Teach A Fish Homeschool

Weekly Review Week 22, 2011-2012

2012-01-27T13:32:00.000-08:00

Two more weeks until break time again:) We had a great, but busy week.
Monday: gymnastics, Tuesday: field trip to Flint Children's Museum and then our Michigan History class in the evening, Wednesday: AWANA, Thursday: Homeschool Parent Support Meeting, Friday: nothing planned!

A:
In Math, she did some of the more challenging Challenging Word Problems. One in particular, daddy and mama sat for quite some time trying to come up with a working algebraic equation to solve it:) In Horizons 5th gr, she completed Lesson 132 Multiplying Decimals, 133 Dividing Decimasl, 134 Dividing Decimals Working with Zeros, 135 Understanding Percent, and 136 Percent & Decimals.
Passed 5 sections in AWANA (was aiming for 7, but she's close to having it).
In Spelling, she did the Day 80 assessment, and did Days 81 & 82 in spelling. She did J-K Encyclopedia, piano, and 1 lesson in Codecademy.

Z:
In Math, she did a few lessons in Singapore 3a. She calls it the "easy math" but says she likes Horizons much better, even though it's harder. I'm not sure how long I'll insist on using 2 math programs with her, lol. In Horizons, she completed Lessons 120-123, including Test 12 (we didn't realize it was a test and treated it like a worksheet, oops). I see "long division" looming ahead of us next week, where she'll need to learn how to "bring down". Say a prayer for us, that's a toughey!
She left her book at AWANA but still managed to pass 3 sections.
She did Spelling days 68-71. She did H Encyclopedia, piano, and Codecademy (finished lesson 1 - which has 8 sublessons, and even more sub-sublessons).

Both: Michigan History and the homework for it. For American History, they read about Sam Houston (ch 29) and Capt Gray (Ch 30) from the CLP book.

Flint Children's Museum

2012-01-24T14:32:00.001-08:00

We took a field trip to the Flint Children's Museum. Lots of fun! Slideshow below:

Weekly Review, Week 21, 2011-2012

2012-01-19T13:33:00.000-08:00

Tues: MI History. Wed: AWANA. Fri: Co-op. Sat: Kings Kids musical practice

A:
In math, she finished the first 10 practice story problems from Singapore's Challenging Word Problems 3. She began the Challenging section of story problems and did not like it. In Horizons Math 5 book 2, she did Lesson 126 Estimation of Decimals, Lesson 127 Addition of Decimals...and then we skipped a few lessons and jumped to Test 13 (she scored very high), and finished the week with Lesson 131 Multiplying Decimals. She got a few wrong on her test with Ratios - she is really struggling with *reading* the problem, lol. If she would just stop, read, and think about it first, she'd get them all right. In AWANA, she finished all of Discovery 6 (she needs to get through 7 and 8 before she is done for the year, and each discovery has 7 sections - so 14 left before she is done! yay!) In Spelling, she did Days 74-80. She worked on Encyclopedia J-K. She practiced piano and codecademy. In codecademy, she got through the first Lesson (broken into 8 exercises, and those exercises have about 4 lessons). She got stuck several times, often finding her own way out or experimenting with it. She had to help me through a few lessons.

Z:
In Math, I'm making her use 2 math programs. I know, I'm mean. I want her to see those numbers in different ways, so she can understand different ways of presentation. She did the first 3 exercises in Singapore Primary Math 3a, which was place value. In Horizons 3 book 2, she is mastering division problems with remainders (ex: 34 / 7) and getting very good at them! She also caught on to reducing fractions this week. Those are 2 big topics and I'm pretty happy with that. She did lessons 116-119. In Spelling, she did days 62-67. She did Encyclopedia H. She practiced piano and codecademy. In codecademy, she is in the middle of if/else statement lessons.

Both: They attended the Michigan History class (12 week class that meets weekly), and completed their homework. They read chapters 27 & 28 in Exploring American History (CLP). They'll have co-op on Friday.

pine needle tea

2012-01-17T08:54:00.001-08:00

for our Michigan History class, we were assigned to make pine needle tea. Well, here it is. It's reddish in color. We dumped a heaping teaspoon of sugar in there. Two out of three kids liked it.

Sequential Spelling review

2012-01-16T06:40:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo that shows how we use Sequential Spelling. The gyst of the program is that kids will pick up the patterns of words as they go. You start with something small like "in", "sin", "spin" and eventually build up the pattern to include "begin" and "beginning". The idea is that kids will naturally learn the rules as they see the patterns. However, I tweak this a bit:) I DO discuss spelling rules as we go. Also, I use my colors a bit differently:

Sequential Spelling now has videos that you can purchase to give the spelling lists for you. It is a computer run DVD, and it shows the words with roots in a different color. With a word like "spinning", SS highlights the pattern "inn". However, I highlight the pattern as "in" and then reinforce the spelling rule that when a short vowel word adds an ending, you double the consonant - so, in "spinning", you start with the short vowel word "spin", double the "n", and add "ing".

There are about 25 words per day. When the kids really know a pattern and can put endings on that pattern easily, I will keep the number of words at 25, but combine two lists together.

So far, I like Sequential Spelling. I have a hard time giving the lists, because the 2yo is usually clinging and screaming during spelling time. I'm not sure why that is (she doesn't like spelling?) In a perfect world, I would just hand our daily spelling lists off to the DVD and be done with it. I might resort to that, depending on how many bad days in a row we have:) But for me, Spelling is one of those subjects I stay involved in so that the kids learn their spelling rules.

Weekly Review, Week 20, 2011-2012

2012-01-14T20:16:00.000-08:00

Both: we started Singapore Challenging Word Problems 3, and have been working through the story problems together. A was able to solve this problem easily (and had to explain it to her mom):

Steve had 500 more marbles than Richard. He gave Richard 300 marbles. Who has more marbles now and by how many?

I was impressed by her simple thinking strategy: "pretend Steve has only 500 and Richard doesn't have any." I tend to complicate things and get upset by those unknown marbles, lol. I'll probably divide the kids up and have them work alone next week. There was too much of one person taking over the problem.

Both kids also worked on Codecademy (www.codecademy.com), which is javascripting. I've never done javascripting before, so anytime the kids were stuck, I had to jump in and catch up quickly, in order to answer their questions. They seem to be enjoying those lessons, though.

We had Homeschool Gymnastics on Monday.

We began Michigan History on Tuesday evenings. It has been a class I've wanted the kids to take for awhile now, but the opportunity hasn't been available for both of them to take it - until now. They learned about early Europeans coming into Canada/Michigan, the French establishing fur trades, Champlain, and Brule. Brule was a rather interesting character, lol. Both kids really like the class. They had a two page worksheet to complete on Wednesday. We're also supposed to make pine needle tea, but haven't yet - we'll try to do that before the next class.

On Thursday, we went to a McDonalds with a play area. We met friends there - 2 moms that share in teaching 2 co-op classes with me. The moms planned and crafted for our classes, while the kids played.

A:
In math, she did lesson 121 Decimal Tenths, 122 Hundredths, 123 Thousandths, 124 Compare and Order Decimals, and 125 Rounding Decimals. She likes these lessons because it is quick and easy!. She completed 2 sections in AWANA this week. Her spelling lists were days 67 through 73, and got into some tricky words (command, commandments, demand, defend, offend - these were hard because some words doubled the m, f, while others did not). In History, she read chapter 21 (somehow skipped it the week before), and 23-26. She is not thrilled with history, this year. She did her Encyclopedia J-K, most of the week focusing on Jesus Christ and Jet Engine Propulsion. She was surprised that Jet Engine Propulsion had more pages than Jesus. She also practiced piano.

Z:

Z's AWANA car, "Bible" with Philippians 2:3-4 printed on it

head on view of the Bible car

She completed a blank multiplication chart every day. She also went back to Horizons 3rd Grade Book 2. Most of it is easy, except for the beginnings of long division (29 / 3, where you have a remainder), and reducing fractions (2/4 reduces to 1/2). She took off with division this week, though. It's amazing how much easier division becomes after multiplication facts are memorized. My kids, thus far, have only been able to get so far with a cheat-chart. Something about knowing their facts really boosts their understanding. She completed days 58-61 in spelling. She read 3 chapters in History: 24-26. She finished her chapters early because she loves history, lol. She continues to work through Encyclopedia H. She practiced piano and made up a few songs. She passed 3 sections in AWANA and participated in the race car derby. Her car this year was a Bible:) She won 2nd place out of 3 girls for speed. She won 1st place out of 7 girls for design. It was the first year our family produced a car that won for a reason. In year's past, we've won 3rd place, simply for being one of 3 participants in our age/gender group, lol.

Weekly Review, Week 19, 2011-2012

2012-01-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

Are we there yet? LOL.
I was sick all last week with chest congestion, sinus congestion, and NO VOICE. It was rough, but we made it. We did "whisper school".

A:
In Math, she completed lesson 118 (Multiply to find equal ratios), lesson 119 (Dividing to find equal ratios), Lesson 120 (ratios and the calculator), and Test 12. She took 2 days to complete the test and scored 90%. The test covered Fractions (everything you could ever know about fractions). She wasn't able to complete any sections for AWANA (the first section had 4 long verses to memorize, and she didn't quite have them all down pat). She completed days 61-66 in Spelling. We did 3 days of Spelling, and she does 2 lists per day. The kids had to give their spelling lists to each other, since I had no voice:) She read Chapters 20-22 in History. She also did Encyclopedia J-K.

Z:
In Math, she completed a blank multiplication chart, 30 multiplication facts, and 30 division facts. She did this daily. I think she is getting better at her facts, although I think 6s-9s still trip her up. She passed 2 sections in AWANA. She completed days 55-57 in Spelling (we did 3 days of spelling, and she does 1 list per day). She read chapters 21-23 in History. She did Encyclopedia H.

Weekly Review, Week 18 2011

2011-12-30T18:57:00.000-08:00

December 19 - 23 marked Week 18 of our schoolyear (half way thru, woohoo!)

A:
completed lessons 114-117 in Math, which included dividing fractions, dividing fractions by a whole number, dividing a fraction by a fraction, and the start of ratios. She did 4 days of Encyclopedia. She also did piano practice. She has the next two weeks off from AWANA.

Z:
we put Horizons 3, book 2 on hold for awhile to work on multiplication facts. She was able to memorize most of her multiplication facts, but is still slow on the recall (and still skip counting on fingers for some of them). We will continue to work on multiplication facts after the Christmas break. I've also ordered a few other books for her to work through while we wait to jump back into Horizons 3. She completed 4 days of Encyclopedia, and also did piano practice. Her reward for memorizing math facts was a movie day with her daddy. Although she wasn't able to complete the facts within the specified amount of time (100 problems, 5 minutes), we fulfilled the reward anyway. Her daddy has had the time off from work and it was a good time for them to go. They went to see TinTin in 3D, and loved it:)

Science: Science gets honorable mention as something that continues on in the household. The bean and corn plants are sprouting like mad. We still have our emptied coffee jar of swamp water, and we can still see our tiny shrimp-like friend swimming through the stinky muck, lol. I have to say, swamp water pets are some of the easiest, cheapest pets to keep.

Another thing that gets honorable mention: Cookie Baking. A followed a sugar cookie recipe, rolled out the dough, and cut the shapes. I did the oven part, but she did the rest. Both kids decorated. A also helped me with the Brutzel Bar recipe and Oreo Truffles. I love having a cook in the house:) I think Home Ec has been completed!

Cookie Recipes - Oreo Truffles and Idy's Brutzel Bars

2011-12-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

We made these as a gift for relatives this year. My 11yo did most of the cooking:) Recipes below:

Easy Oreo Truffles
(copied from Meijer Mealbox booklet given out at the store. It may be on the website, as well, but don't know for sure meijermealbox.com)

1 pkg (8oz) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 pkg (1 lb 2 oz) Oreo cookies, finely crushed (about 4 -1/4 cups), divided
2 pkgs (8 squares each) Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Mix cream cheese and 3 cups cookie crumbs until well blended.
Shape into 48 (1-inch) balls. Dip in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle remaining cookie crumbs.
Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

Makes 4 doz or 48 servings

Notes: we used non-brand name ingredients above. We crushed the cookies and then pulsed in the food processor until small crumbs. We also put the cream cheese in with the crumbs and mixed it that way in the food processor. My dd formed all of the balls and then we put it in the freezer for later (caution: looks very ugly at this stage, lol). We bought a big block of almond bark (or baker's chocolate squares) and melted in the oven. We dipped our balls while still frozen, and then immediately dropped one side of the chocolate coated ball in a bowl of the remaining cookie crumbs. We put on the baking tray and put it into the fridge. These are truly awesomely delicious cookies:)

Idy's Brutzel Bars

1 cup butter (2 sticks) - no substitutes
1 cup white sugar
1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 (12oz) bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Crush crackers in the unopened sleeve and spread evenly onto lined cookie sheet.

Put butter and sugar in small pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. If you take it off immediately after boiling, it will be less hard than if you were to boil it a little longer (your preference will determine boil time).

Pour evenly over cracker crumbs and place in oven for 10 minutes. Remove and immediately sprinkle entire bag of chocolate chips evenly on top. Let sit for a few minutes so that the chips will soften, and then spread evenly all over with a rubber spatula.

Place in fridge or freezer until cooled.

Break into bite-sized pieces.

Notes: You truly DO need to use REAL BUTTER, not margarine, lol. We tried it last year with margarine and it was horrible stuff. Butter makes a big difference. I used unsalted butter, but used salted crackers (lends a salty taste with the chocolate, yum!). We also added a little extra cracker crumbs (maybe 6 more crackers?) because the crumbs from one sleeve did not completely fill our baking tray. We also used the smallest of our 3 baking trays.

Weekly Review, Week 17, 2011

2011-12-18T14:21:00.000-08:00

The dad was in Colorado during the week, so we spent Sunday-Wednesday night on our own. We pulled everyone's mattresses into the basement (down 2 flights of stairs) and camped out next to the wood pellet stove. Our nights were nice and toasty warm!
Monday: we had Science Experiment day with our friends, and gymnastics in the afternoon
Tuesday: we drove back to gymnastics (1.5 hour round trip) to pick up the 11yo's phone (grrr). We also visited the library, and had friends over in the evening to visit.
Wednesday: we had friends over in the afternoon and had AWANA in the evening. AWANA had an ice cream flavored Christmas party. The dad arrived home around 1:30-2am Wed/Thurs.
Thursday: we went to the library for the gingerbread house workshop and each kid made a yummy candy house out of graham crackers, frosting, and goodies. Georgie calls it "cake" lol, and has finished eating each candy off and thoroughly licked each cracker.
Friday were uneventful days, and we finished our schooling for the week.

A:
Honorable mention: She worked very hard on her AWANA verses and passed 12 sections, which included memorizing 17 Bible verses, reciting the questions/answers, and doing activities. She had to help a friend for an hour, do a 4-day devotional and make her own book. and complete a 3-day search site.
In Math, she continued to work on fractions, including subtracting with unlike denom, mixed numbers, finding the fraction of a number (2/3 of 12), multiplying fractions, and multiplying mixed numbers. By lesson 113 on Friday, she had forgotten how to convert mixed numbers into improper fractions, and I realized we might need something to help us remember what we're doing and why.
She completed days 57-60 in Spelling.
In Science, we planted bean and corn seeds with friends and filled in the experiment sheets. We'll be watching to see what number of seed leaves come up, to determine if the plants are dicot or monocot.
We started back with History, and she read chapters 16-19, which continues with the American Revolution, John Witherspoon, Daniel Boone, Gen James Robertson, Gov John Sevier, and Gen Putnam.
She completed 5 days of encyclopedia.

Z:
Completed somewhere around lesson 110 in Math, but really fell apart after a few days of long division (two types: 19 / 4, which has a remainder, and 84/ 4, which divides evenly). I'm wondering if we'll ever move beyond 3rd grade math, lol. I remember hitting this same wall with another child of mine, once upon a time. So. We are going to start on Math Fact Practice next week. I think we will follow this plan: Learn the Multiplication Facts in Seven Days. And then, we'll start back simple and build on. I'm looking for another math text to pull in to guide us, but haven't found anything yet.
She completed days 51-54 in Spelling.
She completed 5 days of encyclopedia.
She did the same thing for science as her sister (see above).
She read far more history than was on the schedule. She seems to really like history, so I think I'll let her keep going, and then add in another book if she needs more later in the year. She read through Chapter 20.
She passed 2 sections at AWANA.

Weekly Review, Week 16, 2011

2011-12-10T12:46:00.000-08:00

Tuesday: horse riding lessons and a sleepover in the evening. The kids did 2 days of school on Monday to make up for our full Tuesday.
Wednesday: kids were sleepy and ended up working on AWANA and resting.
Thursday & Friday: the kids had to make up 3 days of school in two days:p
Friday: our homeschool group had a Christmas party at the roller skating rink. Dh took the 2yo so that Mama could go skating:) It was a blast and I really enjoyed skating!!

Here's what we accomplished:
A: Completed lessons 104-108 in her math book. These lessons focused on fractions - adding and subtracting, with unlike denominators. She completed 3 sections in her AWANA book. She has been very frustrated with AWANA this year, so she came up with her own solution: she plans to work on AWANA for 1 hour every day and finish her book early. She did 5 days of Spelling (Day 52 - 56). She completed 2 weeks of Science (Weeks 10 & 11), except we'll do the experiments with a friend next week. She completed 5 days of Encyclopedia (J-K).

Z: Completed lessons 101-105 in her math book. She is beginning to learn reducing fractions, but with pictures and lots of mathbook hand-holding. She passed 5 sections in AWANA. She completed 5 days of Spelling (Days 46-50). She completed the same lessons as her big sis in Science. She completed 5 days of Encyclopedia (H), which included Hari Kari (Chinese form of suicide, lol). Gotta love encyclopedia...She wrote a few of her many thank-you and penpal letters last week. We still have 2 more to go!

The kids also practiced Piano in our relaxed, non-schooly way.

We did a few things different this week. I made a schedule of 5 days of school, with the expectation that they would get the schoolwork done, no matter what (notice, we had a sleepover - but I did not want this to affect school). We also held meetings with Daddy over the phone a few days to go over what we needed to accomplish. I think it was a very successful week. If the kids were behind in their schoolwork according to the schedule, no Webkinz or movies were allowed. They caught up Friday evening and have been playing Webkinz all day Saturday.

Horse riding lessons

2011-12-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

Today the girls took horse riding lessons. We found a place that offered lessons to kids in a 3-hour block, with between 3-6 kids in a group. The cost was $40, which wasn't bad for an introductory to horses, horse care, and (most importantly!) horse riding:) Here are some videos of the kids at their lesson. The kids had to learn how to direct the horse around the orange cones and how to sit straight up on the horse, and ride without holding on at all (eek!). The kids loved it and they are begging to go back.

