Around this time last year, we thought that we'd be ready to sell the house soon. We took care of various needs, and the next items on the priority list were the remaining tasks to make the house ready to sell. Then the Spousal Unit's freelance work stopped for awhile. We've been paying for a storage shed for about seven months longer than we planned, already.
Now it's restarted again, and while again, we have some other obligations, we're going to be working on those obligations and the remaining house items simultaneously. We need to put up about six feet of fence, have some basic landscaping done, have one of the air conditioning units serviced, and have a section of drywall replaced (and possibly the insulation behind it). We'd like to have the house professionally cleaned just before listing it, but that's not absolutely essential. It's not a long list. In the intervening seven months, though, we've gotten used to the idea that we're moving "someday soon" versus "really soon."
The result is that I've got to go back and declutter some of the same rooms a second time.
The other result that we've kept living. We've done school this year. We've bought books and curriculum and science kits and toys. And in order to stage the house, I know what has to happen.
I have to pack even more books.
I miss my books. I've already packed so many. I hate that some of the kids' books aren't easily accessible for browsing. I don't want to pack any more books.
But I have to.
The only conclusion to which I can come is that I should wait until at least one item off the above list is done (the fence is probably first), and then pack as much as possible, all at once. Like ripping off a band-aid. And hope and pray that the house sells quickly, so we can move...
... so we can have our books back.
28.1.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Five (days 121-125)
EG
• EG finished Caesar's English II and Essay Voyage this week!
• EG also wrapped up her study of "ancient times" and is using the Celts to transition into middle ages/medieval history.
FB
• FB learned about addition with carrying, at least with manipulatives (the base 10 picture cards from Right Start), and seemed to grasp the concept!
• FB finished his first "chapter" book - Henry & Mudge.
PC
• PC loves Mondays. Loves them. She loves her siblings, and is happy to see them again after Master's Academy, but she loves running around having me to herself.
• PC thinks in a lot of absolutes these days. Everything is either "hot" or "cold"–-no in-between. Similarly with up, down, and a whole host of other opposites.
• EG finished Caesar's English II and Essay Voyage this week!
• EG also wrapped up her study of "ancient times" and is using the Celts to transition into middle ages/medieval history.
FB
• FB learned about addition with carrying, at least with manipulatives (the base 10 picture cards from Right Start), and seemed to grasp the concept!
• FB finished his first "chapter" book - Henry & Mudge.
PC
• PC loves Mondays. Loves them. She loves her siblings, and is happy to see them again after Master's Academy, but she loves running around having me to herself.
• PC thinks in a lot of absolutes these days. Everything is either "hot" or "cold"–-no in-between. Similarly with up, down, and a whole host of other opposites.
21.1.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Four (days 116-120)
Me
• I knitted my first pair of socks this week. I also made two hair kerchief things each for the girls, and two headbands for EG. Next up: a hat for me, mittens for EG, and a scarf for FB.
• I'm going slightly mad. It's strange to feel like you should be a Queen song. No, we just have a lot going on right now and then adding Disney planning and prep on top of it has made me feel slightly panicky right now. We're also not sure if EG will be enrolled in the second half of her online Critical Thinking course. The registrations are never announced ahead of time, making it hard to plan ahead, monetarily. This past registration window, by the time we could pay the sum (a day after registration opened to the public, a week and a day after it opened to currently enrolled students), she was first on the wait list. I was assured it would likely not be a problem. Then I heard nothing. I contacted them last week and was told nothing had happened and that they would "keep me posted." Not encouraging. I don't feel like I have time in my schedule to devote to teaching that subject this spring. I don't know what we're going to do.
EG
• EG is doing work from Real World Algebra and MathPack: Quest for the time being, in terms of math. I want to get her enrolled in an Art of Problem Solving course for the spring.
• EG wrapped up her study of ancient Rome this week. Next stop: the Celts!
FB
• FB, on the other hand, has barely started his study of Rome. (Confession: I'm already tired of it.) He learned about the gladiators and did two excellent narrations in history this week.
• FB is nowhere near as intuitive with regard to math as his sister, but I'm going to have to be careful not to assume he's not "mathy" because EG is so mathy. He's ripping through Miquon and Right Start both at the moment.
PC
• PC sings along with any of the memory work that involves a tune. She's also still singing Christmas carols.
• PC's new favorite thing to try to help with is washing dishes. I hope this continues for years to come.
• I knitted my first pair of socks this week. I also made two hair kerchief things each for the girls, and two headbands for EG. Next up: a hat for me, mittens for EG, and a scarf for FB.
• I'm going slightly mad. It's strange to feel like you should be a Queen song. No, we just have a lot going on right now and then adding Disney planning and prep on top of it has made me feel slightly panicky right now. We're also not sure if EG will be enrolled in the second half of her online Critical Thinking course. The registrations are never announced ahead of time, making it hard to plan ahead, monetarily. This past registration window, by the time we could pay the sum (a day after registration opened to the public, a week and a day after it opened to currently enrolled students), she was first on the wait list. I was assured it would likely not be a problem. Then I heard nothing. I contacted them last week and was told nothing had happened and that they would "keep me posted." Not encouraging. I don't feel like I have time in my schedule to devote to teaching that subject this spring. I don't know what we're going to do.
EG
• EG is doing work from Real World Algebra and MathPack: Quest for the time being, in terms of math. I want to get her enrolled in an Art of Problem Solving course for the spring.
• EG wrapped up her study of ancient Rome this week. Next stop: the Celts!
FB
• FB, on the other hand, has barely started his study of Rome. (Confession: I'm already tired of it.) He learned about the gladiators and did two excellent narrations in history this week.
• FB is nowhere near as intuitive with regard to math as his sister, but I'm going to have to be careful not to assume he's not "mathy" because EG is so mathy. He's ripping through Miquon and Right Start both at the moment.
PC
• PC sings along with any of the memory work that involves a tune. She's also still singing Christmas carols.
