Style

One of the pitfalls of homeschooling, I think, is the possibility for the primary homeschooling parent to have his or her identity swamped. Swamped? Yes. Under the lists of living books, the catalogs of curriculum, and the detritus of daily work, I think a homeschooling parent's identity can start to be defined ever more narrowly.

Being aware of this danger, I do try to mitigate it. I can feel myself slipping under the pile at times, and then I know it's time to reenergize and renew. Sometimes it's simple, but other times, it feels like the pile is taller. Heavier.

I mention this because this week I've been having fun with a book called Style Statement: Live By Your Own Design. The idea is that, through the exercises in the book, you eventually discover your own two-word style statement, following the 80/20 principle. The first word is your 80%, your foundation. The second word is your 20%, your creative edge.

I don't particularly want to share my style statement (some people might, there's no right or wrong way to go about it), but oh, the process has been fun. Once I found my statement, I then personalized the definitions and words associated with it. The result is a one-page description that really beautiful defines me, in the best possible way.

The best part, though, is that the book doesn't end with discovering your style statement. It has suggestions of how to use your style statement, going forward. There are suggestions of actions to take, journaling prompts, and specific ideas of what you could do on a weekly basis.

The appeal of it, though, from a homeschooling parent's perspective, is that it's simple. Once you have your style statement, you have it. It's done. Two words that you can use as a touchstone, no matter what else you may be doing. That, I think, is powerful.

Staging a House of Homeschoolers

Like any good homeschooler, FB has been paying attention to various aspects of life, even if they aren't related to school. Since I've been researching staging the house in preparation for selling it, I've watched some related shows on television. FB has offered me staging advice since then ("I think we should move this furniture around in order to sell this house!); he's also asked me to buy Sunsweet Ones, showing that advertising works.

In order to stage the house most effectively, though, we're going to be moving furniture, as FB suggested. Our current homeschool room is going to be repurposed, and our homeschooling space will be shared with the playroom space. We're repainting and buying a few accessories and the like. We're also learning how to improvise.

Today's finds: a round table with four chairs, a piece of art for the living room, and a small rug to define a 'foyer.' The table was a big deal; we really needed to stage the dining room with a round table, but we can't really use a round table because we need a bigger one, not a smaller one. Yay Goodwill!

Busy busy day

Trying an experiment... Blogging from the iPhone! We're waiting for food at Steak N Shake, after birthday fun and EG's fall concert for band. Yay!

Reflections...

Purple Child turns one tomorrow. Today, however, is a Thursday, and she was decidedly born on a Thursday, one week before Thanksgiving, so I can't help but feel like today is an anniversary of sorts, even though it's not her birthday.

I'll post her birth story tomorrow (publicly! omg!). Some impressions and reflections though...

And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free resonated with me before the birth. It would become a mantra after the birth.

Thursday nights. Girl Scout nights. I was having contractions, avoiding seeing too many people anyway. My mom took EG to the meeting. I was the leader. I had planned meetings for the rest of the year with my co-leaders. My 02s.

(Plans they threw out.)

My mom went to get EG early. Somehow, she had known. Feverishly working on her project, "in case she had to leave early."

(That was the first time they were rude to EG. They hadn't dared before that night, because I was usually there.)

The space shuttle was supposed to be visible. I posted online about Al Gore coming to my city. I was riding the post-election euphoria still. I had thought she was waiting just for the election, but she waited a little longer than that.

(It was the beginning of the end for me, but they had already castigated me and turned me out. I just didn't know it yet. I tried, I tried so hard, for the girls.)

And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free

Someone told me that Purple Child would bring me clarity and continue to teach me things. She did. She let me hang on to that mantra. As I had shut out the world on a chilly November night and brought her into the world, I could shut out the people that would hamper me from flying.

I tried to insert myself, to protect people, and they tried so hard to bring me down. I had to walk away, in the end, five months later. I had to be free. But I knew they couldn't bring me down. It's all so tied up in PC's birth, the process she initiated, the things I learned.

It hurt. A lot.

It feels good to be free.

Wordless Wednesday: 18 November 2009 - Purple Child's Birthday Party

Four

I wish I could bottle four, and save it forever.

There's a simple joy in a four year old. A love of life, and every experience is cherished. Treasured. Emotions run high - a moment after laughing, there could be tears. Intensity, yes, but a growing ability to listen. A smidgen of reasoning. A delight in accumulating new knowledge.

I love the paradigms that four constructs, both the nonsensical and the more logical.

Today FB was watching me make meatloaf. "Is that ground beef from our cow?"

(We bought a quarter of a local, grass-fed cow back in June.)

After I affirmed, that yes, it was from our cow, he asked me how I had made meatloaf before we bought the cow. In his mind, he can't remember the paradigm before, where we bought it at the grocery store.

We didn't get a digital camera until just as EG turned five, so all of my pictures of her at four are on film, not digitized. One of my favorites of her, ever, though, was taken that year. Standing on the beach, bathed in the waning sunlight, her grin both innocent and impish. Sometimes I'd like to have that four year old back - and I know I can't.

I know I can't stop FB at four, either. I won't be able to keep PC from turning five in her time. I just have to try to store the days up in my head and remember them. All 1,095 of them.

The History Files

Despite my insistence that we are not a history-centered homeschool, I do find we spend a good portion of money on biographies and supplemental histories. Part of it is the nature of the subject; it's very easy to be, for example, math-centered and diversify without needing to spend a large amount of money. Another part of it is availability; there are far more books written for children and young adults about various parts of history than there are about different parts of math, Latin, writing, or even science.

Preparing to cover history from 1850 to the present was a lot of fun, for me. When I was prepping this week's assignment sheet for EG, I told her, "We've made it to the 20th century in history! Yay!" She wasn't quite sure why I was so excited. It's a time period I've always enjoyed, though, and that made it particularly difficult to pare down the number of extra books planned.

As a result, the following list is pretty long. And, yes, we already owned a lot of these before I started planning this year's history lessons.

Abraham Lincoln's World, Foster
If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad
Ghosts of the Civil War, Harness.
If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War
Gettysburg
Lee and Grant at Appomattox
Paddle to the Sea, Holling.
Tree in the Trail, Holling.
Minn of the Mississippi, Holling.
Seabird, Holling.
If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island
Shutting Out the Sky
Usborne True Stories: The First World War
The World Wars
The Yanks Are Coming
The Woman's Rights Movement
Stalin: Russia's Man of Steel
Six Days in October
Children of the Great Depression
The Sinking of the Bismarck
Air Raid Pearl Harbor!
Battle in the Arctic Seas
The Great Escape: Tunnel to Freedom
Invasion: The Story of D-Day
Victory in the Pacific
The Good Fight
America & Vietnam: The Elephant and the Tiger
Team Moon
There Comes A Time
If You Lived At the Time of Martin Luther King, Jr.
10,000 Days of Thunder
Ain't Gonna Study War No More
Gay America
33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women's History
They Led the Way
Madam President
A Nation Challenged

The Perils of a Warm Climate

We live in an area with a relatively warm climate. Yes, we have four (or three and a half, maybe) seasons, but overall, we trend towards warmer. Still, it's been unseasonably warm the past couple of days. It's been appreciated since our entire HVAC unit stopped working - it won't even run the fan.

However, it's not appreciated since I went for a walk this afternoon early, and within minutes of said walk, I started sneezing. And sniffling. And pressure began to build, making my head hurt.

I'm trying hard not to resent it. I essentially lost most of my day to a headache, since I spent more time in the shower or in bed after that than anything else. I lost my appetite, which I suppose is one way to eat less.

I've said before that illness is a sign to slow down and take care of yourself. Normally, I wouldn't classify an allergic reaction in this category, but since I reacted so strongly, I admit it has me wondering. At the very least, it's accomplished something big - it's getting me to bed early.

Goals, And The Setting Thereof

Lately, goal-setting has been on my mind. It's come to my attention in various settings and in various ways, marching seemingly inexorably towards my conclusions. I read about a program for preschool and kindergarten students that involves, amongst other things, having the students make a plan for their main play activity each day. In essence, the students are setting goals for what they'll do while they play. There have been a few thoughtful threads lately on the WTM boards about goal-setting and inspiring excellence.

I have a lot of goals for my kids, and I want them to have goals for themselves, as well. I don't know what the best way to achieve those goals is, and I don't know the best way to inspire the kids to set their own goals. Here's what we've attempted and will be attempting, though.