Here is a slideshow of our day:

Weekly Review, Week 15, 2011

2011-12-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

A:
Finished thru lesson 103 in Horizons Math 5. This week introduced changing the denominator in unlike fractions in order to add or subtract. She also practiced some multiplication problems with 3 digit by 3 digit: 273 x 115.
She did 2 spelling lists this week (day 50 & 51)
She completed Lesson 9 in Science, although we did not do the science experiment yet. It was about the parts of a plant. The experiment is supposed to be about growing monocot and dicot plants from seed.
She completed 4 days of encyclopedia, and practiced 3 days of AWANA (passed 2 sections).

Next week, I hope she will complete 104 Add/Sub Mixed Numbers, 105 Improper Fractions to Mixed, 106 and 107 Renaming Improper Fractions in Sums, and (if we're really good) 108 Subtraction of Mixed Numbers.

Z:
She finished thru lesson 100, including the test. She learned how to do Area (counting squares and by multiplication). She also learned division of slightly bigger numbers (66 / 3, 88 / 2, etc.). She also practiced roman numerals, telling time, and multiplication of bigger numbers 1 digit by 5 digit (41319 x 3).
She did week 9 of Science (see A)
She did _ days of spelling (45?)
4 days of encyclopedia, and 3 days of AWANA practice (finished 4 sections).

Next week, I hope she will complete lessons 101 (Writing mixed & improper fractions), 102 (Lines of symmetry), 103 (ratios, I need to look ahead!), 104 (different ways to count coins), and 105 (eek! reducing fractions). I put these lesson topics in parenthesis because the 3rd gr Horizons doesn't actually "name" their lessons like 5th gr.

Both kids have been working thru their piano books independently. I'm not sure if this has been advantageous or not.

We had gymnastics on Monday. Georgie had a dr appt on Wednesday. She is 28 lbs and 36 1/4 inches tall. We had a playdate afterwards at McDs playarea. We baked Christmas cookies and Trilobite cookies for Christmas and as part of the cookie exchange on Friday at co-op. We had co-op on Friday.

Weekly Review, Week 14, 2011

2011-11-27T06:41:00.000-08:00

This was a short week with Thanksgiving weekend. The kids did 3 full lessons of Math (I think A finished lesson 100?). I had Z skip one or two lessons in Math to get her into more challenging work: two digit division (divided by one number evenly, such as 24 / 2). The kids did encyclopedia every day, and some work in AWANA (although I had forgotten that we had a week break from AWANA this week, oops).

On Wednesday, I had an eye doctor appt. The kids didn't get to school until I got home.

We put our Christmas tree up. We have the yearly tradition of giving that job to the kids. This year, the kids pulled everything out of storage, put the tree together themselves, plugged everything in, decorated, and then put empty boxes back into storage:) I'm glad the kids are able to do all that, because if it were all dependent on me, we'd never get around to the Christmas tree! Now I just need to give the kids some recipes and have them do my Christmas baking, lol.

Next week, we have gymnastics on Monday. On Wednesday, we have a doctor appt and possible playdate, with AWANA in the evening. We'll have our last co-op before Christmas break on Friday. Full week!

Weekly Review, Week 13, 2011

2011-11-21T06:12:00.000-08:00

I'm falling behind in my statuses! We took a 1 week break (2 weeks ago). Last week we finished Week 13. Week 13 saw rough times. We all had colds that lasts about 2 weeks per person. I'm also struggling to find any time to develop lesson plans (it really doesn't take me long, but finding that time - alone - has been impossible). If I don't have time for lesson plans, I certainly don't have time or peace in the house to teach them. I am looking at other options, more independent options for the kids. My kids need an education, but I'm not in a place to give that education to them. I hate unschooling. Wait, I take that back... I love unschooling if one child is a future chemist and is getting up at 8am to experiment in the basement, and if the other child is a future astronomer, and spends her evenings charting the skies:) I do not have those children; I have rather normal children that don't do a whole lot to seek knowledge. They are too busy seeking time to play Webkinz (and no, I don't value Webkinz as a learning tool). So, that said, here was our week:

We had gymnastics on Monday. AWANA was Wednesday. A new fridge was delivered on Thursday. And Friday was co-op.

A got through lesson 97 in Math. This involved a lot of Fraction work: comparing fractions, adding/subtracting like fractions, reducing fractions, and mixed numbers.

Z got through lesson 91 (she only did half of 91, not sure what happened there). This included writing mixed numbers, improper fraction, and it's decimal equivalents.

The kids did 1 day of science (I had them pick a science book, read, and then illustrate something they learned). The kids did 4 days of encyclopedia (they read 3 pages and write 1 sentence for every entry). They did AWANA practice and worked in their books. They did Piano and Typing.

Discover Your Child's Learning Style

2011-11-15T07:38:00.000-08:00

I've been reading through a book called Discover Your Child's Learning Style. Like any good learning style book, it has quizzes! (I love quizzes). There are different aspects covered: learning styles, visual/auditory/kinesthetic, interests, talents, environment preferences, etc. I found our learning style results to be interesting. I've always wrestled with putting my oldest one's learning style into perspective. She never quite fits the mold.

Many people are familiar with Cathy Duffy's book which defines learning styles in 4 different roles: Wiggly Willy (hands-on), Perfect Paula (perfectionist, workbook type), Competant Carl (independent, project based, more of a sciency-mathy kid), and Socialable Sue (social, group, games type learner). Discover Your Child's Learning Style defines these as: Performs (the Wiggly Willy), Produces (Perfect Paula), Invents (Competant Carl), Relates/Inspires (Sociable Sue), and a 5th one Thinks/Creates.

As my oldest has gotten older, I've seen two big traits in her "style". She likes to just jump in there and do things. She'd rather build something than study something. She'd rather cook, sew, drive, build, whatever. But, she is also very organized and tends to like routine. These two traits seem at war with each other. She isn't the Perfect Paula, because (although she is good at drill, memorization, and likes routine and structure) she does not enjoy being a student, does not like workbooks, and does not strive to be "best of the class" - she does not place a high value on academics. She can play the game and do academics, but doesn't prefer it. On the other hand, she doesn't fit Wiggly Willy, either. Although she prefers short, hands-on lessons with practical, real life applications, and likes drama, she is very content to sit still (she doesn't wiggle). She has never been a big mover, and could always sit still from a young age. Also, these learners tend to like spontaneity, not structure:) When she took the test, it placed her in Performs category 1st, and her 2nd was Produces. Although neither description fit her very accurately, I was able to see how both labels fit her quite well when I realized how one trait replaced another from both groups.

Side note: I've always struggled to place this child in the Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic spectrum, as well, lol. And wouldn't you know, she tested as falling pretty equally amongst all three, which is the only answer I've ever arrived at since her kindergarten days:) As long as we hit all 3, we're good...

I've come up with a different term for my 1st dd's learning style: Real Life Learner.

My 2nd placed in the Thinks/Creates category 1st and Relates/Inspires one 2nd. This fit her quite well. I always wondered if she were somehow a Perfect Paula, because she used to fill in those workbooks with crazy enthusiasm, lol. But now I realize it's the social aspect of her personality; seeking attention and praise. She tends to need a lot of praise!

I fell into the Thinks/Creates category, which fits. One of my struggles as a homeschool mom is the way I tend to just drift off in the middle of nowhere. I tend to need a lot of "stare at the wall" time, which I cannot afford to take with a little one running around. I find it mentally draining to be ever-present. I've always been insanely jealous of Produces type people. I want to produce! I want to be structured and organized!

I'm half-way through the book. I got it for the quizzes (why else? lol). The book spends the first part talking about schools focusing on the Produces personalities, and how many other would-be good students are delegated to the bad student category. It also talks about the school focus on the bell curve: we have to have a bell curve so we can define the excellent students, the average students, and the poor students. The book takes the stance that everyone should (and can!) succeed, not just those labeled to succeed.

First Big Potty Success!

2011-11-13T06:01:00.000-08:00

As a homeschool mom, I'm less worried about WHEN my children potty train. I do not have a daycare or preschool that I'm trying to rush them into. Somewhere between the ages of 2 and 3, my kids imitate us by sitting on the potty. Eventually some sort of potty success happens, and we catch on to the idea of using the potty. Once we've had some good successes and the toddler understands the idea of using the potty (and big girl underwear), then we potty train for real. This usually happens right around age 3.

Georgie had her first real big success on the potty last night:) She's been yanking off her diaper after she pees, and then wants to jump up on the toilet. She jumps onto the potty and off of the potty several times and then I try to wrangle her into a clean diaper. Last night, she insisted on using the potty. She climbed up there and the first time she sat, nothing. Jumped off, flushed, and jumped on again. This time she peed for real! We wiped, she jumped off, flushed, and jumped on again. Then, she pooped! LOL. She immediately jumped off to see what she'd done and then flushed. A few more jumping on and jumping off again, and several more flushes and then she eventually lost interest. We washed hands and wrangled back into a diaper. She was pretty proud of herself and excited to tell her daddy and sisters.

Georgyana is now 2 years 6 months old.

Weekly Review, Week 12, 2011

2011-11-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

Yay! We made it through Week 12! Next week, we are taking a one-week break:)
A: finished through lesson 93 in Math, and focused on Equivalent Fractions and Common Factors/Greatest Common Factor. She finished through Day 49 in Spelling. Note to self: she is ready to bounce back into doing 2 lists per day when we start back. Grammar covered contractions that involve both noun and verb (I'll = I [pronoun] and will [verb]). She has been practicing typing, although we stopped that by Wednesday, in favor of NaNoWriMo.

Z: finished through lesson 88, which began Mixed Numbers and has been working on Perimeter. She finished through day 42 in Spelling (-ove and -ow words). She began typing lessons. For Grammar, she learned about verbs, including states of being (yeah, that's a tough one...)

Both: We did History Pockets, Pocket #3 with George Washington crossing the Delaware, and the Declaration of Independence. The girls began writing a novel for NaNoWriMo. They also began a new Daddy-given assignment: Encyclopedia. Each day, they read 3 pages from an encyclopedia, and then write 1 sentence for every entry. Some days they have a lot of writing to do, and some days very little.

Sidenote: our science project from a few weeks ago involved growing mold on bread. We *still* do not have mold on our bread. I've tried re-watering the thing. A tried wrapping it in a blanket and sticking it in the sun. We have some really mold resistant bread!

Friday is co-op.

Our Day In Pictures - Friday, Week 11, 2011

2011-10-30T05:51:00.000-07:00

Thought I would try the same day, same report, but in pictures. Except I got the pics in reverse chronological order, so you'll have to scroll to the bottom and read UPWARDS. If I didn't have a 2yo, I'd actually fix this.

PIC 8: I finally got the kids' science books organized with the Pro-Click. They are decorating their covers.

PIC 7: We went outside to swing for a bit and grab the mail.

PIC 6: Z did Daily Paragraph Editing while Georgie scooted across the table with uncooked Ramon Noodles to munch on. This stayed with her until naptime, and finally got handed back to me once she was in her crib. Shortly thereafter, lurking dog opened Georgie's bedroom door, and naptime was over.

PIC 5: Georgie had a Big Fit, so we were on the floor duking it out (just before pic was taken). I handed the school materials to Ay and said, "here, do Spelling with Z"

PIC 4: Score! Dog gets peanut butter.

PIC 3: Pancakes for breakfast

PIC 2: Dog gets closer

PIC 1: Georgie got an empty peanut butter container and enjoyed dipping her finger in and licking it (breakfast). Notice dog lurking in the background.

Weekly Review, Week 11, 2011

2011-10-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

This week:

Ay worked through Lesson 89 in Math. This covered Perimeter, Area, Volume, Surface Area, and Problem Solving (using all of these). She finished through Day 46 in Spelling, including words such as broaden, abroad, overload, pay, and daily.

Z worked through Lesson 84 in Math. She is now doing basic algebra with multiplication. For example, the problem 4 x n = 28 would be worked by dividing 4 on each side. She writes this by putting a line underneath 4 x n and a line underneath 28. This cancels out the 4, and creates a division problem: n = 28/4. So far, she thinks this is easy:) She finished Spelling Day 40 - next week will come the evaluation.

Both kids finished the 4 days of Daily Paragraph Editing. The theme was Mount Rushmore and Chief Crazy Horse Memorial. This was perfect timing with the Decoded show we watched last week, which delved into Gutzon Borglum's intentions behind Mount Rushmore, the Hall of Records hidden behind the memorial, and Mr. Borglum's involvement with the kkk. Lots of history there:)

We did not cover history this week (although, see Daily Paragraph Editing and Decoded paragraph above). Ay watched Transformers, Dark Side of the Moon. Although I didn't realize just how much swearing was in this movie until watching it for the 2nd time with an 11yo (oops). We did discuss the space mission and Chernoble - so we snuck in a little history, there, too.

In Science, we finished up Week 7 by filling in our glossary terms, and labeling the sketch of an algae. We did Week 8 by reading about Ferns. We filled in more glossary terms, labeled the sketch of the Fern Lifecycle, and watched this rather gross movie. We probably won't do the experiment, becaues I do not have a fern plant, fern spores, or a microscope.

The kids wrote letters this week. Z begged me to find a penpal for her, and I roped her into writing 2 penpals! Ay wrote "thank you" notes for her birthday gifts. Both kids had to fill out their own envelopes.

Georgie (the pre-preschooler) is testing boundaries this week. She is also teething those last 2 molars. Coincidence? I think not. I'm trying to discipline the bad behavior, all while being that loving mom that she needs me to be. Our nights leave little to be desired, too. But, I know someday I'll look back at those nights with her snuggled up on my chest (like a cat, lol!) and miss them. These are such sweet days, and I truly am blessed to have them.

Hitting the big one

2011-10-28T05:57:00.000-07:00

Last year, I lasted 3 weeks on my "we're going to hit the books" campaign before petering out. Maybe I'm getting stronger, because this year, I've lasted at least 8 weeks, maybe 10. We're finishing week 11, and I have officially hit "the big one". This is that big gigantic wall that looms between you, world peace, and homeschool accomplishment. And we are there, now.

Maybe it's the uncertainty of dh's job.
Maybe it's the messy house that I desire to clean, but stays out of reach.
Maybe it's all the outside stuff creeping in:
Kids need Halloween costumes by Monday
We all needed the dentist
2yo needs a pediatrician appt
Dog needed grooming
Kids need clothes

Maybe it's my itchy rash that I broke into two weeks ago (allergy? detergent?).
Or maybe it's the prednisone (used to treat the itchy rash)

I suspect that this year, it is the Two-Year-Old. When I say I have a two-year-old, I think you fail to understand the gravity of this situation. I'm talking a 6 feet tall, 200 lb toddler with a strong will. This Two-Year-Old has new phrases when I say "please come down the stairs", such as "I'd rather not." (Imagine this said in a very grown-up, sophisticated voice). (note: she isn't actually 6ft tall, 200 lbs, but it feels like that when we're wrestling...lol!)

Our morning routines look a bit like this -
Z: "Mom, I need help with math" (as 2yo climbs on table and begins drawing on math)
Me: (scooping 2yo off of table) "first you do this -"
Ay: "Stop hitting me!" (2yo is on the table, smacking Ay with reckless abandon)
Me: "Don't hit, time out" (scoops screaming 2yo, sets in corner). 2yo looks like orphaned refugee from a battle zone, arms out-reached, crying, creeping across the floor.

This is all very well, and Mom is trying to be Consistent (because we know Consistency is the source of all that is right in the world). Except that the above scenario gets carried out All. Morning. Long. and All. Afternoon. and Into. Dinnertime. These times are interspersed with "hey, where's Georgie?", only to see that she's climbed the top of the stairs, is standing on the baby safety gate, and swinging over the stairs. Or, all the couch cushions have been tossed off of the couch, and the 2yo is now jumping on the (cushionless) couch with all of her might.

We aren't accomplishing much. I am compromising our lessons ("sure, we only got 2 subjects done, but let's be done"). This week brought us Molars and a horrible time teething. Mom and kid are camping on her bedroom floor, where she crawls up on my chest in the night and sleeps there.

I've developed a nervous eye twitch that began last week, and continues through this one. I'm seriously considering....something different. Go back to Time 4 Learning? Adopt the Robinson Curriculum? I'm not sure what, but feel I need to eliminate some of the stressors here. If I can get the kids doing more independent lessons, then that frees me up to focus on the 2yo, and maybe toss in the occasional load of laundry:) (Insert clouds scenario and castle in the sky: dreaming big) If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!

I know I only have a 2yo once, and then these days are gone. She is such a wonderful, cuddly addition to our family, and I hesistate to give her up for adoption (lol! no, I really don't anticipate going that far). Age two is such a fantastic age (if you can look beyond the temper tantrums). She amazes me several times a day with her observations and growth. I'm so thankful she is in my life! But I would like to feel a little more accomplished at this homeschooling thing, lol!

I feel like such a wimp. Many moms wrestle 5 kids or more and seem to manage just fine. Yet, I've been conquered by this third little creature. We'll hang in there through week 12, just like I said we would, but then we are taking a week break!

Wednesday week 11, 2011

2011-10-26T14:07:00.001-07:00

Baby G was cranky today and I was overtired.

Ay
Math lesson 87 volume
Spelling day 45
Grammar week 8 helping verbs
Daily paragraph editing day 2 of 4.
Memorized 4 verses for awana

Z
Tummy ache
Math lesson 82
Spelling day 39
Did daily IP editing days 1 and 2 yesterday
2 verses for awana

I cleaned the guinea pig cage, made great strides in laundry, built a fire. Kids made lunch and cleaned island and table.