• PC's new favorite thing to try to help with is washing dishes. I hope this continues for years to come.
20.1.11
Throwing the Baby Out With the Bathwater
There’s a popular animation of a portion of a TED talk on changing educational paradigms. It makes some good points. Other treatises on education about improved technology can similarly make some good points. However. Kids still have to be able to spell, to write, to do arithmetic and higher math, and have basic knowledge about their world. In some ways, the proliferation of technology makes it MORE important to master the traditional subjects, so that we're not manipulated by the technology.
It’s not possible, of course, to do an exhaustive study of any one subject. The fact that it’s not possible, though, doesn’t mean we should cease to attempt any study of the subjects at all.
Sometimes we need to find new ways to teach a subject. Because of a child’s gifts, strengths, weaknesses, quirks, or a combination of some or all of the previous, the so-called traditional way (what was or has been used in the last fifty to one hundred fifty years) may not work for that child. When that happens, we look for alternatives. One of my children thrives with a workbook approach to spelling. The other one needs a more multisensory, rules-based curriculum with a lot of review. The latter curriculum does not “look” like what many expect of a spelling curriculum. She’s still learning to spell (albeit, at times, somewhat slowly and painfully, but that’s not related to the curriclum).
Sometimes we have to add a new subject to the curriculum. Computer programming was rarely taught to any but an interested minority even fifteen years ago. Today, I would allege that some basic understanding of programming principles is essential. Most people would do well to know basic HTML. One hundred years ago, humanity’s knowledge in most scientific fields was a mere fraction of what has been catalogued today. The Neo-Darwinian Synthesis alone changed biology significantly, and that’s just one small fraction of what’s been learned in just one main area of science.
Sometimes we have to change when a subject is taught. Nearly forty years ago, my mother learned typing in high school. Teaching it sooner was not considered necessary. I learned to type twenty years ago, in junior high. Times were changing, and it was considered necessary at a younger age. Today, I’m requiring my daughter to master typing before finishing fifth grade. The technology has changed, and I want her to be the master of it, not at its mercy.
What doesn’t need to change are the skills. A well-educated citizen still needs to be able to communicate clearly and competently, both in speech and in print. A well-educated citizen needs to be able to comprehend what she or he reads or hears, whether it’s from a podcast, on the radio, on paper, or scrolling by on computer screen. A well-educated citizen needs to understand mathematics. A well-educated citizen needs to be protected against manipulation by the forces that would manipulate him or her: the media, large corporations, politicians, and advertisements are only a few.
Doing something differently, or a new way, for the sake of doing it differently or in a new way does not result in academic excellence. It will not result in children who are magically better prepared for the future world of work. Doing something because it is different or new is as foolish as doing something solely because it is the way it has “always been done.” Of course we should evaluate and re-evaluate our curricula, our approaches, our goals, and our overall course of study for our children; evaluation is a necessary part of teaching. Deciding to approach a a subject differently for no other reason than it is “outside the box,” however, is no better than deciding to teach only history that happened before World War I, because that’s how it was done in the 1920s. Both approaches are foolishly short-sighted, and remind us, again and again, that we must begin with the end in mind.
It’s not possible, of course, to do an exhaustive study of any one subject. The fact that it’s not possible, though, doesn’t mean we should cease to attempt any study of the subjects at all.
Sometimes we need to find new ways to teach a subject. Because of a child’s gifts, strengths, weaknesses, quirks, or a combination of some or all of the previous, the so-called traditional way (what was or has been used in the last fifty to one hundred fifty years) may not work for that child. When that happens, we look for alternatives. One of my children thrives with a workbook approach to spelling. The other one needs a more multisensory, rules-based curriculum with a lot of review. The latter curriculum does not “look” like what many expect of a spelling curriculum. She’s still learning to spell (albeit, at times, somewhat slowly and painfully, but that’s not related to the curriclum).
Sometimes we have to add a new subject to the curriculum. Computer programming was rarely taught to any but an interested minority even fifteen years ago. Today, I would allege that some basic understanding of programming principles is essential. Most people would do well to know basic HTML. One hundred years ago, humanity’s knowledge in most scientific fields was a mere fraction of what has been catalogued today. The Neo-Darwinian Synthesis alone changed biology significantly, and that’s just one small fraction of what’s been learned in just one main area of science.
Sometimes we have to change when a subject is taught. Nearly forty years ago, my mother learned typing in high school. Teaching it sooner was not considered necessary. I learned to type twenty years ago, in junior high. Times were changing, and it was considered necessary at a younger age. Today, I’m requiring my daughter to master typing before finishing fifth grade. The technology has changed, and I want her to be the master of it, not at its mercy.
What doesn’t need to change are the skills. A well-educated citizen still needs to be able to communicate clearly and competently, both in speech and in print. A well-educated citizen needs to be able to comprehend what she or he reads or hears, whether it’s from a podcast, on the radio, on paper, or scrolling by on computer screen. A well-educated citizen needs to understand mathematics. A well-educated citizen needs to be protected against manipulation by the forces that would manipulate him or her: the media, large corporations, politicians, and advertisements are only a few.
Doing something differently, or a new way, for the sake of doing it differently or in a new way does not result in academic excellence. It will not result in children who are magically better prepared for the future world of work. Doing something because it is different or new is as foolish as doing something solely because it is the way it has “always been done.” Of course we should evaluate and re-evaluate our curricula, our approaches, our goals, and our overall course of study for our children; evaluation is a necessary part of teaching. Deciding to approach a a subject differently for no other reason than it is “outside the box,” however, is no better than deciding to teach only history that happened before World War I, because that’s how it was done in the 1920s. Both approaches are foolishly short-sighted, and remind us, again and again, that we must begin with the end in mind.
17.1.11
There Needs To Be A National Email Directory...
I hate it when I can't find someone's email!
