Frassati Academy Spring Formal 2023

The Frassati Academy spring formal is on April 29th, 2023.  It is designed to be a classy formal event that teens can enjoy while forgoing the trappings of pop-culture prom.   They do not need a date, tuxedo, or limousine to attend.  :)  We want this to be an event where friends can dress up and have fun together with no pressure of dates and dating.  We are asking ladies to keep it classy by dressing modestly.  Parents are welcome at any time.  Parents may attend as chaperones; the dinner and dance are for the teens.  Attendees are expected to be mannerly and well-behaved.  

Community Courtyard 117 W. Maple Street; Plattsburg, MO 6:30 Doors Open, 7:00 Dinner 8-10pm Dancing

 

If you have questions, please email Sara Moraille at smora@startmail.com.   May God bless you!

Learn the foxtrot at the Frassati Formal!  The Frassati Formal dance will kick off with a foxtrot dance lesson for beginners at 8pm.  We will learn the basic box step, which is fantastic to know as it is used in waltz and rumba as well.  The Foxtrot developed in the early 20th century and became immensely popular.  In the golden age of Hollywood, it was associated with the graceful dancing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  It is classy, fun, and versatile.  It can be slow or quick-paced and is danced to music from big-band to Sinatra and more.  Register by April 1st.

Free Downloadable Multiplication Table

In third grade, I had no choice but to memorize multiplication facts using flash cards. My parents would practice with me at home, I would practice at school, then I would get tested by the teacher on how well I knew them. I had to learn one set before moving to the next. I remember the 8s and 9s kicking my butt. I also remember my mom giving me a little prize, like a book, after I'd mastered the harder ones.

These days I notice that public and private school kids alike don't know their facts. I remember trying to do it with Joel and failing miserably. Kids in school have a handy dandy multiplication facts table like the one below that I created. I think the reasoning is that they will learn them this way if they have to look them up over and over.

Some kids easily memorize the facts. Michael, for instance, my 9-year-old son, can pop off that kind of thing from memory.

How do you teach multiplication in your homeschool?

*Originally posted in 2012

Is Your Homeschooled Child "On Schedule"?

My oldest son has a great friend who goes to the public school across the street. Ever since she started kindergarten, she'll come over to play after school sometimes. Once I had to get something out of her backpack and peeked in her homework folder to see what kind of homework 5-year-olds get. The stuff was on par with what I was teaching my son, so I was relieved.

Now whenever any school kid comes over, I ask if I can see their homework folder and they are always happy to show me. I have to say I do see a difference between what they teach at the Catholic school up the road and in public school. The private school kids go to private school for a reason. They are advanced in what they are doing by at least a grade level over public school.

Keep in mind that quite a bit of what all kids learn will be gone from their brains by the time they graduate. That goes for homeschooled, unschooled, private schooled, public schooled, TV-schooled, and whatever.

All About Pokemon Hands-On Unit Study Course on Teachable for Grades 3-8

So back in the day, my kids were obsessed with Pokemon. They got a huge Pokemon education for sure, but I couldn't find a Pokemon unit study online. I found one site where the writer showed a few books she got for her kid that were Pokemon-specific, but nothing was laid out and ready to teach. 

Then I found the All About Pokemon Hands-On Unit Study Course on Teachable for Grades 3-8 and I did a little happy dance because my son Samuel is now 12 and in 6th grade and would looove this!

From the Teachable site:

The All About Pokémon Unit Study includes 4 main areas:

1- Learn & Explore: in this section, your child will read articles and watch videos on anime, the history of Pokémon, the Japanese language, Japan and Japanese culture. Through each lesson in Learn & Explore, your child will complete various assignments and earn Poké Points along the way!

Aspirational and Sentimental Homeschool Clutter

I may not have a lot of books compared to some homeschoolers, but it feels like a lot when I'm sorting through things and feeling overwhelmed. When I realized books had overflowed off of two bookshelves into my storage room and were piled high in stacks on a filing cabinet, I knew I had to do something about that. Thankfully, it was Christmas break so I could finally tackle the project.

Let's take a specific book I've been saving as an example and make it our scapegoat. The book in question is What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know (Revised and updated): Preparing Your Child for a Lifetime of Learning (The Core Knowledge Series) and my youngest child is 11 years old and in 5th grade. This means this dialogue also applies to several more books I own in the series.

My dialogue goes something like this:

How to Conquer Homeschool Clutter

If you came here from the post Aspirational and Sentimental Homeschool Clutter, welcome! if not, please go check it out!

When I first decided to homeschool, every retired schoolteacher I had ever known graciously wanted to gift me the entirety of their saved classroom supplies, which they had each saved for just such an occasion. I was excited at first at the thought of all those books, wall maps, ABC charts and games, but then the clutter of unused and over-saved items took over and I got overwhelmed. Questions swirled in my mind: What might I need in the future? What would I need this year? What could I pass on?

Homeschool clutter can cause you to waste a lot of time searching for things you may or may not own, as well as causing you to spend money buying things you already have! Below are some ways I found to help tame the different kinds of homeschool clutter and paper monsters and find some peace, organization and money saved in my life.

Table of Contents: What Your First Grader Needs to Know

 

Never fear! I will be typing this up soon so you can grab it and print it out from Google Docs, just like I did with the Home Learning Year by Year benchmarks!