01. Weekly Goals. Most weeks on Sunday afternoon or evening, we take a legal pad and titled it "Goals for the Week." FB has two lines, EG has three, and the mister and I each have four lines, plus a varying number of lines for combined goals. In general, we suggest one goal for each of the kids, and they come up with their other goal(s). At first, we had to give them more guidance, but they do relatively well at making them. A goal cannot be something that is already expected. I.e., EG can make her goal to finish all her schoolwork by a certain (earlier than usual) time or date, but she can't just make it her goal to finish all her schoolwork. That's required already. We adults try to model a combination of goals in various areas - focused leisure activities, learning activities, reading, and extra projects to improve household life.

02. Evaluation Meetings. We've been pretty slack about doing these formally, despite our best intentions, but we do them informally from time to time. The evaluation meetings were something we devised as a way to keep the away from home parent in the know about goings-on related to school. In practice, it serves as a handy way to assess progress in a variety of areas. Progress assessment is a vital component of goal-setting.

03. What's On Your Transcript? I have set out a sample of what might be on a transcript or college application - courses, testing, extracurricular activities, awards and recognitions, and so on. From that, I've completed it, the ideal that I would like to be completing for my kids to send to colleges several years from now. I've also talked about various components of it with EG. Between now and the end of next summer, we're going to talk about each component, what she's interested in it saying when she's finished with grade twelve, and what steps are required to make that happen. Do I think the finished product will look anything like what either of us currently thinks is the ideal? No, probably not. Do I think that it's still a valuable exercise? Absolutely.

04. Short Term and Long Term Goals. One of the strengths of the Girl Scout program, in my opinion, is that there are opportunities for scaffolding in terms of goals. EG has set some goals for her time in the Junior level program. She's stalled somewhat in the completion of those goals, but that's a multifaceted issue. More specifically, though, she wants to earn the Bronze Award, which is a terrific example of setting short term goals that lead towards a longer term goal. There are multiple steps that must be completed prior to beginning a larger project. Still, the long term goal is not as distant as some, and there is a concrete reward at the end, apart from the more abstract ones.

That's the core of my thoughts. We also try to encourage goal-setting when it comes to money and where to allocate it, but we're not too consistent on distributing allowance! There's a goal for us to work on. :)

Weekly Report: Week Fourteen

Brrr. I'm so glad that our house is actually on three different furnaces. Even though the main one is inexplicably not working (filter is suspected), the one for our schoolroom is.

EG had a good week. She finished steps fourteen and fifteen in AAS L5, and completed unit 3 in JAG. She also finished her rewrite of "The Silent Couple," and began the final story in Writing Tales 2. She also read The Red Fairy Book and did ten minutes of penmanship practice daily.

No new drill levels were beaten this week, but EG did complete twelve pages in Key to Measurement Book 4, eight pages in Key to Decimals Book 4, and all the lessons of Hands-On Equations. She's started working on the final level of problems in the Verbal Problems book from Hands-On Equations.

In history this week, EG read about the Boxer Rebellion and "other stuff about China," to quote. :) She wrote her summary about the Boxer Rebellion, and I couldn't help but think about Angel and Spike. She read another biography of Teddy Roosevelt, Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt!, and we're going to talk about how different biographers choose different incidents and approaches to the same subject.

I've decided I'm not overly impressed with our kit for color and light. Nevertheless, I think EG's getting a decent enough introduction to the subject. They did activities seven through eleven, then skipped twelve because we didn't have... something odd. I can't remember. They did thirteen, instead. EG also read the pages about light in the Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science.

Continuing in Latin meant more chapter twelve. It seems like the amount of history information is increasing chapter by chapter. I'm viewing it as non-essential but a nice way to allow for more time to master the vocabulary. I am trying to decide where we'll go after finished Lively Latin. I know there is a Lively Latin 2, but I've also heard complaints about errata, plus the possibility of it not being completed, if EG continues at her breakneck pace. I know I'll put her in Latin Prep 1 afterwards, either way, so I'll probably go ahead and purchase that, then decide.

EG has added another poem to her memory work, and she did three pages of logic this week, as well as reviewed the two words that have given her difficulty from VfCR 4. I'm not sure that the words give her difficulty so much as the context in which they're presented, but I'm still making her review them once more before going forward.

FB has been caught reciting parts of EG's memory work, in disjointed order. It's hilarious. It is interesting how much he's picked up just from listening in, though.

We're painting the kitchen and dining room, after having a stager come on Monday and give us various recommendations. We haven't painted the trim in the kitchen and dining room. I just don't think we have time - we have guests coming tomorrow afternoon - but it sure would be nice to be done with all the painting in the room and not worry about going back to do a little more.

Secular Thursday: Missing Out

On Wednesdays, FB takes a tumbling class at the local YMCA. The mothers generally stand outside the room and talk; EG goes to swim, and I chase PC around the hall. There's one woman who likes to talk to me about homeschooling. She doesn't exactly ask questions; she presents whatever she's thought of as a problem with homeschooling, and I have to respond. I have stock responses by now to a lot of questions, so that helps. It's especially fun when someone questions your ability to teach higher level math and science, and you get to reply with "My husband and I both attended Georgia Tech." It tends to shut them up, fast.

Her most recent concern dealt with high school activities. "What about high school," she began. "Not the courses, but all the extra activities. What about marching band, and debate, and things like that?" I fobbed her off with my stock answer, but on the way home, I thought about what she'd said.

And I laughed.

I went to a private day school for girls that had, at the time I attended, grades 7-12 (now it also has a sixth grade class). The two specific examples that she had chosen were activities that I didn't have at my high school. In other words, I wasn't homeschooled, yet I had no opportunity to participate in matching band or debate. It gets even more amusing when you consider that in our area, there is a homeschool marching band. As far as I know, there isn't a non-Christian homeschool debate team, but I'd really love to change that in a few years.

Her examples were poorly chosen. She did have a very real point: the high school experience will be very different for a homeschooled student versus a public school student (and, as I experienced firsthand, versus a private school student). I typically answer in a way that suggests that "it's okay, we can do most things that public school kids do!" However, that's not really how I feel about the matter at all. No, EG, FB, and PC won't experience the same things as their public-schooled counterparts. Their peers won't have the experiences that they will gain, either, though. There are numerous disadvantages and advantages to all types of educational paths for homeschooling, and while public school may be the norm, it doesn't negate the potential value in other paths.

Finally, can I just say how weird it is for someone to even bother quizzing me about high school when my oldest kid is nine? Sure, I think about the future and like to plan ahead, but I don't even know this woman's name. When I think about it, that's pretty weird.

Maybe my kid and hers will compete in debate in ten years. Or marching band. ;)

Wordless Wednesday: 11 November 2009

And Leap

"Too late for second-guessing, too late to go back to sleep. It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap."

Throughout each of my pregnancies, I've had certain songs that resonated with me during that time. When I was pregnant with Brigid, one of the songs that I listened to repeatedly was "Defying Gravity," from the show Wicked. There were a couple of lines that particularly stood out. One of them is above, particular the second sentence.

November 11, 2008, was my official due date. I hoped I'd have Brigid before that date, but the morning November 11 dawned with me still pregnant, and no sign of impending labor. In fact, it would be nine days later, on November 20, 2008, before Brigid would make her appearance at last, but on November 11, I was still hopeful that I'd be holding her ex utero within just a day or two.

Choosing an unassisted pregnancy and an unassisted birth had been the easy part. The best way to describe an unassisted pregnancy for me is blissful. No, I didn't have formal prenatal care from an outside source, but I took excellent care of myself. I monitored myself for issues, in more or less the same manner that a care provider would have monitored me. For many reasons, I approached my due date feeling good (with the exception of the SPD, but I have yet to find a care provider who can do much more than offer sympathy or a chiropractor recommendation for that!).

Really, going "past my due date" was the hard part. Not the birth (which was quick, but you have to wait until next Friday to hear about it), but the nine days that stretched in front of me. Many times when you read of women who have gone past their due dates, they are readying to be defiant in the face of pressure to induce or submit to testing they feel is unnecessary. There's a feeling of empowerment, I suspect, that comes from that defiance.

When you're the only care provider you have, there's nothing to defy. There's no reason to be empowered in the face of adversity, because there is no adversity. There's just you, and there's just waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Instead of defiance, there is surrender.