In other news, the radio told me that today (I don't know if they mean January 17 or the third Monday in January or what) is one of the "most depressing days of the year." I think they meant people feel down, not actual clinical depression. Supposedly, this is because Christmas is past, but it's so far to spring, et cetera. Whether it's true or not, here's a nice virtual smile :) and hug for all of you out there on the other end of the internet. :D
In other news, the radio told me that today (I don't know if they mean January 17 or the third Monday in January or what) is one of the "most depressing days of the year." I think they meant people feel down, not actual clinical depression. Supposedly, this is because Christmas is past, but it's so far to spring, et cetera. Whether it's true or not, here's a nice virtual smile :) and hug for all of you out there on the other end of the internet. :D
16.1.11
Merrily We Plod Along
Let's visit my by 1 July 2011 list, shall we?
By 1 July 2011
01. Decide on supplemental titles for Story of the World Volume Two. (FB)
02. Plan out life science/biology with spines, supplemental books, and projects and activities. (FB)
03. Work through the next sections of Art in Story for art appreciation. (FB)
04. Make a better plan for grammar stage art projects. (FB)
05. Make a tentative literature list. (FB)
06. Decide whether or not to enroll the kids in a Saturday language school. (FB & EG)
07. Decide what to do about literature for EG for next year. (EG)
08. Work on Hogwarts-ian plans. (EG)
09. Decide on online classes. (EG)
10. Figure out social sciences/history. (EG)
11. Plan social sciences/history once decided. (EG)
12. Make a final decision on science and plan out if necessary. (EG)
13. Decide on what technology/computer skills to emphasize. (EG)
14. Plan art history for the year. (EG)
15. Plan music history/appreciation for the year. (EG)
16. Make a list of various math resources, since she’ll probably tear through them. (EG)
17. Make a shopping list of everything, to take to Greenville.
What have I done?
08. Work on Hogwarts-ian plans! I have a good plan for making our subjects mostly correspond to Hogwarts' subjects, without compromising on what I want EG to cover next year. I also have done a lot of the fun prep: EG now has a Ravenclaw scarf, bookscarf (bookmark), and iPod Touch cozy. I'm working on her hat. She doesn't know about any of this, of course! I'm also going to be making her a hat or two in Ravenclaw colors, plus mittens.
12. Make a final decision on science and plan out if necessary! Our primary science focus next year is going to be chemistry, and I think we're going to use Spectrum Chemistry. I have a plan for a few supplemental resources.
13. Decide on what technology/computer skills to emphasize. Since the goal is for EG to master the basics and typing by the end of the summer, I've decided that for next year, EG should participate in a few workshops/classes at the Apple Store for her primary technology/computer focus. We may get into basic HTML programming during the second semester next year.
16. Make a list of various math resources, since she'll probably tear through them. I've started this process. Some things will be done this year (e.g., Patty Paper Geometry), and others will be for next year. The tentative plan is for her to do an AoPS class during March-May of this year, Geometry during first & part of second semester next year, another AoPS class at some point next year, and probably starting on Trigonometry during second semester.
17. Make a shopping list of everything, to take to Greenville. I have started my shopping list! I'm sure it's still incomplete, but I feel better having started it.
My next big goal is to work on numbers one and two. Number seven will probably happen after I have a chance to look at various things at the convention.
By 1 July 2011
01. Decide on supplemental titles for Story of the World Volume Two. (FB)
02. Plan out life science/biology with spines, supplemental books, and projects and activities. (FB)
03. Work through the next sections of Art in Story for art appreciation. (FB)
04. Make a better plan for grammar stage art projects. (FB)
05. Make a tentative literature list. (FB)
06. Decide whether or not to enroll the kids in a Saturday language school. (FB & EG)
07. Decide what to do about literature for EG for next year. (EG)
08. Work on Hogwarts-ian plans. (EG)
09. Decide on online classes. (EG)
10. Figure out social sciences/history. (EG)
11. Plan social sciences/history once decided. (EG)
12. Make a final decision on science and plan out if necessary. (EG)
13. Decide on what technology/computer skills to emphasize. (EG)
14. Plan art history for the year. (EG)
15. Plan music history/appreciation for the year. (EG)
16. Make a list of various math resources, since she’ll probably tear through them. (EG)
17. Make a shopping list of everything, to take to Greenville.
What have I done?
08. Work on Hogwarts-ian plans! I have a good plan for making our subjects mostly correspond to Hogwarts' subjects, without compromising on what I want EG to cover next year. I also have done a lot of the fun prep: EG now has a Ravenclaw scarf, bookscarf (bookmark), and iPod Touch cozy. I'm working on her hat. She doesn't know about any of this, of course! I'm also going to be making her a hat or two in Ravenclaw colors, plus mittens.
12. Make a final decision on science and plan out if necessary! Our primary science focus next year is going to be chemistry, and I think we're going to use Spectrum Chemistry. I have a plan for a few supplemental resources.
13. Decide on what technology/computer skills to emphasize. Since the goal is for EG to master the basics and typing by the end of the summer, I've decided that for next year, EG should participate in a few workshops/classes at the Apple Store for her primary technology/computer focus. We may get into basic HTML programming during the second semester next year.
16. Make a list of various math resources, since she'll probably tear through them. I've started this process. Some things will be done this year (e.g., Patty Paper Geometry), and others will be for next year. The tentative plan is for her to do an AoPS class during March-May of this year, Geometry during first & part of second semester next year, another AoPS class at some point next year, and probably starting on Trigonometry during second semester.
17. Make a shopping list of everything, to take to Greenville. I have started my shopping list! I'm sure it's still incomplete, but I feel better having started it.
My next big goal is to work on numbers one and two. Number seven will probably happen after I have a chance to look at various things at the convention.
14.1.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Three (days 111-115)
There's nothing quite like some ice to shut down the greater Atlanta metropolitan area for a solid week. Every single one of the kids' outside the house activities was cancelled this week, from Master's Academy on Monday right on through to band which should have been this afternoon. All the metro Atlanta school systems and private schools declared snow days, and they'll be making up those days later in the school year.
