Category Archives: Catholic Schoolhouse at Home

Artist Study, Catholic Schoolhouse at Home, Composers, Copywork, Geography, Notebooking, saints, Science, Zoology

Items Correlated with Catholic Schoolhouse Tour 1: American History

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This coming school year we are going to cycle back to Catholic Schoolhouse Tour 1: American History!

With this in mind I have started working on our Notebook for this coming school year with USA studies in mind.  One of my dear friends, Becky, suggested I make a blog post with links to all of the items I have worked on (some with my friend Rose, both of them use Catholic Schoolhouse) so this way it is easy access for anyone going to use Tour I this coming or future school years.

1) Saint Study Notebooking  Pages Correlated with Catholic Schoolhouse Tour  1: American History (70 pages)

Pages including:

  • Saint fact sheets
  • Draw and Color Pages
  • Copy work Saint Quotes
  • Gather Data Organizers
  • Blank lined Essay Pages

Also, see the Generic Saint Notebooking Bundle below, #10.

2)  Fine Arts Notebooking  Pages  including Music and Art Appreciation Correlated with Catholic Schoolhouse Tour  1 ( almost 140 pages)

Notebooking pages including:

  • Gathering Fact sheets
  • Draw and Color Pages
  • Copywork Artist and Composers Quotes
  • Create an Art Gallery
  • Essay Pages
  • Suggested Book List with Hyperlinks

3)  Discovering the United States Geography Notebooking Unit is designed for the Catholic Classical Grammar Learner.  (254 pages)

This unit includes the study of:

  • State map
  • State location in the USA
  • Capital
  • Motto
  • Bird
  • Animal
  • Flower
  • Flag
  • Nickname
  • Seal
  • License plate (basic)
  • Ecclesiastical Province
  • Notebooking pages with lines

4)  Discovering the United States Geography Notebooking Unit is designed for the Catholic Classical Logic Learner (Grades 7-9).  (213 pages)

This unit includes the study of:

  • Draw the state map
  • Time Zones
  • Climate Zones
  • Capital
  • Location (longitude/latitude)
  • Region
  • Draw the Flag
  • Famous Americans
  • Famous Catholics
  • Products
  • Notebooking pages with lines
  • Suggested Chapter Book List by State

 

5)  USA Geography Printable Interactive Flash Cards for the Catholic Classical Learner (19 Pages)

Print on one side the name of the state and the colorful state flag on the back you print the interactive flash card!  ON the back your child collects the information for the state capital, bird, flower, tree, Notable Catholic, and Order admitted into the union!

The last three pages of this PDF has a handy spreadsheet for the parent to have the answers quickly.

Print front and back, fill out the back, laminate then cut out!  You can put them on a ring or just wrap them with a rubber band.  An easy and quick way to make flash cards of your own!

This item comes free with our Discover US Geography Complete Bundle!

 

6)  State Report for the Classical Catholic child (7 Reusable Pages)

Geared at ages 8-12 but can be adapted for younger (with support) or older children.  Use as is OR cut and paste it onto a poster, you decide!

Pages which include space for the following information:

  • State cover page
  • State Nickname
  • State Abbreviation
  • Population
  • Capital
  • Date it entered the Union
  • State number
  • Ecclesiastical Diocese
  • State Bird
  • State Flower
  • State Animal
  • Draw a license plate
  • Draw the State Flag
  • Pages for notebooking or reporting on the state in paragraphs.

This item is included for FREE in our USA Geography Bundle.

 

7) Complete USA Geography Bundle includes over downloadable 450 pages!

Discovering the United States Geography Notebooking Unit is designed for the Catholic Classical Grammar Learner.  (254 pages)

AND

Discovering the United States Geography Notebooking Unit is designed for the Catholic Classical Logic Learner (Grades 7-9).  (213 pages)

Also included in this bundle are FREE items:

  1. USA Geography Interactive Flash Cards
  2. USA Geography State Reports
  3. USA Geography Scramble the States Game

8) Animals Notebooking Pages – Mammals of North America (67 pages):

There are 30 different mammals of North America with specific notebooking pages included in this bundle along with some blank pages making this bundle customizable for use with any mammal study of your choice!

  • 67 total pages
  • 60 animal specific pages
  • 30 different Mammals to study
  • 2 blank mammal fact notebooking pages to add any mammal of your choice
  • 3 pages with coloring answer keys

9) Animal Notebooking Pages – Birds of North America (63 pages)

There are 28 different birds of North America with specific notebooking pages included in this bundle along with some blank pages making this bundle customizable for use with any bird study of your choice!