When I had gotten pregnant, I had known what I wanted to do for my pregnancy and birth. It was "too late" for me to change my mind, even at the beginning of the pregnancy. I had trusted my instincts, and I had even closed my eyes to the outside pressures and naysayers.

It wasn't Brigid's birthday. In retrospect, though, I can say that November 11, 2008 was the day that I leapt.

Our Physics, Let Me Show You It

I pulled together our physics study for the year from various resources. Originally, I planned to use the physics experiment book recommended in The Well-Trained Mind. After receiving it, however, and being honest with myself, I knew that experiments were much more likely to get done if we had all the supplies already. So I took the list of topics, and set about finding a kit for each topic. Here's what I ended up purchasing.

TOPS Electricity and the accompanying starter kit of materials.
TOPS Magnetism and the accompanying starter kit of materials.
Adventures in Science Color and Light
Science in a Nutshell: Flight! Gliders to Jets
Science in a Nutshell: Sound Vibrations
Science in a Nutshell: Water Physics
Physics Workshop, Thames & Kosmos

I didn't find a kit initially for heat. I have found the TOPS Heat unit, which is recommended for grades 8 through 12. It does look sort of fun, though, and I like the format of the TOPS units. Otherwise, I'll pull together my own supplies for heat. Gasp!

Then I went searching for supplementary books. This was much harder than I had anticipated. Many supplemental science books are written for a lower reading level than EG is capable of. There aren't a lot of mid-range books; it jumped quickly to books written for adult audience. Here's what I compiled, though:

The New Way Things Work
Cool Stuff
Cool Stuff 2.0
The Story of Inventions, Claybourne.
Electricity and Magnetism, Adamczyk.
Jets, Hewish.
Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science.
The Cartoon Guide to Physics, Gonick.
Touch This! Conceptual Physics for Everyone, Hewitt.
The Thermodynamics of Pizza, Morowitz.
The Physics of Christmas, Roger Highfield.
Waves, Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, Objects in Motion, Matter and Energy, and Liquids and Gases, all by Paul Fleisher.

Each week, I've pulled out some related reading to the topic from that week's lab activities.

What we're not doing that I wish we were? More science-based writing. However, EG already writes summaries for history; I don't want to just add more summaries with slightly different content. I'm hoping to start, after Christmas, requiring different portions of a lab report. I don't expect a full report from her, yet, but she could start by writing up formally the materials and procedure sections, for example.

Choosing a Modern Foreign Language

While I see a lot of value in Latin, and will certainly have EG continue her Latin study to whatever level she desires, I also feel that she should study a modern foreign language. I have several reasons for requiring from my child what wasn't required out of me. Yes, my foreign language requirements in high school were fulfilled by taking three years of Latin, and no, I wasn't required to take foreign language at all in college.

The most important reason is that I feel it's vital in today's society to speak at least one other language. While that's a strong enough reason on its own, I also have been planning with the end in mind. Most colleges and universities primarily want to know how homeschoolers have handled two things - competency in laboratory science, and fluency in a foreign language. While Latin was an acceptable entry on a transcript from a institutional school, I do feel that there is a chance of a non-spoken foreign language being looked upon as an "easy way out," and I want to avoid that appearance.

Many people recommend Spanish for study, and for years I assumed we'd study Spanish. At some point, though, I started thinking. Yes, it would be handy to have conversational Spanish in our society, but conversational Spanish that would allow EG to speak with Spanish speakers around us, most of which speak South American or Mexican dialects, is not going to be the focus of a formal Spanish program, per se. I also began to question the wisdom of taking all languages from the Romance family. The biggest concern I had and have, however, concerns EG's difficulty with spelling.

Spelling is very difficult for EG. I believe it's one of the primary reasons she didn't progress as well in Latin until this year. I have concerns about her attempting to learn three different spellings of Latinate words - big concerns. I read a bit about recommended foreign languages for people with spelling difficulties. Many recommendations mentioned learning a language that doesn't use the same alphabet at all.

Aha! That made sense. It was taking the language in a truly new context.

Finally, I went to the College Board website. I wanted to see what was available at an AP level as well as what was offered as a SAT Subject Test with Listening. The "with Listening" was important; it's standardized verification for colleges and scholarships.

AP exams are available in Chinese Language and Culture, French Language, German Language, Japanese Language and Culture, Latin: Vergil, Spanish Language, and Spanish Literature. I included all of them for the sake of completeness. SAT Subject Tests cover a broader range of languages, but only Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Korean are available with the Listening Test.

When I cross-reference what's available, and discard the Romance languages, three languages are left: Chinese, German, and Japanese. No, German doesn't quite fit my earlier criteria, but I have left it in because it meets one final criteria: the local university, which has a large number of homeschoolers that do dual enrollment, offers classes in both German and Chinese.

Sold! It's down to German or Chinese.

I have a potential lead for a Chinese tutor for EG, if we go that route. If we go with German, I'll likely call the university, ask to speak to the coordinator for the German program, and explain that I'm a homeschooler who would like to find a tutor, and can s/he recommend any students or professors who might be interested.

I'm tempted by German primarily because it seems like so many mathematicians were German for so long, and math is such a strong area for EG. While it doesn't escape our alphabet, it's not a Romance language. Chinese, on the other hand, is a completely new system, and will likely grow in importance as the century progresses.

Luckily, a decision can wait for a few more months, even if EG starts next year, but I feel like I have a direction and a focus, now.

Science, Revisited

Science should be the easy thing. My educational background is in science, and I have a strong idea of what I want EG to cover. There doesn't seem to be a curriculum that's structured in a way that even approaches what I want, though. It needs to be at least somewhat homeschool-friendly, it needs to be totally secular, and it needs to be rigorous. It doesn't need to have unnecessary busywork; EG would definitely like to accelerate her science, and plodding through a long textbook doesn't appeal to either of us.

I entertained the faint hope of pulling together resources from experiment kits and living books, as I generally have for past years. Already this year, though, I was having trouble finding books at the appropriate level. Most science books written at the adult level assume a working knowledge of high school level science; they aren't seeking to impart it. Most children's or young adult books are below the correct level. I had discarded the idea of Prentice Hall's Science Explorer series (at least as a main text), based on the fact that it's really not written for homeschoolers at all, plus the fact that it would be difficult to accelerate through a textbook. I may still purchased used copies to have available as additional reference material.

When I first found the CTY online courses, I thought that was the answer, until I discovered the price. Then I discovered that CTY uses the PLATO courses... which are available for a far more reasonable price through the homeschoolbuyerscoop. Now we're talking!

I also wanted to take the time to do a history of science course... and a general science overview using The Joy of Science and the Teaching Company lecture series by the same name. I couldn't see exactly how we'd manage to fit in both a history of science and a general science, and still hit high school science in seventh grade, but it seemed like maybe I'd manage to figure it out, somehow.

So, my tentative plans for EG, as of today. Subject to change at any moment. :)

Fifth grade: Evolution & Genetic class (taught by me) at co-op [hopefully this will happen, anyway], PLATO Life Science, PLATO Earth & Space Science, and limited experiments as applicable for life, earth, and space science.

Late fifth grade/Sixth grade: The Joy & History of Science. I'm going to have to combine these, I decided. I'll start working on my syllabus sometime soon. Resources that I plan to use: The Joy of Science, The Joy of Science TTC lecture series, Science: The Definitive Visual Guide, Joy Hakim's Story of Science books, and one or two science kits. I'm looking at Thames and Kosmos' Milestones in Science (which would dovetail nicely with the historical approach), as well as Core Science MS-1 and Elements of Science. The last two appear to have significant overlap, so we'd definitely only use one of those two, but I have no idea what selection or combination to use. I will probably email Thames & Kosmos and ask if I can preview the experiment lists or something.

I could just ask which kit has the fewest number of experiments involving balloons.

I hate balloons.

Seventh grade: PLATO high school biology and/or PLATO high school chemistry. These are the courses used by CTY's online course, which says it usually takes six months to complete a course. Now, EG could always change her mind, but when we've talked about it previously, she said she liked the idea of accelerating and doing both in one year. Oi! I don't know what labs we'd do. A limited number, for sure, and I might decide she should use something like this book instead of a preset kit.

Eighth grade: Physics, most likely using Hewitt's Conceptual Physics.

Ninth-twelfth grade: APs. Either all four AP sciences, or three AP sciences and one year dual enrollment (if she wants to do even more in one area, for instance, or take geology or astronomy).