Monday - Tuesday, Week 11, 2011

2011-10-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

Monday was a day of errands. Kids sort of read science in the car, did Math at home, and worked on AWANA in the evening. The dog got groomed (that resulted in 2 hour long trips for that alone). Costco was visited for its Once A Year really good deal coupon on baby wipes, that is only good for a two week span. Salvation Army was shopped; Ay purchased 4 pairs of pants, and Z purchased 1 pair. Our grand total for 5 pants was $23. One pair was a brand new, tags on pair of jeans that were sold in stores for $30, but I paid $5 for them. Not too bad...
Tuesday was our first FULL day of school in awhile. Spelling list 44 for Ay, and 38 for Z. Ay took a Grammar test, and we both struggled through it (ugh - and we've only covered nouns, articles, pronouns, and verbs. How hard can it be???) We did Day 1 of 4 in Daily Paragraph Editing, which has a Mount Rushmore theme to it (perfect, considering we just watched the Decoded episode on Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument - awesome tie in!) Ay did lesson 1 of typing again - she's not liking typing. But that's ok, she doesn't like anything remotely educational, so we'll grin and bear it. Z spent a long time developing her handwriting during spelling, so we skipped the handwriting workbook. Ay wrote a thank-you note to her friends for the birthday gift. Z got a new penpal and wrote an introductory letter over the weekend. Both kids had to address the envelope themselves. Yes, that counts as school. Z finished Book 1 of 2, for Horizons Grade 3. I let her skip lesson 80 after doing the test. She scored 43/44 (98%) on her test, and I felt she was ready to move into Book 2 today. Ay is getting better at long division. I have her complete 3 of whatever problems are on the page, and then she checks with a calculator. Any that she gets wrong, we re-work together. The kids worked on their AWANA verses - Ay is beginning Section 3, and Z will be finishing up Section 2. As long as we get through Section 5 before Christmas break, we will be moving at an even pace, and should finish our books on time. For Science, they read about Algae and Lichens. They wrote the definitions for 3 science vocab words (algae, lichen, photosynthesis). They filled out the diagram on the Anatomy of a Bladder Wrack (I don't even know what this is, but it sounds cool). This was week 7's work.

I will add one more lesson. At the store last week, Z insisted she had $10 to spend on a tiny Littlest Pet Shops (think Squinkies, only with a Pet Shops theme). I think it's all ridiculously overpriced, but let her have fun with her earnings. We got home and she only had $7 to her name. So we learned about negative numbers, and how she now has $-3.00, LOL. I guess there is no better way to learn negative numbers than to be in debt:)

Weekly Review, Week 10 2011

2011-10-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Last week was mostly a Math and Science week.
Sunday - Ay turned 11!
Monday - my dentist appt, kids did Math and History Pockets. I think they did Spelling, as well. We started our Bread-Mold experiment (sprinkle water on bread, put in baggy).
Tuesday - Math, AWANA practice, Ay started typing (did 1 lesson this week). We did Week 6 Science: Fungi. We read about Fungi, filled in definitions, and the lifecycle of the fungus.
Wednesday - it took all day, but we managed Math and AWANA. We had a Science focus - friends came over to look at swamp water under a microscope and fill in our experiment sheets for weeks 6 and 7. Ay, Georgie, and I went to the swamp and gathered nasty water (lol) for the experiment. Then, the friends went to AWANA with us (fulfilling one of our requirements for Ay's book, and 1/2 of a requirement for Z's book).
Thursday - day before co-op, crazy-day. I still hadn't had time to get class materials gathered, so I left the kids with whatever they could manage of their schoolwork, while I got classes ready.
Friday - homeschool co-op classes. Phew! It was a great, but very full day.

Weekly Review Week 10, 2011

2011-10-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

Highlights from this week: Gymnastics on Monday, Awana on Wednesday, and Homeschool Parent Support Meeting (with kids in tow) on Thursday. Celebrating Ay's birthday on Saturday with friends, family on Sunday. Real date is next Monday, though.
Ay:
Math was about Circles & Compass, Graphing, Problem Solving, and Symmetry. She finished through Lesson 81, which included taking a test and finishing Book 1 of Horizons 5th Gr. She began Book 2 of 5th Gr on Friday. She did 2 days of Daily Paragraph Editing. She did 5 days of Spelling, including Day 40 Evaluation (scored 18/20). She finished through Day 43 in Spelling. She added Verbs to her list of items in Grammar (so now we practice finding Nouns, Articles, Pronouns, and Verbs). This was Week 7 in Winston Grammar. For History, she finished Pocket 1 Introduction to the Revolutionary War, and began Pocket 2. She worked on the project for the Boston Massacre. She finished her Italics workbook and will begin to learn Typing next week.

Z:
In Math, she practiced Equivalent Fractions. This included turning 1 fraction into more equivalent fractions through multiplication, and also determining if two fractions are equivalent through cross-multiplying. She finished through Day 37 in Spelling. She finished Week 5 in Winston Grammar (Nouns, Articles, and Pronouns). She did 2 days of Daily Paragraph Editing. She is getting close to being done with Italics Handwriting (finished page 62 or 63, I think?) She worked on the same thing as Big Sis for History.

We did not do Science this week, but will double up Weeks 6 & 7 next week.

Gorgeous weather this week! The kids love the tree swing.

Georgie ran upstairs, hopped onto Big Sis's bed and began "reading" a Babysitter's Club book, lol!

Attack of the fuzzies. Mom thought it was a Good Idea to do school outside. The kids found the cattails, and then nothing else was done. Fuzzies everywhere!

The kids, deep in concentration at their schoolwork. Dirty kitchen in the background. Moments later, the kids launch into a song - "Something happens that I'm head-over-heels..." (Tears for Fears). Wish I had captured this on video, instead, lol!

Thursday, week 19, 2011

2011-10-13T07:23:00.001-07:00

Ay
Math test no 8
Handwriting pg 64
Spelling day 42

Z
Spelling day 36
Math lesson 76, measurement
Handwriting pg

Cleaning, homeschool support meeting

Wednesday, week 10, 2011

2011-10-12T07:29:00.001-07:00

Ay
Math lesson 80, problem solving
Spelling day 41
Handwriting pg 63
Awana practice

Z
Spelling day 35
Handwriting half of pg 62
Math lesson 75, determine equiv fractions by cross multiplying
Awana practice

Cleaning house for tomorrow
Z passed 3 sections at Awana
Ay passed 2 sections

Tuesday, week 10, 2011

2011-10-11T07:25:00.001-07:00

Ay
Math lesson 79 graphing
Handwriting 62
Daily paragraph editing herrington day 4
Grammar practice
Spelling day 40 eval: beginning, shoves. 18/20.
History pockets - assembled pocket 1

Z
Handwriting 61
Math lesson 74 equiv fractions
Grammar finished week 5
Daily paragraph editing day 4
Spelling day 34
History pockets - assembled pocket 1

Gymnastics

2011-10-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

The kids are learning a lot at gymnastics and having lots of fun! Come see what they've been doing:

Monday week 10, 2011

2011-10-10T06:55:00.001-07:00

Ay
Spelling List 39, 40. Repeat tomorrow.
Math, lesson 78. Circles and compass.
Handwriting
Daily paragraph editing (Herrington day3)
Grammar week7 nouns pronouns articles verbs
History: HPockets Choosing sides pocket 1

Z
Spelling List 33. Move onto 34 tomorrow.
Handwriting pg 60
Math, skipped to lesson 73. Equiv fractions, no pics.
Daily paragraph editing (astronaut Herrington day 3).
Grammar week 5, nouns pronouns and articles
History, HPockets pocket 1 choosing sides of revolutionary war

Weekly Review, Week 9, 2011

2011-10-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

Monday was a full day of school. Tuesday was a dentist appt for the kids at 11:30am. We did Math, AWANA practice, spelling, and science. Wednesday involved bringing a friend to AWANA. Thursday meant another 2.5 hour trip BACK to the dentist to fix Z's filling (it was a little too high and she couldn't eat with it). Friday was co-op all day.
In Grammar, Ay covered nouns, personal pronouns, articles, and added verbs to her sentences. Z covered nouns, articles, and added personal pronouns to her sentences.
In Math, Ay learned how to use a protractor to measure angles. She also practiced converting time (seconds to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days, and all that in reverse, too). She is also practicing long division and product trees. Z has been practicing multiplication/division fact families, taking giant numbers and making them bigger (lol! 37,456 becomes 3 x 10,000 + 7 x 1,000 + 4 x 100 + 5 x 10 + 6 x 1), and doing some algebraic equations such as n + 5 = (3 x 5) + 8.
In Spelling, Ay has finished Day 39. Z finished Day .
In Science, they read about Polar Regions, Rainforest, Desert, and Grasslands. They finished filling in their habitat charts.

We did one day of History (creating our History Pockets). I think I need to pull in some extra reading for this, though, so that the crafts actually mean something.

The toddler is learning about Sizes. There is Big ones and Tiny ones. She always wants the Big one (whatever it happens to be, lol!) Ay has gotten smart and now asks Georgie if she wants the big one, and then gives her whatever size it is. And Georgie is happy, knowing she got the "big one".

Weekly Review, Week 8, 2011

2011-10-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

Monday was a trip to the store for emergency science supplies, and gymnastics. Wednesday night was AWANA. Thursday and Friday were busy days for me - a dentist appt, and an appt to view pianos at the Flint Institute of Music.
I think we accomplished 3-4 spelling lists this week. We completed 5 math lessons. We did 1 week of Grammar (A1 completed Week 5 and Z completed Week 3). We did 1 day of History: started our History Pockets American Revolution project. We created a Habitat diorama for Science. We wrote definitions to words, and filled in a habitat chart.

Z keeping Georgie entertained with popcorn and cartoons while I work with Ay. Except that Z isn't paying attn to G, and G is awfully bouncy...

It was Crazy Hair Night at AWANA. Z carried a Rainforest in her hair (treefrog & trees)

Everyone painted their dioramas and Georgie had to paint, too!

We Did Science!

2011-09-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

Z working on the Meadow

A1 working on the Ocean

This week we studied Habitats using Elemental Science Logic Stage Biology. The kids had to define words such as ecology, food webs, etc. They read about Oceans, Coral Reefs, Wetlands, and Desiduous Forests, and filled out a chart with information about each one. They had to select one habitat and make a diorama. A1 chose Ocean. Z chose Meadow. Hopefully we'll finish our dioramas this week, leaving next week free for just the work, lol.

Ocean finished project

Ocean, showing the bottom creatures, including a seahorse, coral, and a Cheese Doodle (Freddie Fish, lol)

Meadow finished project, with deer, tree, and flowing river with rocks

Product Review: Faber Castell Scissors

2011-09-28T16:39:00.001-07:00

I purchased My First Scissors for my almost 9yo. She has some fine motor skill issues with her hands, which results in a strange scissor grasp and difficulty with cutting. These scissors work like a charm! She is able to hold them with her thumb on top and is able to cut without fatiguing her hand muscles. And wouldn't you know it...my 2yo can cut with these scissors, too! It was worth the extra money in cost to get these scissors. In fact, I am wishing my preschool class at co-op had some of these scissors.

School Year 2011-2012

2011-09-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

Field Trips:Octagon House, Underground Railroad (June)
Bike trips (Roger's City, Mackinac City trails, Paint Creek Trail, PollyAnna Trail)
Camping Hoeft Park
Mackinac City Fort MichiliMackinaw (July)
2 VBS programs (HCCC soccer camp and Hadley)
Library Summer Reading Program
Science Alive (Library program, learned about, saw, and held unusual animals)
Leader Dogs for the Blind (A, not Z - Nov)
Introductory Horse Riding Lessons (Dec)

A (age 11):
Textbooks:
Math: Horizons 5
Language Arts: Italics Handwriting, Winston Grammar Basic, Sequential Spelling 1
History: CLP's Exploring American History, History Pockets American Revolution
Science: Elemental Science Biology (Logic Stage)
Literature: Witch of Blackbird Pond
Encyclopedia reading and summary (letter J-K)
Extra Curricular:
Homeschool Co-op Classes: Babysitting, Art Masterpieces, Chess, Duct Tape
AWANA Truth and Training book 4 (last year)
Gymnastics
Enjoyment reading: Heidi, Babysitter Club series, Ella Enchanted, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings

Hobbies: Webkinz online (likes baking), cooking/baking (real life), scrapbooking, beading, keeping a clever notebook with sketches, comics, and fun quizzes.
Z (age 9):
Textbooks:
Math: Horizons 3
Language Arts: Italics Handwriting, Winston Grammar Basic, Sequential Spelling 1
History: CLP's Exploring American History, History Pockets American Revolution
Science: Elemental Science Biology (Logic Stage)
Literature: Witch of Blackbird Pond
Encyclopedia reading and summary (letter H)
Extra Curricular:
Homeschool Co-op Classes: Destruction (take apart electrical items), Kids' Concoctions (Science, hands-on Chemistry), Design Technology (create cars and power them using different power sources), and Rockin' Reptiles (learning all about reptiles and reptile care, seeing snakes up close and holding them)
AWANA Truth and Training book 2
Gymnastics
Enjoyment reading: Babysitter's Little Sister series, Babysitter Club series, Ella Enchanted, The Girl Who Could Fly, Book 1 of Ruth Fielding (old mystery series)

Hobbies: 2 penpals, Webkinz (online and real life), drawing

Week 7, 2011

2011-09-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

We did:
2 science lessons (Week 3 Elemental Science)
4 math lessons (hope to do #5 on Saturday)
3-4 handwriting lessons
3 days of spelling
3 days of grammar
2 days of writing
1 day of history (I lost of history print outs, still need to clean the schoolroom and find them!)
2 AWANA sections passed
Friday is Homeschool Co-op Classes

A1 reached the "easy" sections on Time in Horizons Math. Alas, it is not quite so easy... I think I'll need to go through her lessons and see where we need more practice. She had some trouble with Elapsed Time. I zoomed her ahead (at her request) to Lesson 4 in Grammar - she's now labeling articles, nouns, and personal pronouns. She got through day 26 in Sequential Spelling. She made a list of her favorite things (nouns) in Writing. She finished reading the chapter on George Washington (and the Revolutionary War beginnings) in the CLP book, and wrote a summary (I still need to read it). She read 4 pages in Science and made a science project on the Nitrogen Cycle.

Z did many of the same things, except she's a few lessons slower in Sequential Spelling and Winston Grammar. Her math covered equivalent fractions, both pictorial, and an introduction to multiplying the fraction to get equiv fractions. She also had to take numbers like 3 x 16 and solve by stretching it into 3 x (10 + 6) = (3 x 10) + (3 x 6) = 30 + 18 = 48. She was a bit confused by this at first, but caught on on the 2nd day of it. She also read the same 4 pages in Science and made a science project on the Carbon Cycle.

Georgie is pictured below being cute and cooperative during school. These are rare photos of rare moments, LOL! Here she is trying out all the crayon colors and peeling the papers off:

Yay! She can do sorting bears now!

Sitting on A1's desk and playing with crayons.

We Did Science!

2011-09-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

Science always feels like such a monumental accomplishment, lol! This week, we've been studying the life chain, water cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle in Elemental Science Biology. Instead of filling in the worksheet pictures with the cycles, I thought we would make our own project. A1 was tasked with the Nitrogen Cycle. Z was tasked with the Carbon Cycle. Here are their projects:

A1's Nitrogen Cycle

We eventually put a clear plastic piece over top of A1's project so that things would stay intact. I took the picture without the plastic, thinking it would look clearer.

Z's Carbon Cycle, with a Lift-the-Flap Spinny-Wheel thingy

I took the wheel part off so we can see the great info underneath.

We watched a few YouTube movies about Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles:

Nitrogen Cycle (to the tune of Blue Eyes - I'm now loving that song)

Carbon Cycle (watched this several times, but I wasn't as keen on the "bad people causing Global Warming speal at the end)

The kids found this video (its a high school introductory science video to the tune of Carbon is a Girl's Best Friend).

Toddler School, Week 6

2011-09-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

Georgie's favorite library book - find the caterpillar on each page!

This week, the 2yo is fascinated with things that are "hiding". She loves the book Little Green (about a hummingbird and a little boy that is watching the hummingbird). It's not the hummingbird, or the boy that attracks her. It's the tiny hidden caterpillar on each page, lol. She can easily point out each one. Most of the books we read quickly, skipping pages and jumping straight to the end (she has no patience for those anymore). But Little Green's pages are turned slowly, one by one, not leaving a single page until that caterpillar is found!

Today we played Hide and Seek with her. She had a blast!
There must be some sort of developmental thing for 2yos and hiding; whatever it is, that is the stage we are in right now.

Week 6 Review, 2011

2011-09-17T06:17:00.000-07:00

We finished:
5 Math lessons (Z will finish her 5th today)
4 Spelling lessons
1 Grammar
1 Writing
2 Science (Week 2)
1 History (American Revolution)
2-3 Handwriting lessons
2 sections of the AWANA handbook
A1 finished up the sections on long division in Math, and began a much easier section in time zones and shapes. She's very happy about that! lol. She completed through Day 20 in Spelling.
Z began the section on equivalent fractions in Math. She is also doing 1-digit by 2-digit multiplication with regrouping. She completed through Day 18 in Spelling.
For Science, we went to a friend's house and found leaves. We used a dichotomous key to identify our leaves. We filled out the experiment worksheet. We read 2 pages about Classification and learned the mnemonic device: King Philip Can Only Find Green Shoes (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species). We wrote definitions for Classification, Kingdom, and Species.
In History, we are reading the chapter on George Washington. It covers the events leading up to the Revolutionary War. They read through the Boston Tea Party. They will read about Paul Revere next week.
In Writing, we read about newspapers and completed an application for employment at the "newspaper". Our Grammar covered Articles (the, a, an) and Nouns. Z had a little trouble understanding the word "an", and also understanding that "and" was not an article. We'll go through the lessons a bit slower. A1 caught on right away. I may bump her up to Week 2 next week after a little review.

A1 making eggrolls for me:)

Georgie playing with Z's goop from co-op (glue + laundry soap)

Our week was ridiculously busy! Wednesday night was AWANA. Thursday was a dental cleaning at 8:45am, errands, and lunch at McDonalds. We cleaned the house and then the kids left for a sleepover at 5pm. I had a Homeschool Support Meeting in the evening. Friday involved picking up two very tired children and trying to fit in another math lesson.

Ohhh, so that's what schedules are for!

2011-09-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had had enough, so I made a schedule. I told the kids:
me: "I made a schedule for us to follow"
A1: "It won't work. You always make a schedule and then you don't follow it."
me: "But this time is different"
A1: "That's what you always say."
me: "Yeah, you're right. But let's just try it."
And so, I stuck with the plan.
I woke the kids at 8am. They ate breakfast. I drove everyone to school tables by 9am with a prodding fork. One of them sat down and began her work. The other one ate a pickle. I set the alarm for 5mins to allow time for anyone eating a pickle. She finished her pickle and sat, waiting.
A1 and I did long division. And boy, did we divide. You should've seen all the things dividing. Actually, we ran into a bit of a snafoo with Partial Product Division and Decimals. Three math problems took us 45 minutes. On the bright side: Partial Product Division *really* enforces those place value skills. I think I'll discuss this one on my other blog, because it's worth noting. Meanwhile, Z was waiting at the kitchen table, and Georgie was getting into a baggy of goo (green gooey stuff made from glue and laundry soap).
9:25 am and I took a short break from Long Division to find the missing student. I fork-prodded her into the schoolroom and gave her Math. At 10am (when we're supposed to be moving on from math), we're still not done with math. I cut our division problems short and had A1 finish some of the other problems on the page.