  • 63 total pages
  • 56 animal specific pages
  • 28 different birds to study
  • 2 blank bird fact notebooking pages to add any bird of your choice
  • 3 pages with coloring answer keys

10)  Generic Saint Notebooking Pages (10 pages)

(can be used with any Tour)

I have created generic Saint Notebooking Pages for your general use to study any saint of choice.

This 10 page bundle includes:

∞ Saint fact sheets
∞ Draw and Color Pages
∞ Copywork Pages
∞ Gather Data Organizers
∞ Essay Pages

11) CSH Tours 1-3 Correlated with Magic Schoolbus

I have put together, as best as I could tell by their description, how each of the Four Series Magic Schoolbus episodes correlate to the Science topics for all three of the CSH tours.

 

12) Zoology Science Notebooking & Copywork Pages (262 Pages)

Included in this Bundle are both the Black & White and the Color Pages for Notebooking and Copywork for Zoology.   Included in both color and B&W are 262 pages (in two files of 131 pages) with a combination of these kinds of pages:

  • Animal Fact Sheet Notebooking pages
  • Animal Anatomy Labeling Notebooking Pages
  • Animal Flash Cards (print two sets and play Memory)
  • Animal Detectives (Outdoor search)
  • Copywork in both print and cursive with animal facts
  • Blank Notebooking pages with clipart
  • Blank Notebooking pages without clipart
  • Life Cycle Notebooking Pages
  • Animal Research Report gathering data page
  • Animal Research Report blank Essay page
  • Suggested Hyperlinked Resource Book List

Animals Covered:

  1. Mammals
  2. Insects
  3. Fish
  4. Reptiles
  5. Amphibians
  6. Invertebrates
  7. Vertebrates

These will also be sold individually for $6 each so this Bundle price is shown at a discount!

catholic, catholic homeschoolers, Catholic Schoolhouse, Catholic Schoolhouse at Home, homeschooling, Lapbooks, large family, learning, Learning Plan

Our Learning Plans Using Catholic Schoolhouse

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Many families look at programs like Catholic Schoolhouse and because we have been programmed in the brick and mortar mentality of textbooks and workbooks, a program like CSH seems a bit foreign. When I first looked into CSH, I had just come back from a one room schoolhouse field trip so I could see beyond what most consider a normal classroom setting. You can read all about that field trip and my AHA moment when I realized I needed to group all of my children as much as possible in as many subjects as possible.

What stumps many families from using programs like CSH? Many of my friends thought I was nuts for going into a program, initially designed to be used in a co-op setting, where I would need to do a lot of the leg work. Well, I truly looked at this as an exciting opportunity to have the flexibility I wanted but also have a focus or guide with the Tour Guides that were already so nicely organized. It did mean I needed to do my own research on trade books we would use but that was no big deal for me, being a reading specialist and also because so many Catholic programs have their reading lists already available online, all I had to do was compile and select what I wanted to use with my own children. I knew I needed three things:

1. a Teaching Plan for me for Whole Group Learning

2. An Individualized Plan for each of the children to also contain whole group learning but include individualized subjects like spelling, Math, leveled reading, Composition, Religion, and Grammar).

Individualized Plans per student

3) l knew we need a uniform method of keeping track of papers and print outs, drawings, and maps. This is how my two plans and our notebook was born.

After completing two Tours of using Catholic Schoolhouse (CSH), I was able to get a feel for what we liked to work on on a daily and weekly basis, so I created a list of routines we used for each subject. This is how I was able to come up with Our Learning Guide which helps me plan for our whole group learning. If you are not familiar with CSH, it is a classical approach to education with memory songs to help children remember important basic facts and historical names and dates. This led me to create two organizers, one for me to write and organize what I will be using with all the children during our whole group lessons, and the second sheet are for the children to check off their daily work, have their spelling and geography terms in one location and also I added their daily chore routine at the bottom of the page. This helps me keep them accountable for what my husband and I require of the children as members of this family and our homeschooling students.

Individualized plans are in presentation folders with dividers.
Samples of filled out plans.
In this I also include our book list which is required in our portfolio, this also helps me keep track of the texts and trade books each child has read per school year.
At the bottom of my Individualized plans I list our daily chore routine as well to remind the children everything that needs to be done.
Additionally, I include the scope and Sequence for the year of CSH we are using.

Next we also use a binder to keep track of their whole group work. We use a three inch binder per child with dividers for each subject we work on together. This is the method we have been using all school year and it has worked wonderfully for my children in grades 6, 5, 3, and 1. The younger children have received additional support from myself or the older children. In keeping their notebooks up to date and organized where the older children are expected to maintain theirs on their own after guidance from me during first quarter. So the binder is like a portfolio which keeps their work nice and organized and in one location. For those of you in states that require portfolios, I highly recommend this teaching and record keeping method.