The only thing that really bothers me is using so much computer-based learning, so I'll have to be careful to flesh it out with appropriate books. The other potential issue is getting my "Joy & History of Science" syllabus done before it's actually time to start. Likely, though, I should get the history one for fifth grade done first. Details, details!

While the merry bells keep ringing...

Confession: The kids watched a Christmas movie this afternoon (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), and we listened to Christmas music in the car this evening. We started with The Oak Ridge Boys Christmas, which is a perennial favorite. It doesn't really 'match' my musical tastes in general, but we've played it every Christmas that I can remember. Christmas wouldn't seem like Christmas without "Christmas Carol" and the rest of the songs. Then I put the iPod on shuffle and clicked over to the Christmas playlist, all 280 songs of it. Needless to say, we didn't listen to all of those songs, but we certainly did start.

I love Christmas. I love all the trappings of it. I'm not a big shopper, at Christmas or at any time, but I do like to go to a mall once or twice during the Christmas season, just to walk amongst the crowds and hear the Christmas music playing in the background. I have to resist the temptation to go completely overboard with regards to gifts. Not just to the kids, but to pretty much anyone to whom I choose to give presents. The money supply is only finite, however, and in the end, I don't think it's teaching a very good lesson to the kids to get piles and piles of presents.

We're trying this year to limit it thusly: one fun toy, one more educational toy, one 'media' item (a CD, book, or, this year, magazine subscription), a book from Mommy (as opposed to both Mommy & Daddy, a tradition that started when I gave my oldest She Is Born), and a calendar for the new year. We'll see how this works. I've also heard "something to read, something to wear, something you want, and something you need" as a rule of thumb. FB would love to get something to wear, but EG would still crinkle her nose and getting something to wear as a present!

I don't know if I buy into the "love languages" thing wholeheartedly, but I do know that gifts are generally my love language. I do get limited monetarily from time to time. When I'm receiving, it's not about the size of the gift or the expense, but rather, the amount of thought that went into the gift. I think that's why I had such trouble getting nothing but gift cards from my extended family, the last few years that the adults exchanged gifts.

So, Christmas. Here we go again! :)

Weekly Report: Week Thirteen

Thirteen?! I can't believe we've already hit week thirteen. Things went relatively smoothly this week. PC is throwing ever more impressive temper tantrums. FB has been playing with pattern tiles and the gear clock from our Right Start materials, as well as practicing his handwriting. Onto the big girl.

Language Arts: EG finished steps 11, 12, and 13 in AAS Level 5. She worked on the rewrite for "The Silent Couple" in WT2, and did Unit 2 in JAG. She continues to do 10 minutes of penmanship practice each morning. I'm going to have her begin to transition to cursive during some of her other schoolwork. She had a relatively easy week as far as literature, reading through the Peter Rabbit books in order. It fits with the time period, and she's always read them in fits and starts.

Latin: Steaming through, EG wrapped up Chapter 11 and began Chapter 12, which starts diagramming Latin sentences. I think that's pretty cool. New vocabulary with Chapter 12, so some vocabulary game practice online, and I'll probably insist she do it over the weekend as well.

Math: EG beat drill level 29 (yay!), and completed pages 12-18 in Key to Measurement Book 4. In Key to Decimals Book 4, she finished pages 9-19. We also worked on Hands-On Equations, finishing lessons 18-23. She wants to do the work in her head and not with the manipulatives. I had to sit her down and insist that if she doesn't use the manipulatives, she has to write all the work on the paper. She didn't seem to like that idea, but she'll have to get used it.

History: EG read about the "settling" of the American West, as well as stocks, stockbrokers, and philanthropists, in SOTW 4. She wrote her summary about the West, and I made sure she understood the nature of the conflicts. She had read about Geronimo and Sitting Bull previously in her biographies. She read Shutting Out the Sky, which is a very well-done book about immigration and tenement living, as well as If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island, and Teddy Roosevelt: American Rough Rider. While she was still reading the latter, she asked me who had won the presidential election - Cleveland or [insert name I had never heard, and don't remember]. I laughed and said Cleveland, because I had never even heard of the other guy! She also did the Native American Names activity from the SOTW 4 activity guide.

Physics: EG started on Light this week. She reviewed chapter one in Waves, and then did activities one through four from the Color and Light kit. Later today will be activities five and six. I'm not sure how long it will take to do this unit, because it seems like the activities aren't taking as long as I anticipated.

Miscellaneous: EG added another poem to the memory work line-up. We reviewed the words she had missed on previous vocabulary tests and retested. She mastered three of the six this time around, so it looks like another few days of reviewing. I'm not sure if she doesn't get the meanings or if the examples are just confusing for her. She did two pages in Logic Liftoff. Master's Academy and co-op went well, and she made it back to swimming both days this week. Unfortunately, they seem to have decided not to offer stroke clinic on T/Th for the next session, just M/W. Wednesdays would be fine, but Mondays are definitely more problematic - we don't get home from Master's Academy until 5:15 - she'd have just thirty minutes to change clothes AND eat. Piano lessons are going well, and we're going to look for someone to teach her trumpet lessons, at least for a few months.

The house is hermetically sealed, or at least it feels that way. We're having the exterior painted, so all of the windows are covered in plastic sheeting. It's a hazy view of the world.

Secular Thursday: If Mama Ain't Happy

Sometimes the hardest thing about homeschooling is the simple fact that Mama sets the tone for everything.

This is, of course, true for all homeschooling mothers (and the few, the proud, the homeschooling fathers). I have noticed over the years, however, that extremely religious homeschoolers have a fallback position. They are homeschooling because of a religious conviction, and amongst their peers (other religious homeschooling mothers), they are likely to find that their reasons for homeschooling, as a whole, are relatively homogenous.

Not so with the non-religious, secular homeschoolers. Let's say we have x number of homeschooling parents at our co-op on Tuesday. If you compiled a list of their primary reasons for homeschooling, you would have x reasons - or possibly x+1. Your very well-meaning friend may attempt to encourage you by naming some of the benefits she most appreciates from homeschooling... only they may not be yours. Worse, they could even be opposite your own.

Many of us that do the primary teaching also are the ones that research, decide upon, and purchase curriculum. We're often the ones who are in charge of developing a plan for meals, and since we're home all day, that means three meals. Every day. Some of us are lucky enough to share grocery shopping duty, but not all of us are. There's a good chance we shoulder more than half the burden of the household chores.

In short, we aren't just the teacher, we're the parent, too, and we've got to keep things moving ever forward. How can we do it?

In an ideal world, every homeschool mom would be the recipient of massage weekly, or at least monthly. Since few of us live in such a wonderful world, we'll have to make do as best we can with other thoughts.

01. Delegate. If you have more disposable income, this might mean having a cleaning service, a lawn service, taking your laundry elsewhere, or other services. It may mean talking to your spouse and agreeing on a more equitable division of both labor and responsibility. Don't forget that even though "planning meals" doesn't look laborious, it requires more mental effort and responsibility. Make sure those components are balanced. Delegating should definitely involve having your kids do things. My four year old is often in charge of setting the table. Both he and the nine year old are expected to get their dishes rinsed and in the dishwasher.

02. Get enough sleep. Even if it means that something is left undone, you're going to get so much more accomplished on a full night's rest. I need to take this advice myself. While you're at it, especially if you're pregnant or nursing, stick a water bottle on your nightstand. If you wake up, have a sip. Drink what's left when you get up in the morning.

03. Write it down. Do this before you get overwhelmed. Do it on one of those homeschooling days, the days you want to save and just replicate, when the work is done quickly with smiles, the sun is shining, and everyone is both well-fed and clean. Write down your reasons for homeschooling. Write down what you hope to have accomplished by the time your kids complete high school. Even if you intend to stop homeschooling before that time, you still have to work backwards.

04. Go back and read the two documents as needed.

05. Keep a hidden supply of b, where b is your feel-good vice. Some like wine, others prefer chocolate. I actually want a Custardista Tiffany to prepare me caramel apple ice Mistos at my whim, but since they don't sell those, I've had to settle. Whatever your vice, make sure it is hidden. This is imperative. This is not to be shared. It is for you, in those low moments.

There you have it: delegate, get sleep, write it down, and have a hidden secret vice. Oh, and give your significant other a copy of this chart.

Wordless Wednesday: 4 November 2009.

From Whence My Internet Moniker Came

Television & Teaching, Sort Of

I like television.

I don't watch a great deal of it, just four shows that are currently still in production: CSI, CSI: NY, Glee, and Dollhouse. Occasionally I'll watch Cold Case, because I love how they use the appropriate music.