10:15am Z was ready for a break. Good thing I scheduled her to have time with lil' sis! We're 15 mins off my schedule. Note to self: 4 long division problems are waaaay too many right now. Z and Georgie donned tutu princess gear. I did Spelling, Daily Paragraph Editing, and our new Grammar program with A1.

10:45am Time to switch off. Only, A1 convinced Z to do Spelling together. I gained 15 mins with the littlest one. 11am We're 30 mins off schedule. I have A1 watch Georgie while I do Daily Paragraph Editing and Grammar with Z. DPE went fine. The new Grammar? Not so good. Z couldn't figure out to do and had a tantrum. (She was supposed to be listening to me. Instead she complained, "I don't know what to dooooo!" Argh. LOL). Finally, we got to our first sentence. We're supposed to use these little clue cards to label the sentence. We got through all but the last word of the sentence. I discovered that Z was folding her clue card into a paper airplane. Ugh. I gently reminded her of the $6 price tag for the cards. She got teary-eyed and left the room.

I forgot to mention all of the toddler meltdowns interspersed with calm, happy moments of tossing goo around the room. Or how many times I picked up goo, only to rediscover it in little blobs on the floor. Or the giagantuous Temper Tantrum when A1 was trying to watch Georgie, but Georgie just wanted her best buddy Z to play with her.

We trudged on. We survived to see lunch. We finished around 1pm -(ish), which was the plan. I realized what the real purpose of a schedule is: to gently steer us back to the plan when everything goes offcourse. Without the plan, I'd most likely have forgotten where we were, or given up altogether. The plan gave me a general outline to follow.

Monday/Tuesday Week 6

2011-09-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

Wow...I can already see where I'm going to need to either -
1.) give the kids more independent work
2.) give less work
3.) give the same amount of work, but do less outside stuff
4.) do the same amount of work, but say NO a lot, to everyone and everything, and just become hermits inside our home.
5.) relax, breath deep, and carry around a paper bag for those moments of hyperventilating.

Finding balance is going to be hard. Maybe balance doesn't exist. Maybe I'm not doing enough, or organizing well, or focusing on the right things. Anyhow...

Monday - we tried to force in as much school in as little time as possible. We had to leave at 12:20 in order to get to a friend's house on time to do Science. Then, we had to leave their house at 2:10 for Gymnastics at 2:45. Gymnastics is over at 4:45, and we don't get home until 5:45. Long day. We got half our math done, and read Science in the car. AWANA verses got toted along, but I don't know if they got practiced. EEEeeek!!!!! We're supposed to get 2 sections done per week, and we haven't even cracked open the book yet.

Science was great, though, and worth the drive. The kids found leaves in the backyard and looked it up on this dichotomous key:
http://oregonstate.edu/trees/dichotomous_key.html
A1 had an oak and Z had a poplar. They had to fill in a sheet with their procedure. Beforehand, the kids read about Classification of Living Things (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species).

Gymnastics was fun, too. The kids came home exhausted (and so did Mama).

Tuesday - crazy morning. I sold my babyswing on Craigslist at 10am, and then went to the post office to track down my missing schoolbooks package. (The books got delivered to the wrong house). We didn't get started on school until around 11. We managed to get done Math, Spelling, Daily Paragraph Editing, and finished up our Science. For Science, we wrote the definitions to 3 vocab words, and then filled out the Classification chart. We have yet to hit AWANA (gasp!!!)

Week 5/6 BREAK TIME!

2011-09-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last week, we took a 1 week break. Here's a recap of our week:
Sunday: we had a great big Halo party in our newly finished theatre room. The kids enjoyed running around everywhere and playing with friends. I enjoyed visiting with grown-ups. Dh enjoyed shooting guests and being shot at.
Monday: Labor Day, and Sleep In Day:)
Tuesday: went to Dairy Queen for our annual tradition of First Day of School (public school). We use our free ice cream coupons from participating in the Library Summer Reading Program to commemorate the First Day of Public School (and to celebrate that my kids didn't leave on that yellow school bus).
Wednesday: AWANA signup
Thursday: Go crazy gathering everything for co-op.
Friday: First day of co-op!
Saturday: our local homeschool group had a Not Back to School picnic.
The kids LOVED their classes. A1 is taking Babysitting, Art Masterpieces, Chess, and Duct Tape. Z is taking Destruction (they take apart electronics stuff to see how it works), Kids' Concoctions (science chemistry, aka making gooey things), Design Technology (making cars that go), and Rockin' Reptiles (where Z gets to hold, touch, and learn about reptiles).
We enjoyed our week off.

First day of public school (but we're at Dairy Queen!)

the swing and fountain at Dairy Queen

Not Back to School Picnic with Homeschool Group. Georgie likes the "cow" (but it's actually a dog)

Unsocialized homeschoolers at the park. Actually, they socialized quite well (for homeschoolers)

Note to self: dig up old Greek vocab cards

2011-09-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

My almost 9yo asked me to give her flashcards with ancient Greek on it for her to learn. Wow, really? LOL. She wants to learn an ancient language and thinks Greek is the way to go. We discussed some Greek roots and she thought it was quite interesting (Wow, really?). So I need to dig up my old Greek and Latin word roots flashcards for her to study. I may be tweaking our school schedule a bit, because I have so much *I* want to fit in, but am willing to ditch some things if there is something else the kids would rather study.

toddler school

2011-09-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

This week, she recognized colors, such as black, white, blue, pink or red or purple (those 3 are getting lumped together for now), yellow, orange, green. More often than not, she's naming colors correctly. The mistakes that she is making are small, like lumping yellow with orange, yellow with green, green with blue, or purple-red-pink.

She loves nursery rhymes. She sings dumpy dumpy dumpy pop! (humpty dumpty), and loves to sit up high on places, just like dumpy dumpy. She loves rock-a-baby (rockabye baby) and wants different family and friends in the treetop. The funniest rendition was when she asked for "rock-a-baby that thing". And so the song went:

Rock a bye that thing, in the tree top
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come that thing, cradle and all:)

She was quite satisfied with this version of the song, although I couldn't stop laughing my first time singing it!

She recognizes letters on books as "ABCs". And then proceeds to count in her own little weird way, lol ("one, two, one, two, ONE!") She insists on reading books all by herself, which means we can't read a full book to her right now. "I do it" or "ohhhh, I'll read it!" she says.

Her comfort zone has moved beyond immediate family. She has a whole list of friends and family she knows by name and looks forward to seeing. She loooves "Gampa" (Grandpa). She asks about Gampa daily.

Week 5, 2011

2011-09-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

Week 5 has ended, and we are taking a 1-week break. Normally, we'd break after Week 6, but next week includes Labor Day and the start-up for several school year activities. I thought we could use the week break.

A1 finished through Day 16 in Sequential Spelling. She memorized the East Coast states and Southern States - now she is working on the Mid-West. She has her 30+ prepositions somewhat memorized, using some mnemonic devices. She did 4 days of Daily Paragraph Editing. She read through the chapter on Benjamin Franklin for History, and wrote a 3 sentence summary. She read the first 4 pages of George Washington. In Math, she has been working on 2 digit numbers dividing into 4 digit numbers. She's using Partial Product Division, which we both seem to prefer. Unfortunately, she's getting them right half the time. It isn't the method so much, it's that some sort of error enters in. It's a different error each time. Not sure how to get better accuracy...

Z finished through Day 13 of Sequential Spelling. She memorized her East Coast states and Southern States - she'll start the Mid-West states next week. She memorized all the preps that begin with "a". She did 4 days of Daily Paragraph Editing. She had already read the chapter of Benjamin Franklin, and she read the first 4 pages of George Washington. In Math, she's working on 1 digit times 4 digit numbers (no carrying). Algebraic problems are adding in more steps and working on order of operations, such as

n + 4 = 6 + (9 + 1).

n + 4 = 6 + 10

n + 4 = 16

-4 -4

n = 12

All 3 kids reading books

Georgie is VERY SERIOUS about her candy hearts

Georgie fell asleep between two sisters while watching Leap Frog Letter Factory. Her lips are bright red because she had a sucker.

Tuesday, Week 5

2011-08-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

This week, A1's math introduced tens divided into 2, 3, and 4 digit numbers. Then, it jumped into long division of 2 digit numbers into 3 and 4 digit numbers. Fun.
Today A1 asked for an easier way to do long division, so I taught her Partial Product Division. She caught on to it after only showing her one problem, and she adapted it to meet her needs. She was surprisingly accurate with this method. I won't say she was faster...lol. She may have been faster, as well. I'm glad this method seemed to work for her today.

We finished up our Science for this week: read about cells, and wrote the definition for cell and mitosis. We got through Day 10 in Sequential Spelling, with -up, -ood, -ould as the spelling pattern. The kids have been memorizing prepositions (for some reason, these are really difficult to commit to memory). They are also working on memorizing the southern states. We continue with Italics writing, although Z is having mental breakdowns every day because there is not enough space to write the sentences within the lines (I think this is true of most, if not all, handwriting programs - ergh!) More Daily Paragraph Editing - this week's theme is Lewis and Clark, with an eye on capitalizing proper names.

Today was our homeschool group's last Beach Day. We were there from 12:30 - 3:30pm. The kids participated in a sand "castle" Bible themed contest. Everyone won a glow stick as a prize. The kids really enjoyed Beach Day, and especially loved the sand castle contest.

We did science!

2011-08-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day of science. I was feeling quite overwhelmed with the idea of science this year and ~~begged~~ asked a friend to join us. She brought her new microscope (I want one!) and we had a good time putting celery and onion skin on slides for viewing. I bribed the 2yo with Moose Tracks ice cream so that she'd keep her hands off of the microscope, slides, cutting knives, dye, workbooks, students, everything else. They kids made a sketch of their onion skin cells and then quickly ditched the science table. They spent the next hour or two playing.

I plan to do science reading and writing with the kids later this week. There is still a little more info from day 1 science to do (but they were too busy playing to pay attention).

Week 4, 2011

2011-08-26T10:07:00.001-07:00

we got through list 8 in sequential spelling. we finished week 7 in daily paragraph editing. the kids finished writing there colonial times report. A1 wrote about churches and food in colonial times. Z wrote a historical story about colonial times. we continued handwriting practice. in math A1 got through lesson 50. this covered averaging in rounding answers with a remainder. remainders are converted to fraction first. Z covered multiplication 3 digit by 1 digit numbers, and the rest was practice review.

we had a park day. we did art with air dry clay. the kids planned our meals through wednesday and did some of the cooking.

Wednesday, Week 4, 2011

2011-08-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

Another good day, maybe I'm on to something...It works well to have each child spend a little time playing with the baby each morning, while I work with the other child.
In spelling, we hit Day 5. This is supposed to be the Monumental Day when the words click and the students can spell "beginning" without ever seeing it before. Well...it worked for one kid, not the other, LOL. I realize this will work great with my pattern-seeing kid. For my visual, random child, we'll need to be a little more explicit in pointing out the patterns. I already know how I can make this better (the wheels are turning in my head).
We did more Daily Paragraph Editing, and I was impressed with both kids today. They are catching most of the mistakes.
In Math, more of the same stuff - nothing new. I can see Horizons 5 building towards 2-digit by 3-digit division. I can also see Horizons 3 building toward 1-digit by 2 or 3 digit multiplication with regrouping (carrying).
I'm working with the 9yo on scissoring skills. I believe that her hand muscles aren't quite strong enough for pencil holding and scissoring - we're working on developing those muscles a little bit every day. Using scissors correctly causes her some pain and discomfort.
We did Handwriting practice; so far I like the looks of cursive Italics!
We did T4L.
History: the kids are supposed to be working on their writing project this week. A1's project is half written. She will finish tomorrow (or so she tells me). She is handwriting her's. Z's story is beyond the 200 words typed that I had assigned. She likes to write novels, so I don't think this story is going to have an end by Friday:) I haven't seen it yet.
We had a quick lunch and went to the park with friends. Everyone became bored, and Z had a sliver in her hand, and was rather miserable. We went back to the friends' house. The kids played video games while the moms talked about great vacation spots. I now have some great ideas for future summer trips.

In a tree

After that, the 2yo went to take a late nap (4pm, eek!) while A1 and Z are doing Art. Their art assignment is to make something out of clay (white, air-dry clay).

Tuesday, Week 4 2011

2011-08-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

We had a great day today! No whining or complaining:)
Spelling went terrific! We went through Seq Spelling Day 4, but I dictated to each kid separately. One kid watched the 2yo, while we did spelling; and then we switched.
We worked on linking the letter "a" with other letters in cursive Italics. It feels good to be working on handwriting again (it's been awhile).
We started a new 4-day paragraph editing. This will last us through the end of the week. It is an excerpt from a historical novel.
The kids are continuing work on their reports for History. Friday is the deadline.
Today we started memory work. I have assigned them to memorize the 9 New England states. This relates to our history lessons. I have also assigned them to memorize approximately 30 prepositions from the BJU 5th Gr Grammar book.
In Math, A1 worked on more division 1-digit into 4-digits. Horizons started introducing the concept of rounding the 3-digit and 4-digit divisors to make division easier and faster. Of course, I see where they are going with this...LOL! The slow building of concepts while constantly reviewing past concepts is exactly what we need. Z's math reviews Roman Numerals every day. I was opposed to this, at first. Now I see the point: Roman Numerals have a unique way of teaching thinking skills and skip counting. It isn't that we need to know our Roman Numerals and use them everyday. It is simply a tool for teaching logic skills. Today's Ordering Fractions activity no longer had the pictures to go with it. She had to write the decimal words for .5, .6, .8, etc. She has more algebra equations such as n + 5 = 13 - 8. And she is practicing multiplication.
The internet was adequate today, so the kids did T4L.

Today was Springy Thingy Hair Day. The kids began with pipe cleaners and shaped them into odd shapes. The shapes were attached to their hair styles. It started out as Alien Antennae Day, but eventually became springy shaped things. Z decided she didn't like pipe cleaners in her hair and opted for an Egyptian headdress.

I'm not sure when we'll "officially" start Grammar. There are some grammar skills I want to have down before we move into our workbooks. I have last year's workbooks; we only finished about 1/4-1/3 of the book before switching to T4L in Dec. I plan to just have them work 1 grade level behind (use those books!) I think if we have a good groundwork in Spelling, Editing, Writing, and have some basic Grammar terms memorized, we'll find the book very easy. I have the Killgallon book from the library: Sentence Composing for Elementary School. I'm tempted to have A1 go through that book. It has a unique way of working on grammar and writing skills simultaneously. I think if we worked through that book, we might see language in a different light. I am still considering this, however.

Co-op class idea: Adorable Wearables

2011-08-24T06:30:00.001-07:00

I just had to post this as a future co-op class idea for 3-5yos! Adorable Wearables - kids learn about the human body and make wearable body parts, lol.
http://rainbowresource.com/product/sku/033939/0c7dea8850843beb80d508dd

Kids' Wish List

2011-08-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

The kids want an Adventure Park Webkinz, as seen on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=adventure+park+webkinz&x=0&y=0

They are rather expensive...

They also like the Mazin Hamsters (Webkinz), which are much cheaper, but don't give the same access on Webkinz. Z doesn't want another Mazin Hamster (but if she did, I know she's liked Carrots for a long time). A1 wants Hope or Spooky Mazin Hamster (she'd prefer Spooky).

Just sayin'....LOL. This post is really just for *me* when Christmas or birthdays roll around and I'm left scratching my head with what to get them.

Monday, Week 4, 2011

2011-08-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

I may try blogging daily for awhile. I'm still trying to get a good balance of what works and what doesn't. I noticed that having a daily list of accomplishments from my blogging past was helpful, for my own review purposes.
A1 did 5 division problems, 1-digit into 4 digits, some with money (decimals). We tried doing this on the whiteboard. It was my grand idea, since it works so well for her sister. I had 3 reasons for trying this: 1.) it breaks up the workbook, so it isn't so overwhelming, 2.) we can create a bigger working space than the tiny spaces in the workbook, and 3.) for visual learners, looking downward at a desk tends to stunt their thinking processes. Now, I don't really know what A1's learning style is, but thought we'd give it whirl. The idea tanked in a big way, and we won't be doing it again. And I don't think she's a visual learner anyway. She also did 3 multiplication problems, 2 digit by 2 digit. The rest of the math workbook was review.

Z did her multiplication problems on the whiteboard (and she truly IS my visual learner). She also practiced writing tenths, and ordering fractions from big to small. She converted roman numerals.

For History, I gave the assignment to do a writing project about Colonial Times. It was a very open-ended assignment. Z is going to write a story and started that today. A1 had a hard time coming up with ideas. I listed a ba-zillion ideas on the whiteboard and she finally settled on one. She will write about the church in Colonial Times. She started to research it, gave it a half-hearted effort, and was done for the day.

We did Daily Paragraph Editing. The kids are getting better at catching the errors. I think the daily practice has been worth it.

We began Sequential Spelling book 1 today. We did 3 days of spelling lists (you only have about 5 words in the very beginning, because you start with a simple word and build on it). By Day 3, Z was having a crying meltdown. We started with "in" and built on the word until we got to "pinning". The student has to give their best guess before the teacher spells the word correctly, and then the student can correct it. Z is not at that point yet where she can emotionally handle misspelling a word. I think we all need therapy.

Our internet wasn't functioning, so T4L was out of the picture. The schoolroom was destroyed by the 2yo, who took every lid off of every marker and threw handfuls from table tops. I sometimes feel like I'm teaching inside of a tornado. In the eye of the storm, the 2yo snuck upstairs to climb into her daddy's lap (he worked from home today). I finally gained the good sense to put a baby gate on the stairs.

The 2yo is really "into" Rockabye Baby (song) and Humpty Dumpty (nursery rhyme). I detect a common theme: falling. It makes perfect sense, lol!

Week 3, 2011

2011-08-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

This week:

The 10/11 yo:
Math: Worked on Division of 1-number into several numbers, and division of money in Horizons Math 5. We got thru lesson 45.
Language Arts: Did 3 lessons of Daily Paragraph Editing, wrote in our journal (basically "how much I hate writing"), and started our homemade Italics Handwriting Book (using the Proclick, my cool new tool). She decorated the cover, with only 1 rule: decorate it positively. So here's her cover: Handwrighting With Tears. We used to use Handwriting Without Tears, took a 2 year break, and then I decided it was time to work on handwriting again. Now we are using Beautiful Handwriting for Children by Penny Gardner, which I purchased for $7 on CurrClick. I picked Italic because the print and cursive is so similar, is not loopy, and I thought might make a good, easy transition for a child having trouble with handwriting.
T4L: she continues to work on that until I end the membership at the end of this month.
History: she finished reading the Witch of Blackbird Pond, which she tolerated.