Interested in getting copies of my two files? Here is what to do (using the honor system):

1. Please make sure, if you are on social media, that you are following me either one or both: Facebook or InstaGram (@raisinglittlrsaints).

2. Leave me a comment, letting me know which method you follow me.

3. Click to view and save locally (so you can edit and personalize) the two documents:

A) Whole Group Plans/Routine

B) Individualized Plans/Routine

Thank you! Erika 🙂

Beginners, catholic homeschooling, Catholic Schoolhouse, Catholic Schoolhouse at Home, classical liberal arts education, CSH at Home, CSH for Beginners, CSH@Home

Catholic Schoolhouse at Home for Beginners

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As we wrap up our second school year using Catholic Schoolhouse and interacting with many educators on Facebook interested in the program, I thought it would be helpful if I went through and wrote out some of the things I have learned about how to use this program at home only or in conjunction with the Chapters.  I do not want anyone to start using or be confused on how to use this REALLY SIMPLE and amazing program. Even though I had five children at the time in our school, only my smaller children used this program.  My oldest was a junior in high school when we started and I didn’t want to uproot him at this point so he completed his studies with Our Lady of Victory School but unenrolled. So my children at the time were ages 4, 6, 8, and 9 when we started using Catholic Schoolhouse.
Last year was our first year using Catholic Schoolhouse, we started with Year 1 so that we were following along in the Blog and the Chapters even if there wasn’t a chapter near me.  We started mid school year because we ALL needed something different (burnout and all that jazz).  It was totally a leap of faith and after begging DH about doing this mid year, he agreed and we did it.  
BEST. DECISION. EVER!
Since it was our first time using it I decided to keep it simple and just follow the program.  We did, we loved it and this year continued on to Year 2 but this time I  went ALL OUT and got WAY TOO MUCH to do, some of which we didn’t even touch.  Mid Year (it’s like the Heavens open for me in January that I always have AHA moments during this time) I read Dorothy Sayers’s The Lost Tools of Learning.  HA!  I should have read this FIRST!  Then I’d realized I was trying to do too much. We minimized and voila! found our happy medium!  We learned SO MUCH and had SO MUCH fun! So what do you need to do to get hooked like I am?  Here you go, an easy to follow, step by step approach to using CSH at home.:


STEP ONE: Read this First!

If you are new to Catholic Schoolhouse, before doing anything else, please read Ms. Sayer’s free pdf article entitled The Lost Tools of Learning.  It really helped me grasp the bigger picture about what Classical Education really is and what I wanted for my homeschool and my children, to enjoy educating them. 

STEP TWO: Decide on the Year to Work on!

Here is the Scope and Sequence broken down by year.


STEP THREE: What to Buy?

As a new Catholic Schoolhouse parent, you only need the Tour Guide, the Timeline Cards, and the Music CDs.  You can build your ENTIRE curriculum around these three items.  If you want the Science experiments that line up with the Science memory work, get the Supplemental Science Guide. (If you are like me who never got around to doing hands on science, this is a MUST!).  If you want Art projects that line up with the History memory work, then get the Supplemental Art Guide. (If you are like me that left ART for the very last and never had time for it, this is also a MUST!). So in addition to this, please DO NOT think you need to spend more money or your sanity on other things that you may not have.  You will need to decide which Year you want to start with.  I highly suggest you do the same year as the chapters even if you are not in one yourself (or yet).

STEP FOUR:  Check your bookshelves!

You will be surprised to find you probably have many living books that line up with CSH already.  Add these books in gradually and do not be like me and over do it!  🙂 Keep it simple, one book per topic should cover things.  If you are set up in quarters, one read aloud per time period is fabulous.  Read it together and have LOVELY discussions with all your children.

STEP FIVE: Add math and Language Arts/Phonics
You will want to add a mathematics book of your choice and also a Language arts program and Phonics book of your choice.  Use what you already invested in or what you already have at home.  Chances are you will not need to switch out of this OR eventually decide you want to do something simpler as I did for Language Arts. You can also check out Kathy’s “What Else Should I Use?” PDF
So the bottom line is you DO NOT need to supplement to this program if you don’t want to with just one exception, you will want a Math book and a Reading program.  You can, however, just stick to the memory work and do your separate math and language arts and phonics lessons and you and your children WILL still walk away with an amazing classical education and an incredible love of learning.  
Make sure you follow my blog as I work through my series of blog posts on using Catholic Schoolhouse At Home.  Next time, I will be writing about What CSH at Home looks like.
Have a beautiful day!
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