Not us.
I made my darling children proceed with school all week long. In fact, because of the absence of Master's Academy from her schedule, EG finished her work assigned for this week on Thursday afternoon. She's doing a few subjects today to make her load next week a little bit lighter–math, history, science, and language arts.
From youngest to oldest . . .
Starbuck
The dog thinks that we custom-ordered this stuff for her. She thought Monday was the best day ever, and then the snow has been nice and stuck around? She doesn't know quite what to do with herself.
Purple Child
• We learned that PC does not really like the snow. She would walk tentatively through it, looking at us as if to say, "Why have you brought me out into this cold, wet world?" At one point, her mitten slid off, and she stood there, staring at it in horror, wailing. Needless to say, we only took her out in the snow one day.
• Despite hating to be cold, PC continues to take off her clothing at any opportunity, and then proclaim "Cold!" in a despairing voice.
Fabulous Boy
• FB started learning about Rome this week in history. He was pretty excited to learn that Rome is still a city. I didn't attempt to confuse him by telling him there was an entire country inside Rome.
• FB started learning about multiplication in Miquon, and about thousands in Right Start.
Eclectic Girl
• The big news is that EG finished Life of Fred Advanced Algebra!
• EG is also approaching the end of both Caesar's English II and Essay Voyage; just two more weeks in each of them. School in February is going to have quite a different look than it currently does, and especially different from how it looked before the Christmas break!
Me
• I'm continuing on my knitting binge. I finished another project that just needs felting, and finished another seven projects since last week's report. Granted, most of the projects are small (a newborn baby hat for a friend, doll socks, doll pants), but still. Being stuck in the house will up one's productivity, I suppose. I actually need to go to the yarn store; I've nearly exhausted my options for knitting with the yarn, needles, and pattern combinations I currently have.
• I have nearly finished my annual re-read (with note-taking) of The Well-Trained Mind . I did manage to get to the library last week, and so I read one book I checked out, The Overachievers. It was interesting in that "Let's look at a 'subculture' that affects a very very small percentage of the population" sense, not to mention a now-outdated view of things like the economy; there were comments about the economy rebounding from the post-September 11 dip, a dip that now sounds like a dream to many.
Not us.
I made my darling children proceed with school all week long. In fact, because of the absence of Master's Academy from her schedule, EG finished her work assigned for this week on Thursday afternoon. She's doing a few subjects today to make her load next week a little bit lighter–math, history, science, and language arts.
From youngest to oldest . . .
Starbuck
The dog thinks that we custom-ordered this stuff for her. She thought Monday was the best day ever, and then the snow has been nice and stuck around? She doesn't know quite what to do with herself.
Purple Child
• We learned that PC does not really like the snow. She would walk tentatively through it, looking at us as if to say, "Why have you brought me out into this cold, wet world?" At one point, her mitten slid off, and she stood there, staring at it in horror, wailing. Needless to say, we only took her out in the snow one day.
• Despite hating to be cold, PC continues to take off her clothing at any opportunity, and then proclaim "Cold!" in a despairing voice.
Fabulous Boy
• FB started learning about Rome this week in history. He was pretty excited to learn that Rome is still a city. I didn't attempt to confuse him by telling him there was an entire country inside Rome.
• FB started learning about multiplication in Miquon, and about thousands in Right Start.
Eclectic Girl
• The big news is that EG finished Life of Fred Advanced Algebra!
• EG is also approaching the end of both Caesar's English II and Essay Voyage; just two more weeks in each of them. School in February is going to have quite a different look than it currently does, and especially different from how it looked before the Christmas break!
Me
• I'm continuing on my knitting binge. I finished another project that just needs felting, and finished another seven projects since last week's report. Granted, most of the projects are small (a newborn baby hat for a friend, doll socks, doll pants), but still. Being stuck in the house will up one's productivity, I suppose. I actually need to go to the yarn store; I've nearly exhausted my options for knitting with the yarn, needles, and pattern combinations I currently have.
• I have nearly finished my annual re-read (with note-taking) of The Well-Trained Mind . I did manage to get to the library last week, and so I read one book I checked out, The Overachievers. It was interesting in that "Let's look at a 'subculture' that affects a very very small percentage of the population" sense, not to mention a now-outdated view of things like the economy; there were comments about the economy rebounding from the post-September 11 dip, a dip that now sounds like a dream to many.
13.1.11
Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts
Pretend that a first-year student at Hogwarts would take three electives; better yet, pretend that arithmancy, ancient runes, and muggle studies are not electives. Do continue to view divination and care of magical creatures as electives, since that explains their omission from this list.
I've been working on my Hogwarts schooling idea from two different directions. I've started the knitting, and I've been compiling my lists of subjects and thinking about how to make all of this work, not to mention attempting to find curricula.
Ancient Runes
Ancient runes is roughly the equivalent of studying a foreign language. EG will study German next year, through tutoring and possibly a Saturday school. EG has expressed interest in resuming studying Greek (she has Elementary Greek Year 1), and that will be considered as the year progresses.
Arithmancy
Mathematics is the logical equivalent to arithmancy. EG will be studying geometry next year, using Life of Fred Geometry as her primary text (as she prefers it), with Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Geometry providing review and challenge problems as well as more in-depth coverage. She may continue with Life of Fred Trigonometry before the end of next year.
Astronomy
Astronomy is astronomy, whether in the magical or muggle world. Tentatively, we'll do a light study of astronomy each year, rather than focusing on it in depth. I plan to find a star-watching group and have EG attend several times, as well as visit the local planetarium. In addition, there is a course available through Duke's TIP program, Math & the Cosmos that looks like an excellent 'spine' for a light study of astronomy.