8/9yo:
Math: 2-digit by 1-digit multiplication, no regrouping (ex: 22 x 3, 84 x 2). We do these on the whiteboard (see picture). She was introduced to Decimals and their relation to Fractions - worked on tenths, writing as fractions and decimals.
Language Arts: she LOVES journal writing, lol! She has a lot to say. She can easily fill a page in 10mins. She did 3 lessons of Daily Paragraph Editing. I started her on Italics print, but she complained that she wanted to do cursive, so we are jumping right to cursive. You can see her happy handwriting cover below:

The 8/9yo continues T4L until next month. She also finished Witch of Blackbird Pond. She enjoyed most of it, except she slogged through the end. She does not want to live during Puritan/Colonial times.

And now we come to the little monster, the 2yo:

Destroying sister's whiteboard math.

Climbing on tables, throwing pencils, tossing World Book Encyclopedia's at the 10yo sister...
Writing on library books and tearing them, taking lids off of all markers and dispersing them across the room with her tremendous throwing arm. Pooping and then saying "mardy harr" constantly as she hikes up the stairs. Ok, guess I should explain. Mardy or Mundy means something she wants. Harr means shower, but she actually means bath. Her sisters and I are beginning to suspect that she is just pooping several times a day as a ploy to take a bath, lol! Anyway, it seems to be interrupting our schoolwork.

Preschool(ish): we worked on sorting bears and got a little bit further. It's not easy because all things are "yellow" ("Ma! Rainbow! Yellow rainbow!") Yes, even rainbows are yellow. We worked on counting. We read lots of library books. Last week's favorites were Tubby (about a baby in the bathtub, lol!) and No, David! (she really relates to David in the book and his terrible behavior, lol). This week's favorite is Planting a Rainbow by Lois Elhert.

Below is Z (8/9yo) at the whiteboard doing oodles of multiplication problems happily. She has really grown and changed this week! She was the one motivated enough to do her schoolwork, and didn't complain this week.

Pencil grips and handwriting samples

2011-08-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Since writing is our focus, I thought we'd start out the year with a few photos. Hopefully we'll see progress and can post end of the year pics, too!
(Having some problems getting photos all facing the same direction and lining up! argh...they must be homeschooled...)

Above: 10 (turning 11) yo's pencil grip

above: 8 (turning 9) yo's pencil grip.

10 (11) yo's writing sample, from her journal entry today.

above: 10 (11) yo's alphabet

8 (9) yo's writing sample from this morning's journal entry, and her alphabet

updated to add below: 10yo's copywork. She tried to make spaces and put all Bs and Ds as lowercase. I had her erase some Bs and Ds and make them lowercase, as well. I think we missed a couple. Apologies for the sideways picture.

Writing

2011-08-16T05:23:00.000-07:00

I think this year will be OUR BIG WRITING YEAR, lol. (Last year was Our Big Math Year.) My children have some problems with the actual physical act of writing. The 10 (turning 11) yo has outgrown some of these problems on her own. One problem: pencil grip. The 10yo used to hold her pencil wrong. I tried nagging every day, constantly. I tried driving to odd, teacher supply stores and buying expensive pencil grips. And finally, I tried the live-and-let-live method of writing (i.e., ignore it). Ignoring it worked best; now she pinches her pencil between thumb and forefinger, and insists that this is how she's always held her pencil. The 8 (turning 9) yo also has the weird pencil grip (thumb slides all the way up the pencil), but has very little control if I make her pinch her pencil. After some reading, I believe this is a motor issue. She also holds her scissors strangely, which annoys every co-op teacher she's ever had. I'm hoping she is able to strengthen those muscles and hold things correctly in the next year or so.

I found this on HSLDA.org's web site (about writing difficulties):
http://www.hslda.org/strugglinglearner/sn_writing.asp

We went through those tests and found that both kids had to think quite a bit about letter formation. The 10yo has corrected her bottom-to-top writing (she now writes top to bottom - another thing that autocorrected when I finally gave up!) She is still a bit confused about direction of letters. She has replaced all of her reversable letters with capitals, which is not a pretty fix for legible handwriting. We'll be working on that this year!

So - our first goal is to work on legible, quick lettering that doesn't take quite so long to think about. Our second goal is to increase amount of writing, so that we aren't so overwhelmed by having to write.

*I'll write a post later with photos of our pencil grips and samples of our lettering so we can compare at the end of the year.

Week 2, 2011-2012

2011-08-14T06:08:00.000-07:00

This week,
this week the 10 year old worked on learning about prime numbers and order of operations, learned about multiplying 3 digit numbers by 3 digit numbers. she was introduced to exponents. she's doing a lot of work with estimation. She also has to do algebra problems like n - 32 = 63, where she has to get n by itself by adding 32 to each side, and canceling the 32 on the right side. She hates this. She's finished thru lesson 40 in Horizons 5.

The 8 year old has been practicing multiplication. She also has algebra to do, problems like
n + 4 = 6 x 8. She has to complete the problem by doing multiplication first: n + 4 = 48. And then subtracting 4 on each side, to get n alone, and cancel the 4 on the right:
n + 4 = 48
-4 -4
--------------
n = 44
She also has to do problems like -
(9 + 3) + 6 = 9 + (3 + 6) (notice same numbers on each side, but parenthesis around different numbers). Eventually, the problems become: (9 + __) + 6 = (__ + 3) + __, which she found very difficult. So we had to work quite a bit on the concept that its always the same numbers on each side:) She's getting it now, I think.

The kids only have a few subjects left on T4L. We're moving on from that first week of Sept. They are on the last bit of reading Witch of Blackbird Pond. We're nearing the end of our Colonial America studies, and will move into the American Revolution. The kids work on a Daily Paragraph Editing page every day - this has been great practice for capitalization and punctuation.
The 2yo is doing a lot of fingerpainting, lately. She also loves her picture books from the library. Only now, we get stuck on a certain page. The Poky Little Puppy - we skip right to the caterpillar page and end there. Pet Shop Lullaby - we skip right to the page with the parrot singing "rrrrock-a-bye baby", and we spend 30 mins on that page.
School is completed amidst standing on tables, throwing things, destroying things, sneaking upstairs...constant chaos! I have to be OK with this chaos. It is one of the biggest contributors to my meltdown last year. So we're just taking it one disaster at a time:) My blog posts are completed thru my internet phone and dictated mostly by voice recognition. You'll have to excuse the bad grammar, and bad everything. It is the only way that the blog will be posted.

Weekly Review New School Year

2011-08-12T13:22:00.001-07:00

we started a new school year at the beginning of august. we will finish up time for learning until september. in addition to time for learning we have been doing the following:
horizons math,
daily paragraph editing
exploring american history,
and literature.

once september starts we will end time for learning and begin other subjects. We will add spelling, grammar, and science. we will also add typing and handwriting.

I am also planning 36 weeks of school. we will work hard for 6 weeks and take 1 week off.

here is a list of this years curriculum:
horizons math
daily paragraph editing
sequential spelling
bju english
italic handwriting
free online typing programs

history will be christian liberty press exploring american history, some sonlight literature titles, history pockets and some written research reports.

science will be elemental biology logic stage.

Weekly Review and looking ahead

2011-08-06T06:24:00.000-07:00

We just started back to a (fuller) homeschool schedule at the end of July. Here's what we've been working on:

Horizons Math (grs 3 & 5)
Exploring American History (CLP They read 1 chapter ea. day and write a 3-5 sentence summary)
Witch of Blackbird Pond (literature, colonial days, puritan)
Daily Paragraph Editing 4
Time4Learning (I think this will be our last month doing this before I turn it off)

In Sept, I plan to start:

Elemental Science Biology (Logic Stage) - will be doing experiments with a friend
AWANA (Bible memory verse program)
Co-op classes

I'd also like to -
work more on writing (still thinking of ideas, here)
work more on handwriting
work on typing
add in some mapwork (I'd like the kids to memorize the locations of the 50 states)
I'd like to start back with Grammar, but I feel that if I am ignoring Writing and Handwriting, then maybe Grammar should be put on hold for awhile
Spelling is another thing that is iffy for me. I'm tempted to try Sequential Spelling. My thought, though, is that if we aren't Writing, then we aren't learning to use Spelling in a useful way.

Next year is a work in progress (still!) and I'd like to get better organized. I'm also fiddling with the idea of Filing my entire year up front, LOL! It'd be a lot of work this month, but it might make a big difference in what kind of year we have. Our last 2 years have felt like real flops!

Texture Supplementation

2011-08-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

So...the buzz word around the block these days is Homeschool / Public School Partnerships. About 2-3 years ago, Virtual Academies (VA) opened their doors in MI. Now, many schools are adopting these programs, primarily for their at-risk students. Would-be homeschoolers that need a lot more hand-holding and organization are enticed by the VAs, too. Kids can stay at home, get a free computer and internet access, and get a public school education. Now, enter in the Partnership. A local school-of-choice partners with a homeschool group to offer part-time and full time VA, field trips, community classes, and a continuation of the homeschool group classes for free (some stipulations apply). I've been attending some of these meetings. Like everyone else, my first thought is "what the blue blazes???"

Like everyone else, my second and third thoughts are "what are they up to, now?" and "I don't trust them". And then, the fourth thought, "hmmm, do we want to do this?" LOL!

I spent some time reviewing the VA programs that my children would be enrolled in and try to envision our use of the programs. Does it meet my goals for my kids? It is very techy. We are a techy family, so of course it has some appeal. But I sat there, listening to the really cool virtual science experiments, and the graphically appealing virtual lessons. I thought about what we currently do. Thinking about all that really neat technology driven stuff, I discovered that I really missed paper. I missed the feel of paper under my hand. I missed the grasp of a pencil between my finger and thumb. I missed the textured resistance of the pencil on paper, or the smooth gliding of an ink pen on paper. I missed the sound of binders clinking open and shut. I thought of those virtual experiments and missed seeing explosions happen in real life! I want my children to experience a real metal microscope, dye on a real onion skin (oh! the teary eyed smell, lol!), and their eye pressed up against the eyepiece.

I imagined our year with a VA and really felt that we would be missing out on something. Yes, I know you can print pages off (Well, one of the programs allowed you to do that. There was some complaining about the other program that didn't have that feature yet). And yes, I know you can add in your own stuff for some real-life texture supplementation. The likelihood, however, is that we just wouldn't find the time to supplment, or pull in real life stuff. Most likely, I'd get busy, or the kids would have enough of their school day, and it simply wouldn't happen. Although, I would enjoy not having the paper mess and book mess scattered everywhere. And the experience with Z's Math TM missing for over 2 weeks wouldn't happen, either. But I guess I'll cope with those inconveniences for now.

If the Partnership had been offered last year, I probably would've jumped on it. Last year, we really needed something that could provide the planning and teaching; I just didn't have the ability to provide it myself. I'm really struggling again this year, but I have so many ideas about what is important, and how I want to direct my children's education; I do not think I can let go of that this year. I really need a babysitter while I drum up lesson plans. Oh, and I could really use someone to sit there and listen to me ramble on for hours about my lesson plans. And then I need someone who is really organized to take my ramblings and draw up a weekly lesson plan that I can actually implement. LOL. Any volunteers???

Curric for free and for sale

2011-07-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

FREE ITEMS
Abeka Tip Toes reading book (1st gr). Condition: used, written in, but a good practice book.

1st Gr Math Houghton Mifflin The Mathematics Experience. Everything is intact. Comes with teacher's manual, Student Workbook with Cardstock Manipulatives in the back (see all 3 photos), and 6 Daily Review little mini booklets (one is the answer key). The method seems very similar to BJUP's 1st grade math, very visual presentation, hands-on investigations.

SALE ITEMS

Story of the World Vol. 1: Ancient Times (Susan Wise Bauer). Good condition. Small coffee stain on inside front cover, otherwise, good shape. $4

Story of the World Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (Susan Wise Bauer). Good condition. $5

Saxon Math 1 Home Study Kit (portions missing). Includes: Teacher's Manual, Student Workbook Part 2 from Lesson 92A to the end intact, cardstock flashcards. $5

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (Engelmann) Like New. $8

Horizons Math 2nd Gr Teacher Handbook 1 & 2. Yellow with skier on front - works fine with newer editions. $5

Building Thinking Skills Instruction & Answer Guide Level 1 AND Book 1 student book complete set (Critical Thinking Co.) $5

Building Thinking Skills Instruction and Answer Guide Level 3 Figural (Critical Thinking Co.) $3

Editor in Chief C1 (Critical Thinking Co.) $1

PHOTOS OF FREE/SALE ITEMS:

Vacation

2011-07-14T04:43:00.000-07:00

Will add more later...

We Did Science!

2011-06-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

I'm resurrecting the "We Did Science!" theme. We've had lots of opportunities to explore science this summer. Below is the picture of frogs from last week. The container belongs to the 6yo boy that came over. There are about 20 frogs in this container (don't worry, we didn't keep them...) Some of the frogs had various stages of a tail (froglets). It was fun to see frogs with tails. It was NOT fun, though, when a frog would accidentally get squished. Out of about 50 frogs caught in one week, I think we only had about 5-6 fatalities. I did my best to make sure that all the frogs were held carefully and treated nicely. (Accidents happened when one got away and accidentally got stepped on).

The kids found a rather large turtle by their tree swing over the weekend. Z was instant friends with it and wanted to carry it everywhere. We kept it on our deck for awhile and watched it, and then let it go. The 2yo especially loved the turtle and even now asks daily, "tur-tar? tur-tar?"

I'll be honest - I have not been prepared for school this week. Today, especially. I had < 4hours sleep and various other problems. I had 3 kids eager to go outside, though. So today the assignment was to find a flower to dissect. Then, I gave the kids books to use to find out the parts of a flower and label it. Our labeling is below. Z's project (bleeding heart flower and seed/seedpod)

Whenever we do projects, we're rather messy. Our papers are torn and not nicely done. I think this is one of those issues I have to learn to get over. I see projects made by Classically Educated children and think, (sigh) "isn't that a lovely project?" and "wouldn't it be nice if we could create something that lovely?" Ah well, learning still happens, even if it's messy, right? A's project is below:

Next year ramblings...

2011-06-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

I read this thread on WTM/forums and said WOW! That's how we need to do science! Click the linky and read all of Ruth's responses. Again, wow:) After reading The Global Achievement Gap I realized this is how it's done. And so, the planning begins...

Z has an interest in DNA and genetic creations (you know, with the eventual hope of creating people with wings or a unicorn/pegasus). So I'll take her down that trail. I have a few books that we can pull in: My Name Is Gene (book) and Fun with Gene(workbook and Teacher's Guide). I really just want to use it as a spine for information and asking questions. What do we need to know about genes? What do genes do? What can we do with this information? There are some activities in the book, such as creating a playdo cell, playdo DNA strand, and extracting real DNA from an onion (and store it in your freezer, yum!) But what I really hope to accomplish out of this study is our own Question that we can dive in and explore. Maybe we'll even aim for a science fair. But my goal is to seek out our own experiment, and own explanation.

A has an interest in shooting soda pop from a bottle. So we might explore that one and see if we can come up with some questions, lol. My hope is to veer this into a specific scientific study (air pressure???) with a science project at the end.

So science sounds pretty open-ended, right? But my goal is to narrow it down, do some exploration, and end with a project.

For History, we'll use Exploring American History as our spine (Christian Liberty Press). I'm working on building a list of literature to go along with this. We've already read Sign of the Beaver, Where Do You Think You're Going Christopher Columbus, and Sarah Morton's Day. I'd like to add Witch of Blackbird Pond (Puritan New England), Johnny Tremain (Revol.), one book from Civil War period (Across Five Aprils or Shades of Gray), and then I hope to launch into late 1800's-mid-1900s.

For English studies, my goal is to 1.) memorize 40 prepositions, 2.) be able to identify all preps & prep phrases in a sentence, 3.) be able to identify each word in a sentence (noun, verb, adj, article, adverb, prep, direct obj, etc.) I also hope to get the kids doing well with Capitalization and Punctuation. I've decided that the usual textbook style of learning is not for us. Although I am tempted to pull in some Daily Language Review for test style practice. By this time next year, I'd like the kids to be able to label 1 sentence per day and correct capitalization/punctuation sentences with ease. I'd like to spend 15mins or less per day on English by year's end and just maintain what we know for the next few years.

For Spelling...well, I'm sort of waffling back and forth on this one. Once again, I'm tempted to pick up my copy of Spell to Write and Read, and have the kids learn phonograms and spelling rules. OTOH, I also think that a Sequential Spelling approach would be helpful, because root words + prefixes/suffixes tend to trip them up. The other part of me says that if we are doing a lot more Writing and a lot more Editing, we'll get those spelling skills in.

Writing - science project will develop one style of writing. I also want to incorporate History summary writing (this works out well). Z is a creative writing sort of gal. She's thinking about taking the writing class at co-op. If she does, I will just have that as most of her writing, and then assist her with editing. A is my practical writing gal. All of her writing needs to have practical application (like the 4 page Persuasive Essay she wrote during my naptime yesterday in order to convince me that she needs to watch movies during naptime...this was entirely her doing, lol!) So, maybe I'll have her do Persuasive Essay writing next year!

Math - we're getting into tougher subjects now (see me sweating?) It seems that we need the workbook less and written/co-operative Whiteboard Math much more frequently. I think I will approach this as part Exploration (here are some blocks, let's see if we can demonstrate how to do something. Or, here's a tough problem, let's see if we can come up with solutions for solving it). I've learned a lot from the GAP book - if I want my kids to be critical thinking problem solvers, I really need to direct them in that path (versus just handing them the answers). So I think we'll do a lot less math problems, but a whole lot more thinking about math. I'm using Horizons as my spine, although I already desperately miss BJU and am concocting harebrained schemes to bring it back into our day. It is only $18 per workbook, so I'm tempted to pick up the 4th gr & 5th gr. I'd be missing the TM for 5th gr though, and I'm loaning out my 4th gr TM this year. Ah well...we'll see! I DO need days when I can just hand the kids a workbook and say "Here, do this!" I'd also like to pull in some Math Mammoth for story problem solving (love the bar models for solving!)

So those are my crazy ideas for next year. How far will I get with a clingy, whiney 2yo? Not sure...