If I have a choice, though, between watching a movie or two episodes of a favorite television show on DVD, I'm going to pick the television show. I like watching shows I didn't catch the first time on DVD, too.

As EG is getting older, though, I'm starting to wonder about when to introduce her to some of my favorites. They're part of our cultural heritage now, like it or not, and the ones I like, I like quite a bit.

I want her to get to know Buffy & the Scoobies; Fraser & Ray (both of 'em) from Due South; Sam, Al, and Ziggy; Captain Tightpants, Kaylee, and River; Kotter and Horshack; Starbuck, Adama, and Apollo; Echo and Sierra-and-Victor; Rachel, Will, Emma, and Finn. I've kept her so carefully sheltered from commercial television, because of the commercials and the inane content, but it's also sheltered her in other ways. How do I know when it's time? How do I make sure I don't miss the window? I don't know.

I don't know, except that I've already pre-ordered the first half of season one of Glee, and I think that I'll be letting her watch it with me. We'll talk about the lies, the problems of pregnancy in high school, and some of those topics to which she's not really been exposed. She'll probably ignore a lot of it anyway, in favor of the musical numbers. I already have been forced to keep certain songs in a loop in the car, and our CD just arrived today.

What's On YOUR iPod?

Today, I achieved something close to podcast nirvana. I have no back episodes waiting for me. When I've been close to having this happen previously, I've inevitably heard about some wonderful new podcast to which I simply had to begin listening. I think I'm done searching out new podcasts, though. I like the (extensive) line up as it is now. I'm leaving out podcasts that aren't updated regularly or haven't been updated for more than a year, even they were updated regularly up until that point.

60 Second Civics & 60 Second Science are both great daily podcasts. The latter is only released on weekdays, but the first one has an episode every day.

Classics for Kids is released every Saturday. Each month takes a different composer as the main focus. Past episodes are also available on the show's website. At six minutes, it's a good length for the kids. We like to listen to it on weekend drives or on the way to Master's Academy.

From the Quick and Dirty Tips group of podcasts, I like to listen to Get-It-Done Guy and Grammar Girl. Get-It-Done Guy isn't always relevant to not working in a corporate office, but plenty of it is. They're both weekly podcasts.

My favorite podcast at which to poke fun is How to Homeschool. It's a homeschool graduate and his mother, and they say completely inane things each and every episode. I only include it for the sake of completeness, really. That, and as a cautionary tale. If you want to do a podcast, don't sound like Scott & Becky.

The Princeton Review has a couple of great podcasts - LSAT Logic in Everyday Life, and The Vocab Minute. The kids love the songs for vocabulary. EG sometimes listens to the logic with me; it's not all that LSAT specific, but does do a good job at covering informal logic.

If you're a geek, don't miss Math Mutation. It's funny and interesting. I blame Math Mutation for FB's obsession with the concept of infinity.

In Our Time, from the BBC, is a new favorite. It covers a variety of topics once a week. EG and I listen to it on the way to and from her piano lesson each Thursday.

I love several podcasts from NPR. Weekly, they compile the education stories and environmental stories into two respective podcasts. I also like the It's All Politics and Science Friday podcasts.

While we're on the subject of politics, my other political indulgences are P3: Post Politics Program, a 25 minute weekly review of the nation's politics, and President Obama's Weekly Address, available in convenient podcast format. I feel more informed by my three weekly political podcasts than I do after days of trying to find real news on mainstream media websites.

Finally, I've recently added Scientific American to the mix. The most recent podcast discussed human evolution, and there was a special episode about the new Nobel laureates.

EG & FB don't listen to all of these, especially not FB. When they do, though, we often have great conversations about them. Since I'm in the car so much, I like not constantly scanning the radio stations for decent music or hearing part of an NPR story only to miss the conclusion when I reach my destination.

What are some of your favorite podcasts?

In Which Pens and Pencils Overtake My Desk (and My Life)

I admit that I have a Thing about supplies. I like a well-sharpened pencil; a good eraser could make me weak in the knees. My philosophy with regards to pens runs along the lines of "the more, the better." To know that there is a full supply of paper in the household is to have mental peace.

Eventually, though, you have more than you expected. Eventually, you might, for example, have two big pencil cups full of pens and pencils, more pencils in a drawer, and Sharpies and pens taking over your desktop.

(I didn't mention the Sharpies? I adore Sharpies.)

A good pen sticks with you. It's the first one for which you reach, at least until the next shiny pen introduces itself to your routine. You remember the day when the old pen came first, though, and you can't bear to discard it or - worse - pass it along to a spouse or child. They might not treat your cast-off with the respect it deserves! They may not grasp its worth immediately! Worst of all, they may be the recipient of its final ink.

Clearly, that's not the way to winnow your pens to a manageable size.

I want a clean workspace. I don't have a drawer under my desktop, nor are their drawers at all with my desk. I have a separate storage unit with two drawers, a shelf, and some filing slots. The bottom drawer is far too deep for writing implements; the top drawer is full of technological accessories - picture cords, iPod cords, slips of paper with scribbled passwords, battery chargers, and wall chargers. It became the designated holding spot for those things long before I attempted to get a handle on the Writing Implement Situation. When I first bought my pencil cups (which, naturally, match both each other and the legs of my desk), I thought my problems were solved. There were - for about two months. Maybe not even that long. More pens found their way into our home (complementary with package, complementary in conference freebie bag, not complementary at Office Depot...). Eventually, I stopped trying to fit more pencils and pens into the overstuff cups and instead just began putting them "neatly" on my desktop. There's only one issue with that.

Pens (and pencils) roll.

I still have no solution. I don't even really have ideas, except for the thought that Sharpies deserved a container reserved especially for them. Perhaps the real kicker is the knowledge that it's not just me, anymore. I can see signs of this disorder in EG, as well. Just ask her about her pencil box, pencil pouch, and pencil bag. All of them are, naturally, full.

Weekly Report: Week Twelve

Another week done. I feel like I personally am hitting a wall, but it doesn't seem to be affecting EG, luckily. I still feel bad that I'm not doing anything aside from handwriting with FB. I also finally gave in and acknowledged that PC is at least somewhat high-needs. I had made the connection when she was much younger, but because I had planned to carry her, breastfeed on demand, and so forth, it didn't really register. Now that I still cannot leave her alone so that I can make dinner? It's wearing on me.

EG just keeps steaming through her work.

Language arts: EG is continuing to do ten minutes of penmanship each morning. She's finished Step 10 in AAS Level 5. She also started JAG this week, and finished Unit 1 (Nouns). Finally, she finished up her rewrite of "The Honest Woodsman" for WT2.

Math: EG completed Level 13 of drill, and came close to beating Level 29. She's finished Key to Measurement Book 3, and started Book 4. She also finished the review pages selected for Key to Decimals Book 3. I'm having her work through all of Key to Decimals Book 4 because it's more application of skills than straight skills - checkbook registers and more. EG also did all of the Verbal Problems associated with Hands-On Equations Level 2, and did the first lesson of Level 3. The way she just "gets" math continues to surprise me, even though I suppose it shouldn't by now.

EG chose the Spanish-American War from her SOTW reading for writing her summary this week. She also read You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? and Seabird.

The sound unit was finished in physics this week; next week, either color and light or water physics. I liked the open-ended questions in the Science in a Nutshell activity journals.

In Latin, EG finished up Chapter 10 and started on Chapter 11. She also worked on Lesson 5 in Vocabulary from Classical Roots 4, and did three pages in logic. Memory work involved adding the next poem to the repertoire.

Master's Academy & co-op went well; missing band today thanks to a cold on the part of EG. She also had to miss swimming last night.

Secular Thursday: On Programs & Co-Ops

Let's talk about homeschool programs. Various called co-ops, "schools," enrichment programs, and other monikers, they're the groups where your child learns something in a class taught by someone other than their usual teacher. We currently participate in three different ones, and honestly? None of them are ideal. If one was, we'd be attending just one!

One day a week, EG and FB attend Master's Academy of Fine Arts. It's organized. I can drop them off, and I don't even have to get out of the car to drop them off or pick them up. (This is big; it means PC can stay asleep in her carseat.) It's focused on - surprise, surprise - fine arts. The kids learn about art, music, and drama, as well as develop skills in those areas. There are parties around holidays. It's like the fun part of public or private school! What's the problem? It's religious. Very religious. We have to have debriefings some weeks. The content is religious, anyway. The people there, while supposedly fundamentalist, are some of the nicest people I have met in the homeschooling world. After being exposed to others at homeschool band (see below), I have started to think of them almost as moderate. It's all relative.

