Friday, November 8, 2013

Aspiring Week 10: Documentaries



For us there is always the question of what to do after we have been in town.
In the past I often came home and then pushed the kids to complete all the things we didn't have time for and we were often exhausted by the end of the day. Then while reading Large Family Logistics I realized we needed to take a break. 

"When you arrive home . . . let everyone go to Quiet Time. They need a break from running around and sod do you!" pa. 177 of Large Family Logistics 
I however didn't want to "waste" valuable time just 'relaxing'. I remembered remembered Erika at Large Familes on Purpose who shows her family documentaries on a regular basis.


When
This year I've decided to incorporate documentaries into our homeschool. We decided that on Wednesdays after Piano lessons (assuming the child has completed their work for the day) we relax and watch documentaries.

What?
We are currently working our way through the BBC's "The Planets". Right now we are watching the BBC Series Planets and the kids have really enjoyed the different episodes. I've enjoyed listening to the kids hollering back and forth "Remember it's jovian, a gas planet!", "Isn't Mercury Hot" they are assimilating the information that they learned in science. 

Please be advised we are creationists, but BBC The Planets is from an evolutionary stand point.Our family enjoys apologetics  and we use it as an opportunity to sharpen our arrows against propaganda.

Right, now it looks like our next documentary series will be Barbarians from the History Channel, although it arrived from Netflix I have not yet reviewed it. But I am hopeful that we will be able to watch Generally, when I'm reviewing a documentary I am looking for too much violence, sexually explicit scenes or a hard driving humanism/evolution bend.

How?
I do not spend lots of time planning which documentaries we will watch. I go to Netflix type in a topic we are currently studying or have already studied and look for a video I can stream (normally). I simply preview them in the evenings and the kiddos watch them.  If I have not had time to preview a new one then we watch a video from our collection which includes Creatures that Defy Evolution and other creation based science choices from our collection.

On  a busy day watching these documentaries allows our family to unwind and to still be engaged in learning.

Documentaries for Families

Homeschool Happenings:

Math
 I made an amazing purchase for our Homeschool. We acquired a 3rd Edition Saxon 7/6 for Bullet for only $15 and she threw in the Dive CD for another $10.  If that was not enough I found the rest of the Saxon package  for $5.These two items retail for $101.50, yes Mam' that is a 75% savings. So I got the whole kit and kaboodle which retails for $196.80 at Rainbow Resource that's just 15% of retail. Please excuse me for a moment while I do the happy dance.

Then my oldest daughter, who is autistic and thus never misses any detail says..."Mom that means you have three kids all doing different math programs." Although, I was stunned but she is right Curl does A.C.E., Bullet will do Saxon Math 7/6: Homeschool Set/Box  & Sweetie does Christian Light Education.

Excellence in Writing
One of my major goals for this month is to get IEW-SWI-A/ Medieval History Writing going. So far we've pulled it out, I figured out what we are supposed to do and where we need to start. I also need to figure out where I am inserting Medieval Writing into the mix. The Big girls are working on their reports(which we've been doing slowly since Mid September <sigh>  ) and my middle one is starting on lesson 1 of SWI-A. For us once we get into a routine with a curriculum we are normally able to maintain the momentum.
         
Co-op Week! 

I am going to do a complete curriculum overview in the next few weeks. We've made several changes that have really been wonderful for our family life and homeschooling.

Linked to:
So You Call Yourself A Homeschooler?






9 comments:

  1. I like the idea of intentionally adding documentaries to your school week. We've been changing things up here too and it's working well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think we need to step back and re-evaluate our homeschool, because it's just not the same school every year. Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. OOH documentaries! I so gotta look into this!
    Good idea.
    Ok so I'm a mom to one, but wow, 3 different maths. Well I suppose that in general math is math isn't it and since you got such a good deal, just go with the flow. Don't you love the flexibility of homeschool?
    Thanks so much for linking up "This Week" at Great Peace Academy. :)
    ~~ Renee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well there is a method to the math madness. Christian Light is an excellent indpendent curriculum that allows young children, first grade, (who read well) to complete their math assignments independently. They have not finished their advanced Math courses so I knew I would have to switch to something. So after 4th grade Christian Light they switch to Saxon 7/6 if they test into it. The third math we use is ACE and that is with our autistic kiddo who requires consistent repetition. But alas for the next two years we will be doing 3 different math programs; 2 I know well and 1 I am learning. :D

      Delete
  3. I have always done this and am so thankful for Netflix. Watching a movie for school always breaks up the routine and gives us variety. Great post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I fully agree! I feel like it's not wasted time or simple amusement! And Mary you should have told me about this earlier. ;)

      Delete
  4. We use Netflix, too, for our family documentaries! I never see time spent watching them as lost time, especially for my visual learners! They just soak it all in. I'm about to begin scouring our Amazon Prime Instant Video list to see if there maybe something there that I can add. Oh, and we also use Christian Light for Math! Absolutely love it! It's been a family staple for about 8 years now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We love Christian Light Math it's like this little known gem in the homeschool world. I especially like it for the younger grades because they can work independently. I was disappointed that they do not have the higher levels of math redone yet. We've been using it for 4 years and all of our littles will go through it! I really enjoyed your blog and all of your little people are sooo cute. I especially love the puffs the little girls wear in their hair we call them Teddy Bear ears.

      Delete
  5. I personally love to watch documentaries. We don't use them for school yet because my kids are a bit young for that, but I'm sure we will at some point. The first think I do when we've been out all day is send the kids to their room for some quiet time. I didn't know that was an idea that someone shares =) Works for me! I like your idea of using that as documentary time. I'll have to remember that as my kids get older.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for your encouraging words!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...