Weekly Review 6/20-24, 2011

2011-06-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

The kids had VBS (Vacation Bible School) this week. They are outgoing-introverts, which means that they get along great with people, but then come home and are toast for the rest of the day. So we didn't do much else this week, and I realize how much better I like evening VBS! We can do stuff during the daytime, go to VBS at night, and then the kids can be surly right before bedtime.

A homeschool friend with a (almost) 6yo boy hung out with us on Thurs-Friday. Her older child was at a nature center daycamp all day long. The girls enjoyed taking the 6yo out to collect all the teensy tiny frogs around our swamp area. Today they caught about 20 frogs and froglets in a bug collection container. We found one frog with only 1 fully formed eye (arrrr! Pirate Frog!). And we found several frog(lets) with various stages of tails; some short and some still quite long. So...it was a lesson in the froggy life cycle:)

My 8yo learned how to write a checklist for herself before going to VBS in the morning. That's because one day she forgot several items (including her glasses). This was a good lesson.

I learned about 3-5 different ways to do long division. I spent some time watching videos and reading "Help Me! Long Division!" type threads on the homeschool forums, lol. So I feel like I have a pretty good handle on long division. This month, I lost my first 10 lbs, hooray! I found ants in our kitchen (just sort of milling around looking for food), so did a massive kitchen clean up. I must say: cleaning up smooshed frogs right before lunch each day is REALLY helping the dieting process. So is massive kitchen cleaning and sucking up ants in the vaccuum.

Oh...and last weekend, we got bikes for the grownups and took a 17 mile trip down a bike trail. It was very fun, but the kids were super exhausted. Our plan is to take a biking vacation. This all started because I confessed that every good diet I'm on is sabotaged by vacation. No matter how good I try to be, I end up gaining 5 lbs. Dh came up with the idea to make it a very active vacation. I'd love to lose a lb or two on vacation rather than gain:) We'll see how that pans out.

Seven Survival Skills

2011-06-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

As an addendum to my last post, I'll post the Seven Survival Skills listed in the book The Global Achievement Gap. Here is my source (so you know I'm not just copying things out of books without author permission). It is worth visiting his site to read some of the quotations he has next to each skill. It is also worth getting the book to read it and see his descriptions of each skill, and why it is important.
http://www.tonywagner.com/7-survival-skills

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Collaboration Across Networks and Leading By Influence
Agility and Adaptability
Initiative and Entrepreneurship
Effective Oral and Written Communication
Accessing and Analysing Information
Curiosity and Imagination

I'm halfway through the book. It is relevant to me because I hear my husband come home from work and say so many of the same things about skills needed on the job. It is also relevant because I think I dismiss these skills in teaching my children. I spend more time trying to fill them with information, or teaching in order to cross things off of my educational To-Do List. I'm sure I'll share more about this on my Ordinary Canary blog at some point soon (just gotta find the time!)

Weekly Review 6/13-17, 2011

2011-06-18T04:55:00.000-07:00

The kids did T4L and Math during the daytime, and at night, dh gave the kids the IOWA test. After that, I went through the test, seeing what the kids had gotten correct and what they hadn't. I jotted down some subject areas to cover with them. We're covering some of those subject areas, so I can see if they actually understood how to do it, or if it was a problem of time constraints, or not careful reading.

On Wednesday, we signed up for the library summer reading program. Our biggest challenge in participating in the summer reading program is finding a good balance of literature for them to read. In other words, the kids want to read 10 easy books that they could read in an hour (Babysitter's Club - yuck - which is way below their reading level ability). I think the summer reading program is pointless if you can read all 10 books in 1 day. So we've been negotiating. If they read 2 fat books with challenge to them, then they can read 8 Babysitter's Club books for the library program. If they read 1 really fat book, then they can read 9 Babysitter's Club books. I think Z will go for the 1 fat book, A will go for 2 Narnia books & 8 Babysitter's Club books (the kids don't like the Narnia books because of the difficult, archaic writing style).

On Friday, we had a park day.

Sometimes I feel really disappointed in homeschooling. I'm struggling with a 2yo that makes my attention to the older kids very weak and strained. I feel that curricular scope and sequence teaches things that aren't important, while skipping over important skills that my children need to succeed in life. And I feel my children lack motivation to seek positive challenge and goals. I feel very stuck here, and would like to change things. The reason the kids do not go to school is for the same: pointless curriculum, lack of skills being taught, and ineffective teaching. They may as well stay home! I'm working on it - it is important to me that my children receive the best education that they can!!

I am reading a book called The Global Achievement Gap; which is a real eye opener. It is about some of the gaps in American education. It addresses two major gaps: the gap between low income urban schools and upper income suburban schools, and the Global Gap with countries like Finland, South Korea, and Singapore, vs. low to mid scoring countries like the United States. The question is: how can Americans close this global gap? The author addresses high school kids being unprepared for college, and college kids being unprepared for the workplace. How can we better prepare our students? And he lists 7 skills for success - the tools that students really need to do well in college and in the workplace, as well as to be a good citizen. Surprise! It's not Algebra or Grammar...

Weekly Review end of May - June 10, 2011

2011-06-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here are the recent events:

A week of T4L and a little extra math. Finished the Christopher Columbus book.
A field trip to the Octagon House (a stop on the Underground Railroad in Michigan). There was an amazing historian there that acted the part of someone from that time period. The kids were enthralled (and the 8yo took some convincing to believe that the historian was just acting! I guess even the grownups had to keep reminding themselves that it was just a "role" the historian was playing, because it seemed very real). I sent my daughters along with the field trip coordinator; in exchange, I took her 5yo son for the day. The 2yo & her 5yo went to a park, the library, the store, & the play area at the mall - we also saw two very different, very large aquariums. One had tropical fish, another an assortment of "fishing" fish.
Last Saturday, we bought some very expensive phones. It was in the budget and it is one of those life-changing technologies.
On Sunday, we lost the piano. We had borrowed it for the past 8 years from relatives that needed it gone for awhile. They needed it back on Sunday. It was nice to borrow it for so long, but it was difficult for the 8yo to lose it. She cried. She spent a lot of time at that piano. A piano is not in the budget right now, but might've been if we hadn't bought phones, lol. We're looking at options.
On Tuesday was the curriculum sale. I picked up Christian Liberty Press's Exploring American History. It looks like an enjoyable read. It has a Story of the World feel to it, but with only Am History, which we need. I brought a friend with us that is thinking about homeschooling next year.
The kids began taking the IOWA (ITBS) test. I have the 8yo taking the 3rd gr, and the 10yo taking the 5th gr. I'm wondering if that was the appropriate level to put the 10yo in. Guess we'll see, eh?
We did some math on the white board, as I tried to predict what sorts of things might be taught on the IOWA test, and what sorts of things I might not have prepared them for. Again, I'll find out after the test, and then I'll say something like "oops, I guess I should've taught x, y, z". But, that's what the test is for, right?
On Thursday, the 2yo flipped out of her crib. She is definitely outgrowing the crib. Darn.
On Friday, the girls went to a birthday party with putt-putt golfing and had a wonderful time! They loved golfing and had lots to tell me later.
We had a playdate Saturday morning with the friend that might homeschool. I brought a truckload of books to show her, lol.
I bought a toddler bed for $3 from a garage sale. Next step: clean out the 2yo's bedroom, childproof it, and get the toddler bed set up. I'm not looking forward to this transition!

Giving up naps blog article link

2011-05-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

I read this blog article and liked it, and thought I'd post it here (you know, for when that unfortunate day arrives...) Dana Obleman tends to be a more middle of the road, leaning toward gentle method of sleep training, which I like. I read a lot of her blog articles when I was trying to get my non-sleeping 6mo to sleep at nap and bedtime. I used some of her ideas and meshed them with my own.

Weekly Review 5/23-27, 2011

2011-05-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

This week was over-scheduled. Monday: dog grooming in LO, gymnastics in Romeo (and through a series of unfortunate events, we left gym early to pick up the dog - it was quite a round trip!). Tuesday: playdate with a friend in the early evening. Wednesday: a playdate with another homeschool family. The mom & I explored Time4Learning and I discovered all kinds of really cool things about the online program! Thursday: dog went to the vet & we went to the library; spent an hour perusing books and stopping the 2yo from completely destroying the library. Friday: our 16year anniversary; chopped & stacked wood in the wet, cold, muddiness. We built a fire & roasted hot dogs and hamburgers on the fire.

We're almost done with Where Do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus? It is working well to have the kids read and then write a 3 sentence summary of what they read.

I am working through the kids' work this year on T4L, and I'm not sure how much they actually accomplished. After learning more about T4L on Wed, I've been trying to go through the kids' records to see what we haven't covered, and where we might be able to end the school year. Unfortunately, since I did not oversee the schoolwork as much as I should have, we may be working through the summer. I had so hoped to take a month break. We had a really lax year. Except my year wasn't lax. I tore my hair out with a 1-2yo and stressed and worried and prayed and wished I could do more. Oh well. I guess every family has homeschool years like that. I keep reminding myself: we've made huge strides in knowing those multiplication/division facts. That, in itself, is worth a year of schooling (right?). Which reminds me -

The 10yo finished her multiplication facts and last Saturday, her daddy took her out to see the movie Pirates of the Caribbean (the 4th one) as her reward. The 8yo knows her 0-5 facts pretty well, but I am not timing her, because she just doesn't seem emotionally ready/mature enough to handle it. We are working on 9s now. She has been pretty resistant and sulky about me teaching her the 9s tricks. So today I offered her $1 for knowing her 9s in 3seconds per problem, AND I would show her a trick so that she could learn it within a week. She was happy about that and was finally able to listen to me.

Last weekend, we finally got that tree stump removed. Below is a photo of dh driving the stump up towards the firepit on his tractor. The kids are riding on the stump, lol.

stump removal

close up of the stump

Weekly Review 5/16 - 5/20, 2011

2011-05-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

We pulled out the Playdo this week and made "Art". The green snake belongs to the 10yo. The hot pink snake belongs to the 8yo and is covered in playdo roses. The girls had watched some Cake Competition type shows on TV and learned how to make roses.

This week, the 8yo finished through lesson 9 on Horizons Math gr 3. She worked on Multiplication Facts 1 - 5 on MathTrainer, and can complete 30-37 problems in 2 mins (works out to about 3.2 - 4 secs per problem). She completed 15 spelling words this week. She finished Social Studies on Time4Learning for the year.

The 10yo completed some lessons in Horizons Math 5, but we decided to put that book on hold until we work on Multiplication & Division of large numbers for awhile. Horizons 5 doesn't actually "teach" this until later on in the book and does a lot of review (even spends a day reviewing basic one-digit subtraction!), BUT it incorporates a lot of advanced add/sub, mult/div in its story problems, assuming you've already covered it in 4th gr. I hate that. Either review it and assume the student doesn't know anything, OR assume the student knows it and don't spend so much time doing silly review. Grrr. But the kids, so far, prefer Horizons over BJU (sigh) so....I'll hold my tongue:) Anyhow, so I pulled out BJU Gr 4 and am just pulling in 3 multi-digit mult problems and 3 multi digit division problems. Her mult problems right now are things like 345 x 16, while her division problems are simpler: 120 / 60 (you know, just having a 0 on the end). We'll keep working at that until it becomes easy for her. I also started some basic division drill, which she can do pretty easily now that she knows her mult facts. I'm so glad we covered multiplication facts!! It was the best thing we've done all year. The 10yo also did 15 spelling words and worked on Time4Learning.

Ok, so I said I would start Oak Meadow 5, right? Well, I can't follow/stick to anything to save my life, and the same is true here. I adopted the OM books, but that's as far as it went, lol. We are reading Where Do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus? It is about 70 pages long and we are taking 2 weeks to read it (just like on the OM schedule). The kids read about 6 pages per day and then I have them write a 3-sentence summary in a reading journal. After they finish the book, they'll write a report using their summaries to help them construct it. So far, this seems to be going well.

10yo's Continent Blobs

We're also working on Memorization. We have the space notes memorized in Music for Treble & Bass Cleff. We also worked on memorizing Maps. We are labeling the 5 Great Circles (Arctic Circle, Tropic of Cancer, Equator, Tropic of Capricorn, & Antarctic Circle). We are also making Continent Blobs and labeling them. This was inspired by Leigh Bortin's book The Core (Classical Education). Photos of our Circles & Blobs are included here.

8yo's Continent Blobs

Weekly Review 5/09-5/13, 2011

2011-05-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

We did a steady 4 days of T4L, Horizons Math lessons, multiplication drill, 2 days of spelling, & some literature. As a Pre-OakMeadow 5 kick off, we read (are reading) Sign of the Beaver. The 10yo read the whole book, the 8yo is almost finished, and I'm only half way through. I'm hoping to finish up Sign of the Beaver this weekend so that we can begin our next book on Monday (get everyone on the same page - not always an easy task).

On Monday, we had Gymnastics in the afternoon. On Tuesday, we had Park Day with our homeschool group (the kids did math in the car, and T4L when they got home). On Friday, we went to Cranbrook Institute of Science - something I had been promising all year long. The traveling exhibit is Dinosaurs, and we enjoyed seeing the dinosaur eggs, gigantic dinosaurs, and tiny dinosaurs. The 8yo likes any creature with "ichthys" as part of its name, and also "archeopteryx". We've always liked Pterodactyls. We walked down the walking path to visit the Native American house (wigwam?) I forgot to bring the camera, stroller, and a change of clothes for the 2yo - and wouldn't ya know I needed all 3? LOL.

I "borrowed" this photo from Cranbrook's Flickr Stream. Want to see more Cranbrook photos?

We also began Memorization this week. Ok, so we only did it one day (Thursday). My plan is to start off memorizing treble & bass cleff notes, and the United States names & locations on the map. I started the 8yo off with 5 states, and the 10yo took it upon herself to label most of them while looking at an atlas. I taught them FACE on the treble cleff & All Cows (Cars) Eat Grass (Gas) ACEG on the bass cleff - these are the space notes. I'm hoping this helps with piano lessons.

Mother's Day Weekend

2011-05-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

Seems to be a yearly tradition to go out and do manly things on Mother's Day weekend. We tore down dead trees, chopped and stacked wood, cleaned out the pole barn, and did some yard work. We all have sore muscles, but we enjoyed the outdoors and the gorgeous weather! Georgie loves the outdoors; I can tell we're going to be spending a lot of time outside this summer. Her first words in the morning are "outside?" I've also been finding out just how difficult it is to do school indoors when there is a 2yo eager to head out of doors. She's finding ways to sneak out with the dog and then runs as fast as she can so that we all have to chase her. Here are some photo highlights from our weekend:

Weekly Review 05/02 - 05/06, 2011

2011-05-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

Georgie's 2nd birthday on May 1st:

This week, the 10yo learned how to do multi-digit multiplication (3 digits x 2 digits) and I explained WHY we put a 0 on the 2nd row under the problem (I never learned that in school! I was just always told to put it there). We also went back to practicing long division, but this time dividing a 2 digit number ending in 0 evenly into a 2-3 digit number ending in 0 (ex: 80 / 20, or 180 / 60) We did not do spelling this week (I didn't have my ducks in a row). She also completed 4 lessons of Horizons Gr 5. (We're giving Horizons a try with the idea that we'll switch back to BJU if we decide we don't like it).

The 8yo completed 2 lessons in Horizons 3rd Gr but decided she wanted to go back to the OTC (over-the-counter) workbook she is working on. It's just one of those typical grocery store workbooks that covers 3rd gr topics.

Both kids did T4L this week.

Cook's Dairy Farm Field Trip on Friday, May 6th:

Score! Oak Meadow 5

2011-05-05T23:32:00.001-07:00

I've been sort of looking for something that would help me pull some of my educational ideas together into an organized package. I didn't necessarily want to follow any curriculum, but on the other hand, I was having trouble getting my ideas organized and ready to go. So...where was I going to find something that is:
* literature based
* ties history, grammar, writing, spelling together
* doesn't have too much planned
* has a focus on writing
* teaches American History & is appropriate for both an 8 & 10yo
* hopefully doesn't cost an arm or a leg

At the library today, I looked through stacks of homeschool books that someone had donated for the library sale and found this:

Oak Meadow was created based upon the Waldorf style of education. I was originally drawn to Waldorf because of it's focus on different cultures and religion. I stopped pursuing Waldorf, however, as I learned more and more about it's religious philosophy, intense focus on arts/crafts, and its fantasy-driven teaching ("hey kids, look what this gnome left behind a tree....") But Oak Meadow, although Waldorf in nature, does not seem to be those things. It also seems to be a bit more academic than most Waldorf style education, although still very gentle. The 5th Gr Oak Meadow book shown above costs $166.00 new (eek!), teaches American History combined with English Grammar, Spelling, and Writing, and appears gentle enough that I could apply it to a rising 4th grader & 6th grader. However, I managed to find the above book (and the teacher's manual with it, which is optional) at the library and I picked it up for $1. I'll try anything for $1, so I guess that is what we're going to be doing! I ordered the first 4 weeks worth of books from the library, so once those arrive, we'll get started! I'll probably need to tweak the writing assignments a smidge. Because it is Waldorf in nature, some of the writing assignments are Creative (not in a bad way, actually - I thought the writing ideas were rather neat). My 10yo does not mesh well with Creative writing assignments. She is my "just the facts, ma'am" daughter. So asking her to write a story about the possible sea creatures that Columbus's ships may have encountered on the voyage is like asking her to do something painful and unusual. No, I think we'd better opt for the research report on Marco Polo on that day.

There is a neat-o blog I am following to see what Oak Meadow 5 looks like in action.

Sharing dip with a 2yo

2011-05-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

There's always danger of a spitty double-dip when sharing chip dip with a 2yo. But did you know it can get worse than that, even?

Georgie scooped some dip onto her chip, looked at it quizzically, wiped the dip off of her chip onto my pant leg, and then ate the chip.

No more dip for you, kiddo.

Weekly Review 4/25-29, 2011

2011-05-01T05:20:00.000-07:00

Monday: funeral (no school)
Tuesday: homeschool group leadership meeting (math in the a.m.)
Wednesday: school (math, T4L)
Thursday: school (math, T4L)
Friday: homeschool easter egg hunt at the park (math in the a.m.)

The last two+ weeks have been a bit crazy between stomach flu and the funeral, so school hasn't been consistent. I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things next week.

Georgie turns 2 today (May 1st). She now does silly stunts and says "Mama, look!" so that I'll see what trick she is doing. She can say and understand concepts like "hurt" and "scared". Lately, I'll be in another room and she'll say "uh-oh", which means I need to come see what kind of trouble she is up to. She also picks up gross things, hands it to me and says "gross", LOL. Now if I could just teach her how to leave gross things alone!

