Category Archives: Volume 3

Posts pertaining to Volume 3 activities

New Year, New Ideas

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There are two times of year that I think about overhauling the way I do things for our homeschool: Summer break and Christmas break. Soon my Christmas break will be over and it’ll be back to teaching for me, so I’m taking advantage of my last few days by getting some links organized. How am I organizing them, you may ask? I’m using Pinterest! I’ve created a Board called “Homeschool Ideas” and I pin sites there that I want to use for research or teaching. In the description field I write the Volume/Chapter they go with. For example, I’m currently in Volume 4 / Chapter 2, so the pins are labeled “V4/Ch2.” If, after reading through the sites, I discover they don’t meet my needs, I’ll just delete them. Simple as that! The thing I like most about Pinterest is that I can “see” what I’ve pinned. That’s important for me, as I’m more of a visual person—the links are nice, but having a picture to jog my memory is just what I need.

I’m also making sure any files I’ve downloaded are saved to either a thumb drive or a disk. Computers are notorious for crashing (right after the warranty expires!) and there’s no excuse for not having your data backed-up!

Keeping things organized is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling. What have you found to help organize your Weaver lessons? Leave a comment here, on Facebook, or on the Yahoo email list. I’d love to hear from you!

Using Science Textbooks

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While I’m very good at planning out my Weaver chapters well in advance (during the summer I plan through to Christmas break; during Christmas break I plan through to spring break; during spring break I plan through to summer break), I usually use Sunday afternoons to flesh-out my upcoming week. Today was no exception.

Back in February I told you about how I integrated The Timetables of History into our day as we studied Early American History. This week we’re focusing on science, and I’ve discovered a set of books on my shelves that will work superbly: Biology for Christian Schools, Volumes A&B.

We’ve been studying plants (roots, stems and leaves so far) and will look at flowers and classification this week. I thought it would be nice to get a basic understanding of how plants are classified, so I asked other homeschooling moms if they had any recommendations for botany books. One mom suggested I check for a botany section in whatever science texts I have on hand. Why didn’t I think of that myself?!

I’ve already graduated two sons, and my third son has only one year left. My daughter starts high school next year, and there’s another son two years behind her. I happen to have the above mentioned BJU biology book because one of my sons used it in a co-op class. Since I didn’t teach the class, I haven’t looked too closely at the book itself–until now!

What a wealth of information! Chapter 13 is all about the plant kingdom. The text is easy to read, with sidebars of info and photos. I’ve taken the first part of the chapter and split it into three days–splits that fall naturally within the chapter to begin with–and will have my daughter answer the review questions as she goes. I also found info on classification in Apologia’s Exploring Creation with General Science, which is also on my shelf.

Once we finish with plants we’ll move onto the human body. I’ll get info from the BJU biology text, as well as from the Apologia text, The Human Body, which is another text I bought for an older boy for co-op classes.

I LOVE finding little gems like this that make homeschooling fun and so much easier! How about you? What books have you found on your shelves that prove to be invaluable to your homeschooling journey?

Digging into Volume 3

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What do explorers, composers, artists and presidents have in common? Leadership! In Volume 3 you’ll be studying about leaders in various professions. From George Washington to Fanny Crosby, from Michelangelo to Christopher Columbus, you’ll find many people who were unafraid to step out-of-the-box and be leaders in their field.

Perhaps you are the first generation in your family to homeschool. That makes you a leader, too! You have stepped out-of-the-box to educate your children. Your children will learn to be leaders from you because they won’t be “following the crowd” at school.

Use your time in Volume 3 to explore music and art with your children. Discover what it means to explore nature. View the world with new eyes, and see what God shows you!