Another day, we go to a local secular co-op. I love the co-op model. I even like having the opportunity to teach a class or two. It's not organized. I can drop EG off and leave, but I have to go inside to sign a piece of paper both upon arrival and departure. This week, that meant twice that I woke up PC to walk through the rain and sign a piece of paper. It's not focused; there's no guarantee of what classes will be offered except for what I myself might decide to offer. Did I mention that it's not organized?

Finally, we attend the local homeschool music program, for band. It's not organized. It's full of quiverfull types, down to the matching clothes and fifteen passenger vans. It's nominally religious, but this mainly comes through in the email list, so far. What EG is learning is basic band material, nothing more or less. That's not the case in the chorus (which EG dropped after one week), and maybe it's not true in the higher levels, either, but so far, the music at least is not too religious for our tastes.

As you can see, I have issues with all of these in some way. My ideal program would be, above all, organized, in case you hadn't guessed. But what else would I want in the perfect program?

There would be a standard course on drawing for grades 1-4, based on Drawing with Children, one for grades 5-8, based on Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and one for grades 9-12, based on Basic Drawing Techniques and Basic Figure Drawing Techniques. Additionally, there would be a standard course for each level group on singing as part of a group. This course would also include the basics of musical theory.

There would be "elective" art classes offered in the hour before the core events - painting, sculpture, and mixed media - divided by level groups. For the logic and rhetoric stage students, there might be more specialization – photography, perhaps, or visual design/architectural drawing. Rather than offering further classes in music, there would be a choral group for each level group. Older logic stage and rhetoric stage students might choose to put together smaller, more specialized choral groups. Instrumental instruction would not be offered, but ideally parents would share their "finds" of instructors with each other. In time, a band could perhaps be formed.

The remainder of the program would be focused towards preparation for academic competitions. Grade level appropriate math clubs would be available for students in fourth grade and up. Speech and debate would be a major focus: a basic public speaking class for the youngest, focused mainly on memorization and recitation; a preparatory level class for fourth and fifth grade age level students; competition in speech competitions via National Junior Forensics League for sixth through eighth grade age level students; and competition in debate (with speech events remaining available) through National Forensics Level for rhetoric stage students. Additional competitive groups might eventually include Model UN, Odyssey of the Mind, and Science Olympiad. Students would also be encouraged to form less structured study groups for the individual science Olympiads, foreign language exams, and other national academic competitions.

Programs would begin at 12 noon and continue throughout the afternoon. As much as possible, concurrent classes would involve different age level students, so that a given individual student could participate in all offered activities, or at least maximize their involvement.

I also wouldn't label it secular. If pressed for a label, I'd call it inclusive. No, there would not be any specific religious content, but neither would there be specific atheistic content. Nonsectarian. Yes, we secular homeschoolers have a tendency to feel that we must cluster together, show the rest of the homeschooling world that we do, in fact, exist. Yes, many Christian groups feel that they are a persecuted minority. In our attempts to define our spaces, however, I think we eliminate excellent opportunities.

No on has to discuss Darwin to master the art of drawing. Jesus doesn't have to be present in math competitions, just pi. The quest to find the like-minded for biology courses and the worldview through which history is presented is important; it's also important for the parents to find likeminded colleagues. There are few enough homeschoolers with a focus on academic excellence, though, that I feel perhaps we ought to band together. Regardless of religion.

Realistically, I don't see a program like this succeeding in my community, even if it were to start. There are too many well-established programs in my area; people don't want to leave the familiar, nor do they want to overbook their children. I'll continue to cobble together a program, relying on one program for one set of skills, another for likeminded friends. And secretly, I'll imagine a world where the people at band, at co-op, and Master's Academy could all get along. We'd have to make sure not to bring up religion, science, or politics... but we're homeschoolers. Surely we can come up with something about which to talk!

Wordless Wednesday: 28 October 2009

Weekly Report: Week Eleven

This week would make a great example for a "typical week of school" for us. Nothing extraordinary, nothing lousy. Somehow I personally have managed to feel "behind" - I owe comments and emails to various people, and I owe myself some quality time with books, not to mention my mattress.

Daily, EG did penmanship, math drill, memory work, Latin, and spelling, as well as working in three different math books and on her week's writing project in Writing Tales 2.

In Latin, she's almost completed chapter 10, and in spelling, she's finished through step 7 in Level Five. She did several pages in both Key to Measurement Book 3 and Key to Decimals Book 3. She also finished Level 2 of Hands-On Equations.

The big news for the week is that EG finished her first grammar book of the year, Editor in Chief A1!

Earlier this week, I posted EG's latest writing project. While working on her summary for history, I encouraged her to try using some of what she had learned in WT2. She managed relatively well.

She read two chapters in SOTW 4, and chose to summarize the section about the next-to-last czar, Alexander III. In physics, she read a bit about sound, and did four activities from the "Sound Vibrations" Science in a Nutshell kit.

This week, EG read The Terrible Wave, The Story of Thomas Alva Edison, and Susan B. Anthony. She and her father continued reading in The Hobbit.

FB worked on writing "F" and "E." He also listened to the The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches multiple times. His current obsession, though, is the music from Les Miserables, especially the first four or five songs.

PC is well on her way to earning a different blog moniker. She gives terrifically fierce hugs, so she may become TH. She also is running at times.

I'm feeling somewhat down this week because of the situation with the house we want to buy. Yes, we're still in limboland, almost two months after I first spotted the house. We should be doing several things to our house in the next one to two weeks. They'll make our house nicer for as long as we're here, but they also will make it much easier to sell the house. I hate feeling out of control, and it's even worse when I feel dependent on the decisions of total strangers. I wish I could write them a letter, and tell them how much we would love the house and take care of it.

Wordless Wednesday: 21 October 2009

EG's Latest Writing Project (from Writing Tales)

This is EG's rewrite of "The Story of Regulus." She had to work hard at not accidentally writing the original phrasing during the rewrite. A lot of use of synonyms here!



     Once, across the sea from Rome, there was a large city called Carthage. The Romans didn’t like the Carthaginians, and finally war began between them. At first it was very difficult to determine who was stronger. The war went on for a long time.
     The Romans had a general named Regulus. He was taken prisoner. He was very ill and dreamed of his home. He knew he would probably not return. While he had been captured, as a general, he knew that the Romans were making progress towards winning the war.
     One of the rulers of Carthage came to talk to him. “I want to make peace with Rome,” he said. “I will let you go if you do what I say.”
     “What is that?” asked Regulus.
     “You must try to make your rulers make peace, and if they won’t, you must come back,” the ruler said.
     The ruler let Regulus go back to Rome, for he knew a Roman would keep his word.
     When Regulus got to Rome, the people of Rome rejoiced to see him again. The rulers of Rome, called Fathers, asked him about the war.
     “I was sent to plead with you to make an accord, but that wouldn’t be smart,” he said.
     The Fathers tried but didn’t succeed in getting him to stay. His family asked him to stay.
     “No,” Regulus said. “I will not break my promise.” He went courageously back to jail, and was indeed killed.
     This is the type of courage that built the greatest city of ancient times.

Just Another Manic Monday

Curriculum. Let's talk curriculum, specifically: curriculum I love. I've been meaning to do a post like this for awhile now. Fortified on a good breakfast (whole wheat tortilla, scrambled egg, black beans, and salsa, plus orange juice, iron supplement, and two cups water), and blessed with a spontaneous early nap, I find myself with the time to write this post. In no particular order, then, curriculum that I especially love, either because EG loves it, I love various features of it and its depth, or both.

Life of Fred mathematics. EG loves that it's a story. I love that many of the problems are word problems, that they often require EG to pull in material from previous lessons and use it in slightly different ways, and that it's written to the student. One of the biggest problems I had in school as I reached higher levels of math was difficulty reading the textbook; I had become used to the teacher explaining it, so if I didn't understand her explanation, I was out of luck. EG is already learning to look primarily to the text for any necessary explanations. Yay!

Hands-On Equations. EG clearly has a gift with mathematics. I love, though, that this gives her the opportunity to still "play" with some higher concepts and have an easy introduction to algebra. She's already making leaps beyond the materials, and that's okay. She calls it the fun math, and as a result, is easy to start algebra in a few weeks. I can't really ask for much more than that.