Weekly Review Apr 18-22, 2011

2011-04-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

Georgie (the toddler) finished up having the stomach flu. It took her about 5 days before she would really eat. On day 6, though, she was beginning to eat banana and ramon noodles. So, this was Thursday before she really started feeling herself again.

Wednesday was the AWANA awards ceremony. Both girls finished their books and received a reward.

Thursday, the 8yo (Z) woke me up at 3am and so started the vomiting and diarrhea. She vomited every 15-30 mins for the next 16+ hours (not sure how long, since Daddy sat with her Friday afternoon, but I'm guessing it was around the 18-20 hour mark). Then she was reduced to vomiting every 1-2 hours for awhile.

I camped out in the living room chair on Thursday, sleeping in 15 min increments, running a lot of baths, helping Z to the bathroom. By Friday 5am, Dh came downstairs to announce that he was now sick.

Friday: Dh's grandma died. I'm running upstairs (dh) and downstairs (Z) to take care of 2 puking people, AND managing a whole lot of family phone calls. The phone calls took a long time; people kept me on the phone to ask questions, talk about their loss, etc. And dh is text messaging me from upstairs "juice" LOL. Oh, it was terrible!

I kept shoveling contaminated laundry into the washer, running it, drying it. Spare moments were spent putting it away. We went from a family that washes half to 1 full load of laundry per day to 3 loads per day. I cleaned out vomit bowls. I crushed ice. Oh, and did I mention that I had a fully healthy 2 yo running around grabbing things? And that the 2yo now felt good enough to eat everything?

Saturday: everyone was stable enough that I could take the 10yo to the funeral home; I brought the 2yo, too. Dh felt much better and started "window shopping" for food (that was my dad's term for it, lol). Z also window shopped for food a bit, although not as enthusiastically. It was a constant barrage of "know what sounds good? Can you get me a little of this?" And then me balancing the desires of a sick 8yo, dh, and a constantly hungry, very demanding 2yo. I'd bring the food out and they'd say "no, I don't think I want that right now..." Or, the food order would change in the midst of me making it. LOL! I will add here: Z was done vomiting on this day, but this reprieve was only temporary, and her stomach still hurt. Even so, I was under the illusion that she was getting better.

Saturday night: by Sat night, I'd been severely sleep deprived and on my feet constantly. That evening, I began to feel flu-ish (bad headache that matched dh's description), body aches, pain in my stomach, the start of diarrhea. I thought for certain I was done for. The 10yo (A) had a headache and slight pain in her stomach, too, and was crying hysterically that she was next. After seeing Z vomit so horribly and non-stop, we were both pretty worried about ourselves! So we blew up the air mattress and we all set up sicky-camp on the living room floor. Z took the couch, A took a recliner chair, and dh & I took the air mattress. I finally slept in 1-hour increments, and woke up feeling so much better! I either had a really mild case of it, or I was just so exhausted that my body couldn't go on anymore.

Sunday (Easter): We thought Z was better, despite her complaints (she's kind of dramatic like that) and contemplated church. She hadn't vomited since Friday. Our plan was for all of us to go to the funeral home that afternoon or evening. Z never made it: she vomited a bit, although she kept most of what she'd eaten down, she was beginning to vomit again. Dh & A went to the funeral home in the afternoon, and then A & I went to the funeral home in the evening. Z vomited 4 times that day.

Monday: Day of the funeral and Z still isn't seeming much better (day 5). She went to my dad's house (thanks Dad!) and the rest of us went to the funeral. I should write about the funeral in another post, because it was about as beautiful as a funeral can get! Anyhow, I thought that I'd run Z into the dr after the funeral, but in the time she spent at her grandpa's house, she ate 2 bites of an Arby's roast beef sandwich and was doing a lot of window shopping for food. This seems to be a big improvement, so we thought we'd give it one more day to see.

I will add: I was always checking websites about stomach flu symptoms and dehydration. Z never hit the severe status of dehydration. The dr personally told me, as well as all the websites, that moderate dehydration was best treated at home with pedialyte and little sips of clear fluids. That is what we did, and I watched her carefully to make certain that her dehydration levels did not become severe. Also, in this time, we saw her color return, and she began to look a lot better. So, although it seems like a really long time to wait it out, I think we did what we were supposed to do (what the dr would've told us to do).

Wait a minute! This is supposed to be about schooling! LOL. We did do some school last week, although it was over by Thursday. I think I made the 10yo do about 5mins of school work on Thursday. They also did their 3 days of spelling word lists on spellingcity, and I think this went OK (I've been allowing this to be done independently, but I can tell when there is a word they can't spell, because they craftily try to trick me into spelling it for them, lol). So...we did Math workbook & drill, Spelling, & T4L on Mon-Wed. We also had piano lessons on Wed.

Another sickie...

2011-04-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

(Note: this post was created awhile ago and I thought I had published it. My internet connection has been playing tricks on me. I hate to lose this lovely photo, so up it goes on the blog...Wish I knew how to change the date so that it would show up further down the list. It belongs with its sickie sister post.)

Z is up next. Here she is good-naturedly posing for me:) She's sticking out her tongue and giving the thumbs down. It's 4am and we're just hanging out, watching TV in between trips to the bathroom. The infamous metal bowl has been the companion of two kids thus far.

Poor thing:(

2011-04-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

Here is Georgie, not feeling well. This picture is from TODAY (Wednesday) and this all started on Saturday. She's been sick a long time. This photo captures one of those rare times when she isn't in my arms. She's had vomitting and diarrhea. The vomitting started Sunday and ended Tuesday. Now she is almost exclusively breastfeeding for her nourishment. I cannot tell if she still has diarrhea, because we've regressed to newborn breastfed poos (not sure if that is from the diarrhea or the lack of real people food). She feels a lot lighter. I hope she starts eating solids again soon. I am exhausted this week. I think I am getting the 6-8 hours of required sleep in a 24-hr period, but something about a miserable, sick baby is really draining. I wonder how moms of chronically ill children handle all of the stress and demands. I am thankful that this will be over at some point soon (although definitely not soon enough).

Memory Monday - April 18, 2011

2011-04-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

Miss Moe has a blog entry called Memory Monday, and I thought that was a pretty good idea! This is a rather lousy week for me to look industrious in our homeschool adventure, and really, I'm just striving to keep the household running. The (almost) 2yo was whiny and extremely clingy all day on Saturday. We were beginning to wonder what sort of rotten phase she'd entered. Sunday morning, she was officially sick and everything was coming out both ends. I thought it was getting better until Monday morning was a repeat, and then worse. So lots of laundry, lots of cuddling, lots of showers, and lots of diaper changes and catching throw up. She has a dr appt tomorrow morning. Even so, I'm trying to keep the kids doing something productive with their schooling. I DO have one lovely memory item to contribute! We are working on the multiplication math facts, and the 10yo has only 6 more to memorize. The 8yo is still working on 2s and 3s. She isn't the best at focusing right now, and I'm not the best at sticking by her side to keep her focused right now. So this week, we're mostly maintaining what we're learning. AWANA officially ends on Wednesday, and the kids will have their awards ceremony. This was a lot of memory work. I'm glad we did it, but I'm always a bit exhausted when AWANA ends for the year:) So that's it; math facts and the ending of AWANA. And that's enough for me this week!

Weekly Review 4/11-4/15 2011

2011-04-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

The 10yo is down to learning just 6 more multiplication facts for her timed drill, yippee!!! 10 has been a great age for giving honest feedback and telling me when she's ready to move on, when she needs to stay where she is at, backup a bit, etc. Even with her spelling words - she tells me which words she needs to review because she knows that she won't remember how to spell the word in the future. It is giving me great hope that the 8yo will enter this phase in another 2 years (fingers crossed, prayers being said). So...she only has 6 more math facts to learn (7x7-9x9), she has been working through Math Mammoth 4B fractions (we jumped ahead in the book solely for that chapter), she completed 40 words instead of 60 because the words were harder, and T4L.

The 8yo is working on 2x-3x. I think she probably knows them relatively well, but she is very flustered by being timed. Our biggest problem, however, is distraction. Do 2 problems - look around, laugh at someone, talk - do 2 more problems - draw a picture on her paper, see something outside - another problem - tear up a piece of paper and ask me some bizarre question that has nothing to do with math...you get the picture. Today I tried giving her a practice-no timed sheet of problems, and then put her in another room with only me for the exact same sheet of paper timed. Then, I just watched what happened. Her complaint was that she had to think about the problem. I tried explaining that taking 6 seconds or even 10 seconds to think about the problem wasn't the real problem: the real problem was the distraction. So next week, our goal is learning how to FOCUS.

The 8yo did 45 words for spelling. She worked through the Fractions chapter in BJU 3rd Gr Math. She also did T4L.

We went to the nature center on Thursday. The kids learned about finding North, using a GPS to find your way around, and Geocaching. It was a big hit! The 8yo made a new friend. The kids wrote a half page summary of their trip. They both wrote about putting Red Fred in the Shed (reading a compass).

We were supposed to attend Gymnastics on Monday, but we hit a traffic jam, sat perfectly still for 30mins, managed to move forward just enough to see that it was WORSE up ahead, took some back dirt roads, got lost, called Grandpa for directions, and finally found our way home 2 hours later. Sigh. What bothers me the most is the gas, around $4 per gallon, wasted on that pointless excursion.

The kids had their last day of AWANA on Wednesday. Both kids finished their books already, so it was a relaxing week for us! Next Wednesday will be the ceremony. In June, the kids will go on a canoeing trip with the group as a reward for finishing their books.

The baby will be 2 in 2 weeks! She learned how to whisper, so there is a lot of quiet conversations lately:) She loves the Wiggles, and loves the BBC show Walk on the Wild Side (we watch clips on Youtube & Godtube). Her favorite episode is Nighttime, Daytime! and she asks for it several times a day. She sings "hot potato" (Wiggles) but now the words have evolved into "ha tiddly do, ha tiddly do" LOL.

Weekly Review 4/4 - 4/8

2011-04-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

10yo:
we put math fact practice down to 30 problems timed drill, 3x-5x. She is getting between 2.3-2.9 sec/problem on the 30 problem sheets. She also worked on 6x6 through 6x9 on a separate 30 problem sheet. Next Tuesday, we'll mix 3x-6x together and begin timing.

She worked on Fractions in Math. We worked through the BJU chapter. She struggled with adding/subtracting like fractions last week, but this week flew through it without difficulty. She didn't have a problem with unlike fractions (which I was really worried about, but she breezed through it). The next chapter was multiplying fractions, but she halted at that and begged to not go any further, lol. So we pulled out Math Mammoth 4b and began working on that fraction chapter.

For spelling, we focused on words 466-525, and spent 2 days on review of the trickier words.
She's learning about the US Presidents and has a few of the names memorized and a little about what went on during their time in office. Next year, I hope to require both kids to memorize all the presidents; but I am happy she is getting this through T4L.

8yo:
She is working through 30 problems of 3xs. She has mastered 2xs and can do these quickly. The 8yo is especially good at speed drills, but she usually melts down over the timing. She hates it if today's score was slightly slower than yesterday's score. I wish she'd embrace her true gift, here (speedy drills!), because it really is her natural gifting - but alas, no. So I get what I can:) I also let her pick from the store-bought book of multiplication: I laminated all of the practice sheets and some of the exercises are fun. So she takes a dry-erase marker to the sheets and picks out the ones she likes most. She began working on 5xs (her choice). Then, I also let her choose a chapter from 3rd gr BJU to work on. We chose fractions, since her sister is working on them, and nothing else looked very fun. She has been doing mixed fractions, equivalent fractions, and comparing like fractions. In BJU 3rd gr, the fractions chapter is mostly pictures, so you can see exactly what size every fraction is.

For spelling, we worked through words 263-298.

On Friday, we got up early and got our schoolwork done, and then had a playdate with a friend (he was out of school for spring break).

The almost 2yo:
she is saying so many more words, now. Several times a day she asks for "nighttime, daytime" which is a commercial we found on Godtube.com for BBC's Walk on the Wild Side. It is episode 3, if you want to look it up. It is a black bird that hides his head and says "nighttime!" and then pops his head up and says "daytime!" LOL. We watch a lot of these little commercials, and she tries to name the animals (camel = dog, prairie dog = cat, and all sorts of crazy naming).
About 2 weeks ago, she learned how to jump off of the floor with two feet simultaneously. There is a lot of jumping going on lately.

Weekly Review 3/28 - 4/1, 2011

2011-04-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

8yo Spelling: words 227 - 262 this week Finished subtraction drill, began multiplication by 2s drill 10yo Spelling words 405- 465 Worked on multipliction by 6 drill, 3-5 drill review Renaming mixed fractions and subtracting They also did their Time 4 Learning lessons. We spent a good part of the week getting the 8yo through the rest of her AWANA book. She finished her book, so now I feel like we can focus on other things. Today is our last day of co-op, and tonight is our presentation (where we show off to family and friends the things we learned during the year). The 10yo will be doing something on stage for Drama, Dance, and Inspired Sign (sign language). The 8yo will be doing something on stage for Dance and Shout It Out (cheerleading).

New Blog Announcement - Ordinary Canary!

2011-03-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Piping in to announce my new blog (www.ordinary-canary.blogspot.com) Ordinary Canary, a blog about teaching and learning. Teach A Fish Homeschool will continue to document our own home learning and life. Ordinary Canary is about finding ways to get things into our children's heads (and ours too!) It is about learning difficulties and how to overcome them. It is also about specific topics that are hard to understand, and even harder to teach (right now, that's fractions for us!) I'll have tips to grasp it conceptually and teach it to your children (because I'm right there learning how to do it, too, lol). Please leave feedback! I find it invaluable to hash out these ideas with others and then tweak it as I go.

I found it! My homeschool vision came back!

2011-03-27T12:55:00.001-07:00

Awhile back, I posted about Surviving a Homeschool Crisis. It is easy to give step-by-step survival guide instructions, and quite another to be the one on the surviving end. I hit a pretty big homeschool slump that lasted about two years. You know you've hit a slump when your February Burn-out turns into May burn-out, and then summer burn-out, and then Sept dread....and it never really lifts. I began Sept thinking we'd just "do the next thing", even if I didn't feel like it. We'd just push through. It lasted about 3 weeks, and then I realized I was in over my head. So I started dropping subjects. Maybe if we kept it to 2-3 subjects per day, we'd be alright. We can add in subjects later, after my head is above water. By December, I was toast. "Do the next thing" was beyond me, even with 2-3 subjects per school day. I signed the kids up for Time 4 Learning, to separate myself from the whole thing. It was a welcome relief, even if all the same problems would still be there when I got back from my mental vacation.

For two years, I'd questioned "What are we doing?" and "Why are we doing this?" I was tempted to send my children to school; at least they have a vision for education (even if I disagree with it). Nothing seemed important anymore. Why force my children to do school? I didn't see any real learning occuring from our workbooks. Home Education seemed futile. I had no homeschool vision.

I started reaching for different homeschool books, different philosophies. I sent myself through my own in-home "homeschool convention". I sometimes picked books that I knew I would disagree with. I also distanced myself from Curriculum. I looked purely at ideas: why were these ideas important and how might these ideas be used? I made lists - what was important to me (this was really hard to drudge up, at first), what was important to my kids' future? Sometimes I'd turn the page and start a new list. I jotted down ideas from books, and began discussing some ideas with people and getting feedback.

I left out all the praying I did, lol. I did a lot of praying. It began with praying, two years ago. It was just such a dry season in my life (schoolwise). My own homeschool convention began around January. I prayed, I read a book, I jotted down ideas, I prayed some more, I read some more. Repeat. Not a whole lot happened during this schoolyear, however, I experienced a lot of growth. I am thankful that my God hears my prayers, that He cares about me, and carries me through. I am filled with awe that my Father in heaven knows what I need before I need it. He will direct my paths. Sometimes, I don't see the path clearly. But what a joy when I suddenly can see clearly! My eyes have been opened this year. I have a new vision for homeschooling, and where we are headed (and most importantly, why!) I am creating a new blog to share these ideas about education. I'm keeping this blog to detail our personal lives and learning. I will share the new blog link when I get it better organized.

Math Fact Mastery - more than half way there!

2011-03-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

WooHOOOO!!!

The 10yo has successfully completed 100 multiplication problems (facts 2-5) in 3.2 seconds per problem.

Her reward: a trip to a fast food restaurant for lunch (eating inside, not drivethru)

We are keeping up with our 2-5s practice and working on 6's separately.

If you look at a multiplication chart, you can see that facts 0-5 comprise more than half of the math facts (when you consider the Commutative Property, many facts are just repeated with the numbers flipped). We're more than half way there! Yay!

Weekly Review 3/21 - 3/25, 2011

2011-03-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

10yo
Monday: math drill (not timed); spelling words 301 - 321
Tuesday: math drill 3.23 secs/problem WOOHOO!!; spelling words 322-342
Wednesday: math drill 1 page practice 3-5, 6s; spelling words 343-362
Thursday: math drill 2 pages 3-6, 6s; spelling words 364-383
Friday: math drill 2 pages 3-6 (4.55 sec/problem); spelling words 384 -404

8yo
Monday: math drill (not timed); spelling words 166 - 178
Tuesday: no math drill; spelling words 179-190
Wednesday: worked on subtraction drill together (strategies); spelling words 191-202
Thursday: worked on subtraction drill together; spelling words 203-214
Friday: more subtraction drill; spelling words 215 - 226

The 10yo learned about adding and subtracting like fractions (with and without regrouping). She also worked on equivalent fractions. We're still working on regrouping & subtracting fractions. The 8yo learned a new subtraction strategy. She was counting backwards to get her answers, but answers came slow and there were often mistakes. I had tried teaching the "counting up" strategy, but she begged me not to use that again! lol. So we learned the "subtracting tens" strategy (my name for it). For example: 15 - 8 is 10 -8 plus 5. She really caught on and can do subtraction quite quickly.

On Sunday, the kids' daddy left for Las Vegas, Microsoft Management Summit. I'm sure his head has been filled with all sorts of wonderful computer things and he'll have a lot to talk about when he gets home tonight! Sunday afternoon we went to a birthday party. Georgie loved the balloons! On Monday, Great Uncle & Aunt came over to watch the kids so that I could go to my dental cleaning. The rest of the week was filled with at-home cleaning, schoolwork, and movies/games in the evenings.

Science Plans

2011-03-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

Thus far, we've tried a whole bunch of different things for science. We've tried:

getting books from the library
following our own interests
Real Science 4 Kids (Pre-Chemistry)
using a book of science experiments and just doing the next one
Sonlight science (K & 1st)
BJU Science & workbook
Scotts Foresman textbook science (I have a bunch of these free from a private school that closed)

I think my favorite out of all of those has been Sonlight (love the DVDs) and Real Science 4 Kids. However, I struggle with consistency with experiments (who doesn't?). I get lazy and drop them pretty early on in the year. RS4K was expensive, and a very short little book. There has been another problem that I have seen throughout our science career: lack of understanding and lack of retention.