Charms
In lieu of a clear equivalency, I elected to deem charms the equivalent of fine arts. EG will continue her survey of art history using Art as her primary spine, as well as her survey of music history, using The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History and its suggested recordings as her spine. I hope that she will be able to take an outside art class, focused on pottery (her interest) or drawing (I'd like to see proficiency in the next few years). Alternatively, I will buy the DVD lessons and supplies to go with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (we already own the text and workbook). She will continue taking private piano lessons, most likely with a new teacher. She will also continue her involvement in homeschool band, playing trumpet, and possibly take the Beginning Jazz class there. She'll continue with her current instructor for private trumpet lessons.
Defense Against the Dark Arts
Logic defends the mind in so many ways, and so it is my choice for DADA. EG will use The Snake and The Fox, at least for the first semester. I will also require her to read the book Nonsense, which discusses various fallacies. For the second semester, we may continue with a study of fallacies, or she may begin a more formal logic course. There are several possible options, which I am going to have to investigate before proceeding with making a decision.
Herbology
Botany and herbology are clearly closely tied, though I also eventually want to bring an element of herbalism into her study. We'll do botany quite lightly, using Ellen McHenry's Botany in Eight Lessons over sixteen to twenty-four weeks. I anticipate only doing botany once a week, or if by some miracle, it were offered as an enrichment class locally. We will also visit the botanical gardens periodically. In the spring, botany will become hands-on as we plan and plant and tend a garden.
History of Magic
History and the social sciences are the obvious analogues here. Social science is the most open-ended category for EG for next year, as it depends strongly on what is covered this year, and I have not yet reworked this year's history! I do know I'd like to do a very light American government study (perhaps as little as three or four weeks). Options that I'd like to see her explore between now and the end of seventh grade include Ellen McHenry's Excavating English, Ellen McHenry's Mapping the World with Art, a home-brew economics overview, a history of the world via the lens of food, and a history of the world via the lens of technology.
Muggle Studies
Technology is inherently muggle! The goal for the rest of this school year and the summer is to improve EG's typing speed and have her finish working through the book Macs for Dummies, so that she can participate in some workshops at the local Apple store. That will probably be extent of her technology studies for next year, unless she does some basic HTML programming during the second semester.
Potions
Chemistry is analogous to potions, and chemistry will be EG's primary focus for science in the coming year. We're tentatively planning to use Spectrum Chemistry, despite the sectarian beliefs of the publisher, since it's complete and nicely laid out. I hope it lives up to my expectations. I have a few supplemental books that I will require EG to read, as well, including The Joy of Chemistry and The Elements.
Transfiguration
And, finally, we come to English. For literature, I am still investigating several options, including Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings, another Duke TIP program called The Reader's Journey, and the programs from Excellence in Literature. For spelling, we will continue with the All About Spelling series, finishing whatever we do not finish from Level Six, and continuing with the projected Level Seven. I also want to revisit cursive handwriting with her, using SmithHand. She needs to get these foundational skills down, no matter how difficult they may be for her. Consequently, I'm not sure how I feel about continuing with the Michael Clay Thompson series full steam ahead. If we go full steam ahead, I'm afraid both she and I will feel overwhelmed. If we don't go full steam ahead, though, we'll have part of the program remaining in ninth grade–and I have other plans for the study of writing, especially, in ninth grade. I'm going to be taking a careful look at the program at the convention and seeing if I can 'tease' the levels apart to some extent. Additionally, I'm going to look at Bravewriter as a possible alternative for a portion of the year. Finally, I may need an alternate grammar text for a portion of the year if we do go at MCT slower. That is quite a lot of ifs and maybes.
Despite the ifs and maybes, though, I feel pretty good about where we are headed for next year. I'm glad I'll have the opportunity at the convention to look at so many resources before having to make my decisions. I think my Hogwarts-esque plan doesn't look too terrible, though I know it seems science-heavy. Blame J.K.R.
I've been working on my Hogwarts schooling idea from two different directions. I've started the knitting, and I've been compiling my lists of subjects and thinking about how to make all of this work, not to mention attempting to find curricula.
Ancient Runes
Ancient runes is roughly the equivalent of studying a foreign language. EG will study German next year, through tutoring and possibly a Saturday school. EG has expressed interest in resuming studying Greek (she has Elementary Greek Year 1), and that will be considered as the year progresses.
Arithmancy
Mathematics is the logical equivalent to arithmancy. EG will be studying geometry next year, using Life of Fred Geometry as her primary text (as she prefers it), with Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Geometry providing review and challenge problems as well as more in-depth coverage. She may continue with Life of Fred Trigonometry before the end of next year.
Astronomy
Astronomy is astronomy, whether in the magical or muggle world. Tentatively, we'll do a light study of astronomy each year, rather than focusing on it in depth. I plan to find a star-watching group and have EG attend several times, as well as visit the local planetarium. In addition, there is a course available through Duke's TIP program, Math & the Cosmos that looks like an excellent 'spine' for a light study of astronomy.
Charms
In lieu of a clear equivalency, I elected to deem charms the equivalent of fine arts. EG will continue her survey of art history using Art as her primary spine, as well as her survey of music history, using The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History and its suggested recordings as her spine. I hope that she will be able to take an outside art class, focused on pottery (her interest) or drawing (I'd like to see proficiency in the next few years). Alternatively, I will buy the DVD lessons and supplies to go with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (we already own the text and workbook). She will continue taking private piano lessons, most likely with a new teacher. She will also continue her involvement in homeschool band, playing trumpet, and possibly take the Beginning Jazz class there. She'll continue with her current instructor for private trumpet lessons.
Defense Against the Dark Arts
Logic defends the mind in so many ways, and so it is my choice for DADA. EG will use The Snake and The Fox, at least for the first semester. I will also require her to read the book Nonsense, which discusses various fallacies. For the second semester, we may continue with a study of fallacies, or she may begin a more formal logic course. There are several possible options, which I am going to have to investigate before proceeding with making a decision.
