouldn’t be to teach children what to think, but rather how to think; not to dull, but to excite their senses; and ultimately, not to believe there’s a right way to think, but simply by using their write brain. By Nikolas Baron Nikolas discovered his love for the written word in Elementary School, where he started spending his afternoons sprawled across the living room floor devouring one Marc Brown children’s novel after the other and writing short stories about daring pirate adventures. After acquiring some experience in various marketing, business development, and hiring roles at internet startups in a few different countries, he decided to re-unite his professional life with his childhood passions by joining Grammarly’s marketing team in San Francisco. He has the pleasure of being tasked with talking to writers, bloggers, teachers, and others about how they use Grammarly’s online proofreading application to improve their writing. His free time is spent biking, travelling, and reading.
When started our home education journey, we were classical all the way. We had planned what curriculum and resources we were going to use. Woody Allen got one thing right when he said, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." After dealing with my husband's two years of unemployment and our continued financial challenges, we still see classical as our philosophy, but have learned to use whatever God provides to accomplish it. Hence, we have become "eclectic classical". Here is what we are using this year to accomplish this. Math: Because of my blog, I was able to get a free year of this math program to review. Here's the link to the review. Language, Literature & Spelling: We are going to be using K12 curriculum we received for free. You can't beat free and on the whole I like what I see. Language will continue with grammar and writing book reports. Spelling breaks the lists up into those words which follow a spelling rule, words from a base word, and words with a specific prefix or suffix. Literature will be covering introducing classics like Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels. All it all, the basics I want covered will be covered, and I can still adjust as I deem necessary. History: The Story of the World: Volume 4 will be our world history. I had purchased the whole kit and caboodle of the four volumes and activity books, so we will finish using them. We have so enjoyed how history has been shown as an ongoing story through the series. I'll be looking for a more specific Christian worldview in the next history we use. Science, Art, Music: I found a great free curriculum which I was going to use for almost everything but now only these subjects (and probably Bible). Easy Peasy---All in one Homeschool is just that. It's easy. It covers everything (although a little weak in spelling). It's online and IT'S TOTALLY FREE. There is even a Facebook support group. We are going to be following Year 4. Told you. We're eclectic! What are you going to be using this year?
I know at some point in your life a teacher or parent drilled the use of "I" into your head. It probably went something like this:
"Hey, mom. Me and Tommy are going to the park." "That's Tommy and I are going to the park." "You mean you and Tommy are going to park?'
Okay, maybe not quite like that, but you learned you were supposed to use "I" and it was to come after the other person.
Now, I'm climbing my little soap box.
It's not always so.
If it's the subject of the sentence, then the nominative case pronoun should definitely be placed last after a list of nouns or pronouns. In other words, yes, when it comes at the beginning of the sentence, please use the word "I" second.
BUT, then even the most well-meaning English speaker sometimes, okay frequently, carry it too far. They start slipping that "I" where a "me" needs to be. When it's in a prepositional phrase, then it's the objective case pronoun you need. Instead of, "They took it from Sam and I," it should be "The took it from Sam and me."
Here's a general, very simplistic, guide. If it's at the beginning of a sentence, use "I.' If it's somewhere else in the sentence, use "me."
Mija has been reading The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for the first time. She's watched the movies before, but this is the first time she's reading it on her own. 