You could argue that science in the elementary years is about exposure. I believed this heartily for a long time. I was just "exposing" my kids to the ideas of science: how to conduct an experiment, what sorts of categories there are for study, what might interest them. The learning that has had the greatest, most lasting response has been the...(brace yourself)...kind where things were memorized and exposure was repeated. Take ROY G. BIV, for example. Five years later and my kids can still explain ROY G. BIV. They remember the "rainbow" exhibit in Chicago last year with the most clarity. Why? Because they already had a foot in understanding it and knowing it. Their knowledge and experience was able to build on to the foundation that was already there. And so, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to our new science (hopefully starting this spring?)

The Usborne Internet Linked Science Encyclopedia is a giant resource that covers several areas. I think we could use this over the span of a few years (and as a resource years after that). I really liked the Question & Answer sections at the back of the book that coorespond with each chapter. I can envision us using these questions repeatedly to really understand the material that we read.
The Everything You Need to Know About Science Homework by Scholastic is a short, flat book that just contains a whole lot of great illustrations and bulletpoints of things you *should* be getting out of each studied category. I plan to use this for memory work. We'll memorize things such as: what are the types of rock? what are types of volcanoes? what are the different systems in the human body? There are also charts that the kids can draw and label. I can use it in conjunction with the Usborne Science above. For example, when we get to the structure of the cell, I like the Usborne illustration better, so the kids can practice drawing that one and labeling it.

I bought both books off of Half.com for less than $2 each. With shipping each was $5 total for each. So both books came to about $10 altogether.

What about experiments? Not sure yet. I'd like to pull some in AFTER we have a good foundation of what we are learning. I think we can learn MORE from the experiment process if we know what we're learning ahead of time.

What about "Love of Learning"?
I'll approach this in another post. However, I'll touch on it briefly, here. I've been afraid to "kill" that "love of learning", have tried to foster a "love of learning" by allowing a lot of freedom and having very little expectations for my children to meet. I think this has been the approach to kill love of learning, at least for my children. If they can rise up to a (small) challenge and meet it successfully, if they can memorize something, practice it, and then eventually apply it; I think this will lead to love of learning. It is difficult to love something you don't understand. The very nature of human beings is to shy away from hard work and from the things we don't comprehend. If I can give my children the tools to know something, and then comprehend it, it will become easy for them and they can master it. They'll hate it at first (because it is work), but eventually, they will come to love some of it (I believe, anyway).

Weekly Review 3/14-3/18

2011-03-14T07:56:00.001-07:00

10yo:
Monday: 4.56 secs/problem; spelling words 236-257
Tuesday: 3.9 secs/problem; no spelling
Wednesay: 4.34 secs/problem; spelling words 258-278
Thursday: 3.87 secs/problem;spelling words 279-299

8yo:
Monday: spelling words 135-144
Tuesday: no spelling
Wednesday: spelling words 145-154
Thursday: spelling words 155-164

Friday: homeschool co-op classes (only 2 left counting today!)

We did 4 days of T4L, 4 days of Math workbook (8yo did Thinking Blocks in place of workbook one day). On Tuesday we had a dental cleaning for the kids (no cavities! yay!). On Thursday, the 8yo got her first pair(s) of glasses. Here she is in her purple/pink pair. She has another pair in brown (to match everything else).

Weekly Review 3/7-3/11, 2011

2011-03-08T18:09:00.000-08:00

MATH
8yo's Math drill: completed Subtraction on Math Trainer (setting 4-2 through 15-10). She is eager to start multiplication drill, so hopefully we can finish subtraction soon.

10yo's 100 problem multiplication drill times:
M: 5.85 secs per problem
T: 4.95 secs per problem
W: 4.31 secs per problem
Th: 4.25 secs per problem
F: 4.48 secs per problem
100 problems printed from Math Fact Cafe, 3's 4's and 5's.

10yo did 5 days of BJU Math Reviews 3rd Grade. We set the timer for 25 mins and she gets as many pages done in that time. She does about 4 pages at a time and finished Chapter 3.

8yo did 4 days of BJU Math Reviews 2nd Grade. Same thing (timer set). On Friday, I let her play with the online puzzles on the Math Is Fun web site (same site as math trainer). She also completed 8 story problems on Thinking Blocks (love this site, it's so addicting!)

SPELLING
We have been working through the Top 1200 Words in the English Language for our spelling. I just noticed that this list comes from Sitton Spelling, LOL. Our district uses Sitton Spelling and it's horrible. So note that I am NOT using Sitton Spelling; we're using our own funky methods based upon the top 1200 words (same words, different method). I pre-test the 10yo on 20 words per day, just to see which words she doesn't know. She has been pretested on 250+ words so far and knows most of them. The 8yo has big freakouts during school, so I give her a list of 10 words to study. She practices hopscotch while spelling the words allowed and then I quiz her orally. Once I'm sure she has it mastered, I test her on paper. She is struggling with "right" and "write". She is convinced that the "write" is "wright". Sigh.

AWANA
The 10yo finished her book. The 8yo just started Discovery 8 (needs to finish 8.1 - 8.7 to finish her book). I am working with her to get her to learn these. She is really having a mental breakdown over school and studying this year. I know once she finishes her book, she'll be glad she put the time into it. And I will fall in an exhausted heap, lol!
We've had AWANA games practice 2x this week and Saturday is the official games.

PIANO - had our every 2 weeks lessons. The 10yo did not practice. The 8yo did practice. I need to come up with a schedule so that this work actually gets done.

TIME 4 LEARNING
Completed 4 days of T4L. We had one day without Internet.

hot potato

2011-03-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

"Ha ta-o, ha ta-o!" this is Georgie as she runs around my house with a potato, singing "hot potato, hot potato" by the Wiggles. She's hit that really adorable, eat-em-up stage.

I have potatoes growing in strange places around my house (under the couch, in the cushions, behind the tv, you name it)

10yo Math Progress

2011-03-02T07:31:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on our Math progress...

Last week, the 10yo started multiplication drill 3s, 4s, and 5s. I print out 100 problems and put the timer on for 10 mins. I give her a multiplication chart and see how many she can do in 10 mins. When the timer beeps, we're done.

Our first day she got 88 problems completed in 10 mins. This averages out to 6.8 secs per problem.

Monday - 92 problems in 10 mins. Average time: 6.5 secs
Tuesday - 100 problems in 10 mins. Average time: 6 secs
Wednesday - 100 problems with 46 secs remaining (554 secs). Average time: 5.54 secs

Weekly Review 2/21-25, 2011

2011-02-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

I'm still trying to get my act together. It's gonna take a long time:( I'm slowly working things out and trying to make improvements. I'm trying to do more house cleaning (get rid of clutter), laundry, and exercising. Baby steps! If what we do weekly looks very inconsistant, that's because it is! I'm trying to find the right balance of what works for everyone and gets the job done.

Today went really well and I plan to continue what we did today, next week. It could be because dh works from home on Fridays, and the kids wouldn't dare give me a hard time when daddy's home. I think our biggest subject that needs work is math. I never really enforced math facts and it's biting us now. I've been thinking "why try to fit in 5-6 subjects per day, plus enrichments, when we're so behind in math?" Language Arts, Science and History can go on the back burner for now. Let's just work on math!

Today with the 8yo, we did:

5 mins of Addition drill at this web site (it times it for you!): MATH TRAINER
25 mins of 2nd grade Reviews workbook
(Spelling) 20 words per day from the Top 1200 English Words list (we're slowly accumulating words she doesn't know and she'll get to study/test on those)
Time 4 Learning

Note: the random 8yo skips pages constantly and this is becoming a problem. So, for next week, I will tear out worksheet pages. If she finishes them all within 25mins, then I'll tear out some more to fill the time.

Today with the 10yo, we did:
(note: the 10yo would rather do worksheets than do online drill, so we set a different goal for her)

10 mins of multiplication problems, 3s-5s. Today we did 88 problems in 10mins.
Skip counting using a 100 chart; 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s
25 mins of 3rd grade Reviews workbook
(Spelling) 20 words from the Top 1200 English words list (so far, she's been tested on 93 words and knew them all)
Time 4 Learning

The rest of the week was a series of odd starts and stops. (Discovered that the 8yo would rather do online drill but hates workbooks. Discovered that the 10yo hates online drill and would rather do worksheets and workbook. Discovered that the 8yo is slightly behind in AWANA and needs a big kick in the rear to get her book finished - worked on catching up. We just needed to do 1 extra section in addition to her weekly 2 sections, and she did it). It also involved a trip to the library where I bought a full set of 2005 almost brand new (some never opened) WorldBook Encyclopedias for $10 (woohoo!) We also had to drive to a further away Meijer to pick up 25 bags of pellets for the pellet stove (ran out and boy, was it cold!!!)

Lovely article to brighten your day!

2011-02-24T14:24:00.000-08:00

I just got this in my inbox from BJU Homeschool Solutions. I thought it was a wonderful article and should share (especially since my topic lately has been Homeschool Crisis, lol).

It's called Homeschooling From the Heart - One More Step.

Here is an excerpt:

"But did you notice that God doesn’t specify how fast we are to walk? He simply says we must walk with Him. Does God expect us to keep up with the moms in our groups or the people from church? No, He expects us to walk with Him.
But what if...
We feel we aren’t getting to our destinations fast enough?
We have only the strength for one more step?
The only walking we do seems to be behind little ones, cleaning up their catastrophes?
We can’t even walk on our own but must lean on the arms of friends or loved ones?"

I won't pretend I have it all together. I've been really struggling this year. My 10yo even wrote on her paper the other day "you can do it" because she saw me getting frustrated and discouraged over homeschooling. It's been a tough year. I think most of the battle has been on the inside:) On the outside, it's just an unruly place where the kids have sort of taken over. I'm trying to get us all back on track - myself included - but it's hard. The kids are fighting me and everyday I am discouraged. It is articles like the one above that carry me through one more day. One foot in front of the other, one more step. But it isn't just a step. It is a walk with God. Each step I am taking, I am taking with my Lord, walking alongside Him humbly.

Ok, I can do this. And you can too! Keep on keepin' on!

Surviving a Homeschool Crisis

2011-02-23T13:55:00.001-08:00

Situations differ, but I think us long-term homeschool moms can all say that at one time or another, we hit a homeschool crisis. Here are some of the things to help pull you out (or, at least keep you moving forward):

Read blog posts and message board posts written by other moms that have been through and survived a homeschool crisis.
Talk to the moms that inspire and encourage you. Read those sorts of books. Avoid at all costs the moms that discourage you, cause you to compare, or make you feel worse about your own homeschool.
Keep moving forward, one foot at a time....slowly...painfully. I read a book to the kids once called One Step. It was about a duck family trying to reach home. The littlest duck thought it was too far and didn't think he could make it. His siblings encouraged him, saying, "just take one step". The little duck kept taking "one step" until finally they arrived home.
Shake things up, lighten your load, reassess your situation....if you need to. Sometimes, burn out hits because something needs to change. But sometimes, burn out hits and we just have to muddle through. So decide carefully if it is a short season of your life when scaleback is needed, a whole new life make over is needed, or just plodding on is needed (without any changes).
Take a day break, a week break, a month break...but if it a short break doesn't help and you find yourself not wanting to get back to schooling, then it might be another case of just keeping putting one foot in front of the other.
Realize that if you do take a break, the problems will still be there when you get back. Might be time to do some problem solving!
Cut down on extra, out of the house activities if you need to.
Exercise - get your own body moving
Prayer - you probably already do this one, but it bears repeating:)
Take a time out to just enjoy your kids. Treasure those rare moments when someone is being helpful, or when no one is crying or arguing. Instigate these moments if you need to - play a game, dance to music together, read a book together, or take a walk together.
Take a garbage bag into your messiest room and just start tossing. Getting rid of clutter is good for the soul.
Write down your homeschool goals and post them. Write down your reason for homeschooling. Write down the reasons you really secretly want to send them to school. Laugh at the school reasons (often those reasons aren't realistic, or won't really improve anything) and then renew your commitment to homeschooling.
Celebrate your accomplishments. Sit back with a cup of tea (or coffee) and celebrate that you got through one subject, a load of laundry, or anything else you did today, however small.

Weekly Review 2/14-18, 2011

2011-02-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

We attempted Spelling, Math, and Science this week, in addition to T4L.
The kids had gymnastics on Monday. 10yo came down with a headache, which later launched into coughing. I never think "sick" when she has a headache, because she is very sensitive to sound and gets headaches often. Tuesday we had a daytime homeschool support meeting and we created mini offices. I am almost finished with my Grammar mini office. Wednesday, the 8yo developed the headache/cough combo. They had AWANA that evening and she begged me to let her go. She seemed fine on tylenol, so I let her go. Thursday, we went out to get the oil changed, cashed in our Pizza Hut BookIt program certificates, and ran to the store. The 8yo still isn't feeling great. She did 2 days of T4L just so she could get out of doing workbooks and hang out on the couch. Friday, we will have co-op.

Math: pulled out some workbook pages. I'm waiting...ever so patiently...for Math Mammoth to come out with their 20% off sale this month. I want to buy the 1st-6th grade blue series download, and then start printing off pages of review for the kids. I have a plan. 8yo flips out over multi-digit multiplication every time we see it, so that just tells me we need to back this train up quite a ways...
Spelling: covered List K-2 (10yo) and I-2 (8yo). They laughed and scoffed at how easy it was the first day. I gave them the test to see where they would fall, and they both fall at list N (4th grade). I may just have them start at list M, however. I may just pull in some of my own lists, too.
Science: we accomplished one day of this. It was a good start, I suppose. I really need to get organized and get my ducks in a row.

The 21mo:

pulling together 2 words. Lately she walks around calling our name and then saying "cow-moo!" ("yaya, cow-moo!" lol) She also says "there it is" (ta diddle diddle diddle), and "here you go"
Climbs on chairs or tables and then yells "help! help!" LOL. That's because her sisters cry "help, help" every time she climbs up on something.
Absolutely must walk everywhere. "bawk, bawk, bawk!" she says (walk, walk, walk)
Hits herself on the head or runs her head into the wall and says "bonk". And sometimes "bonk, ouch!"

Weekly Review 2/7-2/11, 2011

2011-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

This week:

We made our Valentine's boxes for our homeschool Vday party
We took a class at Moose Tree Nature Preserve about Birds
We wrote a half page summary of our Birds class and drew a picture
We added Spelling to our week using SWR. The 10yo started list K-1 and scored 95%. The 8yo started list I-1 and scored 100%.
We went over some Capitalization and Punctuation rules
We continued addition with 6's. The 10yo worked on long division by 1-number, and the 8yo learned the Distribution Property of Multiplication - ex: 4(20 + 3) = 80 + 12 = 92. This is the same thing as saying 23 x 4 = 92.
We had piano lessons
We attended a Valentine's Party at a bowling alley with our homeschool group.

Below: the 8yo's Bubble Gum machine Valentine's box. We've been saving that canister for a year now for this very project! We wadded up pieces of colored paper for the gum balls. Now the project has vday cards inside so you can't see the gum balls as well.

Below: the 10yo's ShamWow box, as seen on TV. I don't know where she gets her nutty ideas!
Georgie, the 21mo, tearing into her sister's valentine's card. By the way, Georgie gets to be 21 mos for 2 months now, because I mis-calculated her age (in case you were wondering)

Here she is again, after I tried desperately to get her attention. She was pretty busy with those cards.

Overlearning

2011-02-10T13:55:00.000-08:00

I'm skimming through a book called The Core: Teaching Your Children the Foundations of Classical Education. (Yes, you read that correctly; I am skimming it, lol). Perhaps I'd get even MORE out of it if I did more than skim it, eh? Anyhow, the word that keeps popping up is OVERLEARNING. It's an interesting word that means staying on something even past the point of knowing it. In the book, Leigh A. Bortins describes how she taught her sons math. They used the Saxon math series, spend as long as they needed on a lesson until it was mastered, kept going through the book, hit the end and sometimes started the same level math book right from the beginning again. I believe she even mentioned going through more than 1 grade level in a year, even while backing up and re-doing chapters. The idea is that her students don't just know how to do the math, but can do it really well. It becomes easy for them. I believe she mentions overlearning in other sections of the book, too. (Yeah, maybe if I actually read the book, word for word, I could tell you for sure...).

I think that is at the heart of why Kumon has such a strong pull for me. I can't talk dh into spending $100+ per month per child on Kumon math lessons (LOL, wonder why?...) But I can delve into why this is so appealing to me. I've realized lately that filling in the blanks and crossing off the items from our To-Do list doesn't actually prepare us academically for the real world, or give us the skills we need. Sigh. Workbooks are sooo much easier, and I really LIKE seeing all my items crossed off the list. Ah, well. I hope to find someday that my kids have life skills and I can look back and say "it was worth it". Until then, it all seems a great big experiment, and I have that dreadful feeling that I'm failing my first two children miserably. Even so, I won't send them to school. Everything I try, I try because it seemed like a good idea at the time, because I thought it was what we needed, or thought it was best for the kiddos. I look back and see such a disjointed, inconsistent schooling past. It's easy to feel disheartened from it all. But until I see the end results, I cannot tell you if it was all a big mistake. When I hear from moms that graduate their kids from homeschool, they always look back and say "I made mistakes, but in the longrun, they turned out just fine, and are doing great in college". That's always encouraging. And so, we'll continue to meander, make mistakes, regret past decisions, and keep truckin' on. I'll letcha know how it all turns out at the end;)

Educational re-design

2011-02-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Still working out the details for what the kids will be doing. Have been spending a lot of time thinking about what our goals are and how to accomplish those goals.

Math: assign math facts, test during week. teach concepts.

Spelling: 10yo assign 20 words, 8yo assign 15 words from top 1000 word list. They study on their own and then test at the end of the week.

Grammar: study Capitalization and Punctuation (1 month?). Then, memorize prepositions. Next nouns, verbs.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations: read 1 page, pick 1 quote to copy.

Typing: both kids study typing.

Science: use textbook and workbook this year, until kids are able to find information in text. Next step, 10yo drop the workbook and learn how to outline using textbook.
Experiments: would like to do research project - find something kids can do - gardening project in the summertime.

History: slow, but deep. Study a topic and dig deep. Write a summary. If able, include map and timeline (optional).

Continue with AWANA, piano, and gymnastics

Continue with T4L. One works on T4L while I work with other child, switch.