Writing Tales. EG sped through the first book last spring, and she's similarly completing the second book at a faster pace than written. It's thorough, though, and forces her to review grammar, not to mention it's improved her alphabetization skills immensely, thanks largely to the dictionary-required vocabulary pages. EG told her father last night that "The drafts in Writing Tales are the hardest thing I do in school!" Her father wisely replied, "Good! It must be a lot of fun, then!" It does challenge her, and I'm glad for it.

Lively Latin. Latin that has actually gotten done daily! Better yet, it's secular, and the layout is visually appealing. EG can have difficulty with very cluttered pages - Latin for Children was a (visual) disaster for her. We don't study the history in depth but I like that it's there to read. Now that she's older, I like that there is an online option for games - they make a nice 'reward' that I can give her. I also like that I could see going much slower with it with FB and PC, starting as early as late second grade.

Our science, history, and literature are pulled together by me, so I don't have specific curriculum to recommend. Otherwise, while the rest of our choices work for us, they aren't especially beloved. I do have to give special mention to All About Spelling, with which I have a love/hate relationship. It has helped EG improve her spelling immensely (though no doubt time has assisted too), but we both hate the day to day drudgery of it. I can't wait until two or three years from now when EG is able to do 90% of her written work on the computer and spell-check comes to our rescue, though I never thought I'd be saying that.

Weekly Report: Week Ten

Since the teacher was having a birthday yesterday, EG worked hard to complete her week's work by Wednesday night. The goal was to avoid doing school yesterday or most of today, especially since she has testing today for band. The only things remaining are finishing up the week's literature selection, Around the World In Eighty Days, which is almost complete, science lab tonight, and reciting memory work once today. We're both enjoying our little "autumn break."

Speeding through Latin continues. This week, EG began and completed Chapter 9. I will have her work with the online vocabulary games today and over the weekend before she adds new words next week.

Our overall language arts program is going well, too. Ten minutes of penmanship each morning, two steps in All About Spelling Level Five this week, and three activities in Editor in Chief A1. In Writing Tales 2 this week, EG worked with the story of Regulus. Her rewrite was much more extensive but she still needs to make sure that, when writing from a key word outline, she doesn't just rewrite the original sentences.

Hands-On Equations was picked up again for the first time since the summer. EG loves the work in Hands-On Equations and calls it the "fun math." Considering she likes math overall, that's extremely high praise. She did Lessons 8 through 12, which is most of Level 2, introducing "star" which is essentially "-x." She also did some review in Key to Decimals Book 2, took the practice test for Key to Decimals Book 3, and did twelve pages in Key to Measurement Book 3, which is covering area and volume. She beat one level of drill and got much closer in her other level.

IEW Geography-Based Writing Lessons are officially ditched. I don't feel bad about it at this point - it's an ebook, so I only paid $10, and it did give her more practice at rewriting from a key word outline. Neither of us were enjoying the curriculum, and I thought the Holling C. Holling books, while well-written, were a poor choice for teaching, for example, taking factual notes. This is a skill that EG could use to develop, but I think we'll used SOTW 4 and some of our other resources for that. EG read The Wright Brothers and enjoyed it, as she does most of the Landmark books. She also read Minn of the Mississippi, and Chapter 12 in SOTW 4, about Ireland and South Africa.

This week will commence the exploration of sound in science. EG read Adventures in Sound, and they will do five or so of the activities from the Sound Vibrations kit, part of the Science in a Nutshell series, tonight.

EG did memory work each day, and will review it again today. She did three pages in Logic Liftoff, and took the test for Lesson 4 in Vocabulary from Classical Roots 4. We'll use her results in the first four tests to make flashcards for specific words.

EG also resumed taking stroke clinic twice a week at the Y, in addition to swimming during FB's tumbling class, so she's swimming three times a week. Co-op is still going well. EG had her rededication for Girl Scouts Monday as well. Piano lessons were skipped this week owing to it being my birthday. No Master's Academy this week, either, which is what truly made it possible to take yesterday and today as very light "off" days.

FB had a good week as well, as we started on the next handwriting book. He's very motivated to work on handwriting, even if he's not with regard to anything else! He had a break from swim lessons as well, which restarted last Saturday. He continues to love tumbling and is talking about doing gymnastics when he's too old for his tumbling class. I actually think it would be a good fit for him. He of course still wants to play basketball, too. He'll finally be old enough for a team this winter.

PC now has four teeth. In the space of about seven days, she acquired a stuffy nose, had a night of upset tummy and vomiting, and three teeth popped through her gums. Her latch completely deteriorated! It's improving now, thanks to careful work on my part. She's eating more and more, though it's still not overly exciting to her like it was to her big brother!

And I got a new secondary brain for my birthday in the form of an iPhone. I've also spent time poring over books about staging your house to sell (unsurprisingly, most buyers don't want to buy a schoolroom, so staging the sunroom will involve making it Something Else) as well as real estate listings for comps to the house we want. We'll probably take a look at three to eight properties to compare, which also gives us time to do some necessary work on the house before we could list it. It's not a great market right now, but we're thinking positive. It's a great house in a great location, and has several things a buyer wouldn't expect to get in our neighborhood. Here's hoping!

Weekly Report: Week Nine!

Quick, EG: if we have 36 weeks of school to complete, and we just finished week nine, what percentage of the school year have we finished?

As any scholar that's finished Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents will tell you, that's 25%.

That's EG's big news for the week: finishing the aforementioned title. I, being the harsh supervisor of scholars that I am, had EG do all five tries at the Final Bridge. Yes, she had passed the Bridge long before the end of the week, but despite a few tears, we persevered. She also completed Key to Measurement Book 2 and started Key to Measurement Book 3, and finished seven selected review pages in Key to Decimals Book 2. Starting next week, she'll have a slight break from LoF while she does some more extensive work with measurement and reviewing decimals and percents further. After about four weeks, she'll resume learning more about Fred in Beginning Algebra. Eek!

Latin continues to go well for EG, as she's almost completed Chapter 8 (out of a total of sixteen chapters). She does need to solidify her command of the most recent vocabulary, so she's been told she can play vocabulary games on the computer this weekend. Since she doesn't often get to play on the computer, this ends up being a treat for her. She also continues to do penmanship daily, and work in Editor in Chief A1 thrice a week. She and her father read less in The Hobbit this week than previous weeks, but I think she has renewed enthusiasm - she was reminded yesterday that after The Hobbit, there are three more books she can read! As far as her own reading, this week she read Pinocchio. She observed that she didn't think it was the same story as the Disney version, which led to a discussion about how Disney modifies their source material into a story that they feel will make a better movie and sell more tickets. Her model for Writing Tales was about Sir Walter Raleigh this week, and the grammar consisted of when to make a new paragraph. Hooray! We've been needing that lesson, I had noticed in recent weeks.

EG and Smrt Mama's Captain Science are finishing magnetism this week. They'll actually do the last three labs in just a little while, when the McLernin family comes over for dinner & Dollhouse. EG also read in The New Way Things Work and Paul Fleisher's Waves about magnetism and its applications.

History this week was chapter eleven in SOTW 4, and EG also read Elizabeth Blackwell, Helen Keller (both COFA biographies), and Tree in the Trail. We continued using IEW's Geography-Based Writing Lessons in lieu of writing history summaries. I'm not impressed by the story sequence charts and am tempted to skip that Unit altogether, in favor of more expository writing.

It's official - EG has memorized The Gettysburg Address, as well as "O Captain! My Captain!" I feel like my duty as a parent is nearly completed with the memorization of the latter, which is one of my favorite poems. She's still doing daily review of the other poems she's memorized, including "Charge of the Light Brigade" and the first eight poems in the first level of IEW's poetry memorization program. We'll start back focusing on their poems on Monday, now that her history memory projects are complete.

The nitty-gritty: she's working through Vocabulary from Classical Roots 4 two or three times per week, and doing a page or two out of Logic Liftoff thrice a week.


FB chose a new puzzle at Borders today (EG got the next book (The Black Cauldron) in her current series (The Pyrdain Chronicles.), and is happily trying to put it together. It's a beautiful pink horse scene. He resumes swim lessons in the morning and completed his HWT pre-K workbook today! We'll start work on the K level book next week. He told me today that he "just can't deal with" phonics lessons, despite wanting to learn to read. Go figure. Since we've been doing handwriting steadily once more, I'll think I'll wait another week of just handwriting, then add math. Two weeks of math and handwriting, and we'll cautiously approach phonics. I think when he does decide to learn to read, he'll take off with the skill. I can only lead the horse to water, though; can't force it to drink!