Herbology
Botany and herbology are clearly closely tied, though I also eventually want to bring an element of herbalism into her study. We'll do botany quite lightly, using Ellen McHenry's Botany in Eight Lessons over sixteen to twenty-four weeks. I anticipate only doing botany once a week, or if by some miracle, it were offered as an enrichment class locally. We will also visit the botanical gardens periodically. In the spring, botany will become hands-on as we plan and plant and tend a garden.
History of Magic
History and the social sciences are the obvious analogues here. Social science is the most open-ended category for EG for next year, as it depends strongly on what is covered this year, and I have not yet reworked this year's history! I do know I'd like to do a very light American government study (perhaps as little as three or four weeks). Options that I'd like to see her explore between now and the end of seventh grade include Ellen McHenry's Excavating English, Ellen McHenry's Mapping the World with Art, a home-brew economics overview, a history of the world via the lens of food, and a history of the world via the lens of technology.
Muggle Studies
Technology is inherently muggle! The goal for the rest of this school year and the summer is to improve EG's typing speed and have her finish working through the book Macs for Dummies, so that she can participate in some workshops at the local Apple store. That will probably be extent of her technology studies for next year, unless she does some basic HTML programming during the second semester.
Potions
Chemistry is analogous to potions, and chemistry will be EG's primary focus for science in the coming year. We're tentatively planning to use Spectrum Chemistry, despite the sectarian beliefs of the publisher, since it's complete and nicely laid out. I hope it lives up to my expectations. I have a few supplemental books that I will require EG to read, as well, including The Joy of Chemistry and The Elements.
Transfiguration
And, finally, we come to English. For literature, I am still investigating several options, including Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings, another Duke TIP program called The Reader's Journey, and the programs from Excellence in Literature. For spelling, we will continue with the All About Spelling series, finishing whatever we do not finish from Level Six, and continuing with the projected Level Seven. I also want to revisit cursive handwriting with her, using SmithHand. She needs to get these foundational skills down, no matter how difficult they may be for her. Consequently, I'm not sure how I feel about continuing with the Michael Clay Thompson series full steam ahead. If we go full steam ahead, I'm afraid both she and I will feel overwhelmed. If we don't go full steam ahead, though, we'll have part of the program remaining in ninth grade–and I have other plans for the study of writing, especially, in ninth grade. I'm going to be taking a careful look at the program at the convention and seeing if I can 'tease' the levels apart to some extent. Additionally, I'm going to look at Bravewriter as a possible alternative for a portion of the year. Finally, I may need an alternate grammar text for a portion of the year if we do go at MCT slower. That is quite a lot of ifs and maybes.
Despite the ifs and maybes, though, I feel pretty good about where we are headed for next year. I'm glad I'll have the opportunity at the convention to look at so many resources before having to make my decisions. I think my Hogwarts-esque plan doesn't look too terrible, though I know it seems science-heavy. Blame J.K.R.
10.1.11
Snow Day!
This was outside my house last night:
Can you find my driveway, sidewalk, or the street? Me either!
I finished this scarf yesterday morning, and the hat yesterday afternoon. Just in time, apparently.
Starbuck says "Best Day EVER!!"
For now, it's not Hotlanta. . . it's Hothlanta.
Can you find my driveway, sidewalk, or the street? Me either!
I finished this scarf yesterday morning, and the hat yesterday afternoon. Just in time, apparently.
Starbuck says "Best Day EVER!!"
For now, it's not Hotlanta. . . it's Hothlanta.
7.1.11
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-Two (days 106-110)
We had an amazingly smooth transition back to school this week. I admit that it probably helped that I didn't have EG practice piano (her teacher's assignment over the holiday break was to "look in the Christmas book" and try to play some of the other songs for fun), and I know it helped that EG & FB didn't have Master's Academy this week, but it was still nice. They are gearing up for our upcoming Disney trip by watching or rewatching all the Disney classic animated films. This is, of course, great fun, and they can't quite believe I'm letting them watching movies during the schoolweek. They're also enthralled by one of their Christmas presents–They Might Be Giant's Here Comes Science.
EG
• Spent her history time with the later Roman Empire, from Caesar & Augustus through the decline and fall. She'll keep reading about that time period for the next couple of weeks.
• Is excited that she's nearly completed Life of Fred: Advanced Algebra. Today was the last actual instruction in the book.
• Still isn't registered for the second semester of her online course for critical thinking. I was assured that she was first on the waiting list, and that it likely wouldn't be a problem, but it's been almost a month now with no news. Second semester starts at the beginning of February. Yikes!
FB
• Started Right Start B at last. The first few lessons have been review, but the break seems to have done him well. I also realized we only have about 45 pages left in The Orange Book of Miquon! Given we have seventy days of school remaining, I may have to get The Red Book sooner than I thought.
• Still loves history best of all. This week, he learned all about the ancient Americas. One of the books we read, Who Were the First North Americans?, was so awfully biased and strange that I found myself editing as I read it to him. I can't in good conscience recommend it, and I'm seriously considering getting rid of it. It seemed dismissive at best of Native American customs and beliefs. On the other hand, The Lost World of the Anasazi is very well-done, and worth purchasing if it can't be found in the library.
• Is acing his spelling each week, which makes me think he may not need a full week per lesson, at least in book A.
PC
• Is still not talking as much as she should be, but we're getting there.
• Is the impetus for all of us slowly shifting to gluten-free.
• Thinks that marching is the best thing ever this week.
I
• am cautiously optimistic about going gluten-free
• have been knitting up a storm. Since Christmas, I've finished four projects, nearly finished three more (two need felting, one needs fringe, but the knitting portion is completed), and today I'm making a coin purse to be felted. Good grief.
• am doing my annual re-read of certain homeschooling books. I'm working on WTM first, and taking notes. I hope to finish it off by mid-next week, because I really need to switch gears for a week or so and do Disney planning. Then it'll be back to homeschooling and re-reading more books.