PC ran down the hallway the other day. Noooo. She also correctly identified the cat on the cat food packaging. "Daaaaeeeee!" Well, PC, the cat pictured was not, in fact, our cat (Daisy), but close enough. She really likes the cat.


I am toying with the idea of making resolutions for my birthday, rather than New Year's Resolutions. I'll be turning 29 on Thursday (no, really, I was born in 1980), and I wonder if I would do better with my goals if I capitalized on my favorite season of autumn. It might just be worth a shot. I'm also busy making lists, and then lists of lists, trying to decide what to do with our house should we have an offer accepted on the house we'd like to buy. I know enough to stage the house and make as many repairs as possible, but we also have a limited budget within to work, so I have to prioritize. My goal for this week is to eliminate as many things as possible that require $50 or less, and identify professionals for the remaining tasks. If anyone who lives near me knows of reputable exterior painters, interior painters (just one wall, but it's tall), or HVAC professionals, please, let me know!

Secular Thursday: Why I Recommend The Well-Trained Mind First

Let's get real. Homeschooling can be lonely. Being the secular homeschooler in a group of conservative Christian homeschoolers can be lonely. Equally lonely, though, is being the curriculum-using rigorous homeschooler in a group of secular homeschoolers. There's a lot of flitting on the edges, not feeling like you quite fit in any group.

Because I've homeschooled from the beginning, I've become something of a "go-to" gal for public school mamas with whom I'm acquainted, when they first begin thinking about homeschooling. They want book recommendations, and I recommend The Well-Trained Mind first, every time.

I admit that there is a selfish motive driving it slightly. The more secular, liberal Christian, or non-Christian homeschoolers of other religious beliefs there are that use WTM-inspired methods, the less alone I feel! That's not the main motivation, though.

I also know that there are other, more general homeschooling books that are written from a secular, mainstream perspective. Many of these, though, tend to overly praise unschooling and other relaxed approaches, and spend a few paragraphs lambasting any approach that uses methods from institutional schools - which tends to include neo-classical and classical education.

I recommend The Well-Trained Mind first, though, because I want these neophyte homeschoolers to see what's possible. I want the mom who is considering homeschooling because she wants something better to see just how much better is possible. I want to encourage my fellow secular homeschoolers to reach high. There's no shame in reaching for the stars and falling short. There is, I feel, shame in only reaching for the light switch.

The Well-Trained Mind can give people hope. It's not really necessary to know about the history of homeschooling in detail. It is necessary to know what steps to take to be legal in your state. It's not helpful to look at huge books of resources in the beginning. It is helpful to have a list that is winnowed down to some of the best. There are excellent resources that are not recommended in WTM, that is true, but it's a very good start. Above all, The Well-Trained Mind can help the new homeschooling parents feel that there is a plan and a vision. They'll likely modify it, but they can begin, knowing that there's something to work towards... other than the required 180 days on our state's attendance sheets.

Secular Thursday Special!

Today, we'll have not one but two secular Thursday posts, brought to you by the trip Smrt Mama and I took to our local (religious) homeschool store. To be honest, this post was going to be very different. It was going to be a photoblog to encourage other secular or non-fundamentalist Christian homeschoolers that yes, they should visit their local Christian homeschool store, because it's possible to find good materials there. Unfortunately, I had the second or third negative experience I've had there recently. The details aren't particularly important, but store owners shouldn't insult their customers to their face, in front of other customers. Sorry that I'm fat and don't wear cosmetics.




Smrt Mama and I, about to head into the store. Careful, fellow shoppers. We're armed and babywearing. Sadly, I look enormously overweight. I gain weight first in my face, and lose it there last. :(




It's not actually called "Character Corner" any more, it's "Homeschool Hangout," and there's a bigger "Homeschool Hangout" store in the next suburb over. I guess when you have a good corner on the market, there's no reason not to expand.




PC is clearly thrilled about going into the store.




After the long recent thread at the WTM boards about modesty, I couldn't help but snap a picture of this.




Smrt Mama and Babypie check out the history and literature books stocked in the store.




Shortly after this, the store's owner told us that he didn't like us taking pictures in his store, even for a personal blog. We're not sure what the problem was. Possible suggestions are that he thought we were casing the store for later shoplifting. Personally, I've spent quite a bit of money in his store over the years... I don't really see why I can't take a few pictures of myself and my friend in his shop. He was also rude about it and about us. Disappointing.

Wordless Wednesday: 7 October 2009

Food, Glorious Fall Food

Breakfast is the same every day: quiche for EG, granola with milk for FB, oatmeal for the adults. Lunch is lentil soup.

What's for dinner...?

Monday: either kids eat free night at Moe's, or leftovers, as we have quite a few.
Tuesday: Roast, carrots, and potatoes
Wednesday: Black bean burritos
Thursday: Roast, mashed potatoes, vegetable from the week's CSA
Friday: ??? I'll have to consult Smrt Mama, since Friday night is Dollhouse & dinner.

Saturday: Oh, joy, oh bliss - we're going to Henry's!
Sunday: chicken and baked beans, fruit

Weekly Report: Week Eight

Stagnant weeks are what I call those weeks where you think, "I know things were accomplished this week, but I cannot put my finger on a single one!" Writing the weekly report helps me find at least a few things that did get accomplished, which is especially helpful when you feel like there are so many more things that could have been completed, or at the very least, done better.

Let's start with Purple Child. She's almost started running, which is exhilarating for her, and frightening for me. She's eating more food, though still not with a great deal of enthusiasm, and she had her first reaction to a food. Mangos make for unhappy bottoms, it seems.

FB... I feel so much like I've been slacking a bit with him, but it's so hard to tell when he's enjoying what we're doing and when he's merely humoring me. We did read lots of books this week, including several new ones (Sounds All Around, Paul Bunyan, and Jack and the Beanstalk), as well as his current Your Big Backyard magazine. He also read the number 500 off a construction sign. He said "Five hundred babies!" instead of "Five hundred feet!" Why babies? Because of this:




EG "passed" her first song at band today. I'm not exactly sure what the testing and passing all mean, but it seems to be a good thing, and it's helping us with our fledging attempts to get her started on setting her own goals. In other music-related news, she's flying through her Primer level piano books. Her teacher says she definitely has some natural talent. I don't know much about musical talent (not being talented musically myself), but I do see what I would term unusual behaviors with regard to music - it appears to come very easily to her and she's understanding some parts of it almost intuitively.

EG finished her rewrite of "Diamonds and Toads" in Writing Tales 2 and completed three activities in Editor in Chief A1. She had a week's break from spelling, and did some pages from Vocabulary from Classical Roots 4 in lieu of it. She'll start spelling again next week as she begins All About Spelling Level 5. She also continues to practice cursive penmanship for ten minutes each day, and she read Heidi this week.

EG also had a great math week. She beat two different levels of drill, and finished all of the new material in Life of Fred: Decimals & Percents. She's still working through Key to Measurement Book 2 and doing well. Next is the Final Bridge! I'll be having her complete at least two of the attempts given for the Final Bridge, just to assure myself that she knows the material.

Latin is going quickly - EG finished chapter 7 this week. She's continuing to review her memory work and needs just a few days more with the Gettysburg Address, though I did think she might have it finished this week. She read George Washington Carver: Peanut Wizard and began Elizabeth Blackwell for biographies, and read chapters nine and ten in Story of the World Volume 4. Physics was more work with magnetism, including some supplementary reading. EG also did three pages in Logic Liftoff.

Finally, we're continuing to use IEW's Geography-Based Writing Lessons in lieu of other history writing. We've almost completed the first set of nine lessons, which are all based on Paddle to the Sea. We'll finish those by Wednesday, and start on the next set of nine, which are based on Tree on the Trail. It's been a good supplement and given her some different "language" for various ways to improve her writing, but I wouldn't want to use it as a sole writing curriculum for a year.

Master's Academy is still going well for both kids, and EG is enjoying her co-op classes. I have to talk to the co-op coordinator about discontinuing math club; it's a little silly to bother when I just have the same two kids that I have for science on Thursdays, after all. I'd like to teach a class in the spring, though - possibly using Ellen McHenry's The Brain - and next autumn, I really want to offer a class on evolution. That's the update on me!