EG
• Spent her history time with the later Roman Empire, from Caesar & Augustus through the decline and fall. She'll keep reading about that time period for the next couple of weeks.
• Is excited that she's nearly completed Life of Fred: Advanced Algebra. Today was the last actual instruction in the book.
• Still isn't registered for the second semester of her online course for critical thinking. I was assured that she was first on the waiting list, and that it likely wouldn't be a problem, but it's been almost a month now with no news. Second semester starts at the beginning of February. Yikes!
FB
• Started Right Start B at last. The first few lessons have been review, but the break seems to have done him well. I also realized we only have about 45 pages left in The Orange Book of Miquon! Given we have seventy days of school remaining, I may have to get The Red Book sooner than I thought.
• Still loves history best of all. This week, he learned all about the ancient Americas. One of the books we read, Who Were the First North Americans?, was so awfully biased and strange that I found myself editing as I read it to him. I can't in good conscience recommend it, and I'm seriously considering getting rid of it. It seemed dismissive at best of Native American customs and beliefs. On the other hand, The Lost World of the Anasazi is very well-done, and worth purchasing if it can't be found in the library.
• Is acing his spelling each week, which makes me think he may not need a full week per lesson, at least in book A.
PC
• Is still not talking as much as she should be, but we're getting there.
• Is the impetus for all of us slowly shifting to gluten-free.
• Thinks that marching is the best thing ever this week.
I
• am cautiously optimistic about going gluten-free
• have been knitting up a storm. Since Christmas, I've finished four projects, nearly finished three more (two need felting, one needs fringe, but the knitting portion is completed), and today I'm making a coin purse to be felted. Good grief.
• am doing my annual re-read of certain homeschooling books. I'm working on WTM first, and taking notes. I hope to finish it off by mid-next week, because I really need to switch gears for a week or so and do Disney planning. Then it'll be back to homeschooling and re-reading more books.
3.1.11
Looking Back, Looking Forward
We had the best of intentions to do school for two and a half days the week of December 20. We did, in fact, do school on December 20. Around noon, I felt so sick and tired, and took a three hour nap (this should have been my first clue that something was off). EG finished up her schoolday, but the remainder of FB's work languished (just a bit of phonics, and memory work).
The next day, I woke up early, feeling awful, and listening to EG bark like a seal. We sat in a warm steamy bathroom with the shower running, and then we went back to bed. We were both exhausted. We called the doctor, took EG that afternoon, and left with a positive diagnosis of flu, type A.
And that, as they say, was that. Nothing happened besides sleeping, coughing, and general sickness for the next few days, even in the face of Christmas approaching. Spousal Unit & I were moderately recovered by Christmas, but still so tired; FB & PC didn't get cases as severe as the rest of us; poor EG didn't even remember some of her Christmas presents after a day or two, because she was still so very out of it on Christmas.
Needless to say, the remaining day and a half of school didn't happen as scheduled. Still, though – I have a thing about keep our number of days ending with a 5 or an 0. We needed those days. They finished out a unit of math for EG. They finished a chapter of history for FB. So, the Tuesday after Christmas, we did a small, piddling amount of work. Yesterday, we did another small, piddling amount of work. And today, EG is doing a little more math than usual, and FB is doing a little more history than usual, and I'll feel justified in saying we completed those days, because the work that was assigned to them will be done, in addition to the work assigned to today.
Whew.
So, here we are, ready to face the new calendar year, with 105 days under our collective belts. A few things are changing. FB is finally starting back with RightStart, beginning Level B. The next four weeks are an experiment to see how well it works doing both RightStart and Miquon. I'm hopeful that a RightStart lesson plus one page in Miquon daily won't be overwhelming. EG will start a new literature course through Duke TIP – Growing Up Heroic: Adventures in Greek Mythology. EG will also be finishing up her Life of Fred book in the next two weeks, and she'll do the Duke TIP course MathPack: Quest for a few weeks as an intermediary before (hopefully) starting a class through Art of Problem Solving in early March. PC is going to have a rude awakening as I start imposing a few activities on her day; it's so awful when your parents make you do things like color and play with play-doh.
I'm starting my annual re-reading of select homeschool books. Each January, I re-read The Well-Trained Mind as well as The Latin-Centered Curriculum. This January, I'm also going to add re-reading The Core, and completing the exercises in the first few chapters of 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, which I found at the used bookstore for just $4. I wouldn't pay full price for it, but my library doesn't have it (or didn't, last I checked), so this was a great way for me to read it.
We got up late this morning, except for EG. She has an alarm clock, but the rest of us depend on the alarm on my iPhone. So the first schoolday of 2011 is off to a late start, but I purposely planned the first two days this week to be a bit lighter as we ease back into things. That should help us get back on track.
My computer insists "schoolday" is not a word. Oh well, computer, I'm going to use it anyway; you also tell me Miquon isn't a word, and it obviously is.
The next day, I woke up early, feeling awful, and listening to EG bark like a seal. We sat in a warm steamy bathroom with the shower running, and then we went back to bed. We were both exhausted. We called the doctor, took EG that afternoon, and left with a positive diagnosis of flu, type A.
And that, as they say, was that. Nothing happened besides sleeping, coughing, and general sickness for the next few days, even in the face of Christmas approaching. Spousal Unit & I were moderately recovered by Christmas, but still so tired; FB & PC didn't get cases as severe as the rest of us; poor EG didn't even remember some of her Christmas presents after a day or two, because she was still so very out of it on Christmas.
Needless to say, the remaining day and a half of school didn't happen as scheduled. Still, though – I have a thing about keep our number of days ending with a 5 or an 0. We needed those days. They finished out a unit of math for EG. They finished a chapter of history for FB. So, the Tuesday after Christmas, we did a small, piddling amount of work. Yesterday, we did another small, piddling amount of work. And today, EG is doing a little more math than usual, and FB is doing a little more history than usual, and I'll feel justified in saying we completed those days, because the work that was assigned to them will be done, in addition to the work assigned to today.
Whew.
So, here we are, ready to face the new calendar year, with 105 days under our collective belts. A few things are changing. FB is finally starting back with RightStart, beginning Level B. The next four weeks are an experiment to see how well it works doing both RightStart and Miquon. I'm hopeful that a RightStart lesson plus one page in Miquon daily won't be overwhelming. EG will start a new literature course through Duke TIP – Growing Up Heroic: Adventures in Greek Mythology. EG will also be finishing up her Life of Fred book in the next two weeks, and she'll do the Duke TIP course MathPack: Quest for a few weeks as an intermediary before (hopefully) starting a class through Art of Problem Solving in early March. PC is going to have a rude awakening as I start imposing a few activities on her day; it's so awful when your parents make you do things like color and play with play-doh.
I'm starting my annual re-reading of select homeschool books. Each January, I re-read The Well-Trained Mind as well as The Latin-Centered Curriculum. This January, I'm also going to add re-reading The Core, and completing the exercises in the first few chapters of 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum, which I found at the used bookstore for just $4. I wouldn't pay full price for it, but my library doesn't have it (or didn't, last I checked), so this was a great way for me to read it.
We got up late this morning, except for EG. She has an alarm clock, but the rest of us depend on the alarm on my iPhone. So the first schoolday of 2011 is off to a late start, but I purposely planned the first two days this week to be a bit lighter as we ease back into things. That should help us get back on track.
My computer insists "schoolday" is not a word. Oh well, computer, I'm going to use it anyway; you also tell me Miquon isn't a word, and it obviously is.
28.12.10
Goals and The Dread Flu
In addition to Christmas, we were invaded last week by a vicious flu. A vicious, vicious flu that slowly made the rounds through us all; myself, EG, and the Spousal Unit were first and hardest hit, but FB had a milder case that left him in bed all of Thursday and part of Christmas Eve, and PC had a middlin’ case that really only served to make her both more energetic than the rest of us combined and whiny. This, by the way, is not recommended – having the youngest member of the household feeling the best.
Now that I’m finally emerging from the haze, I’ve been working on finalizing my goals for 2011. I started working on them fairly early in the month of December, which has given me appropriate time to tweak and modify. In the end, I have goals in fifteen distinct categories. Granted, I break things down considerably, and others would likely group some of my categories into a single category, so it’s not quite as gruesome as it sounds. My categories, though, are the following: health; weight; exercise; running; knitting; food (as it relates to money); food (as it relates to nutrition); spending & budgeting; moving; homeschooling; parenting; birthdays; holidays; online life; and books. Some of the goals aren’t really the type that I would share online, but there are a few for which accountability is a positive thing, so I thought I’d share them here.
Running: My goal here is to complete twelve races (5K) in the year, for an average of one per month.
Knitting: My main goal is to finish at least two projects per month. I have a lot of subgoals, mostly related to specific projects. That may become a separate post.
Food (as it relates to nutrition): A late, dark horse entry made itself known for this category just over a week ago. I think we’re going to have to do a trial of gluten-free, at least for the girls. This is going to be a significant hardship, and one to which I am not looking forward.
Books: One of my main goals here is to read any unread books in the house, or to take them to the happy place in Chattanooga, McKay’s. Additionally, I want to maintain a backlog of no more than 4 unread books at a time. As it stands now, I have one book I’m reading, two books that are waiting, one book I’ve decided not to read (McKay’s for it), and a couple of books that I have borrowed. I’m feeling pretty good about this one.
I’m pleased with the way my goals look; I’ve been able to break a number of them down into easily measurable monthly and weekly goals. I’ve also convinced Spousal Unit to join me in working towards some of them. Now the new year just has to show up so I can get started. That, and I have to get rid of this cough that’s still lingering.
Now that I’m finally emerging from the haze, I’ve been working on finalizing my goals for 2011. I started working on them fairly early in the month of December, which has given me appropriate time to tweak and modify. In the end, I have goals in fifteen distinct categories. Granted, I break things down considerably, and others would likely group some of my categories into a single category, so it’s not quite as gruesome as it sounds. My categories, though, are the following: health; weight; exercise; running; knitting; food (as it relates to money); food (as it relates to nutrition); spending & budgeting; moving; homeschooling; parenting; birthdays; holidays; online life; and books. Some of the goals aren’t really the type that I would share online, but there are a few for which accountability is a positive thing, so I thought I’d share them here.
Running: My goal here is to complete twelve races (5K) in the year, for an average of one per month.
Knitting: My main goal is to finish at least two projects per month. I have a lot of subgoals, mostly related to specific projects. That may become a separate post.
Food (as it relates to nutrition): A late, dark horse entry made itself known for this category just over a week ago. I think we’re going to have to do a trial of gluten-free, at least for the girls. This is going to be a significant hardship, and one to which I am not looking forward.
Books: One of my main goals here is to read any unread books in the house, or to take them to the happy place in Chattanooga, McKay’s. Additionally, I want to maintain a backlog of no more than 4 unread books at a time. As it stands now, I have one book I’m reading, two books that are waiting, one book I’ve decided not to read (McKay’s for it), and a couple of books that I have borrowed. I’m feeling pretty good about this one.
I’m pleased with the way my goals look; I’ve been able to break a number of them down into easily measurable monthly and weekly goals. I’ve also convinced Spousal Unit to join me in working towards some of them. Now the new year just has to show up so I can get started. That, and I have to get rid of this cough that’s still lingering.
19.12.10
A Book Gushing
I wish I could remember where I saw The House of Intellect recommended. I thought perhaps it was on the WTM boards, but a search has not yielded a result when I enclose “House of Intellect” in the necessary quotation marks. So, then, maybe it was on a blog that I follow. If it was one of you reading this, I must say – thank you.
I needed to read this book. It was written in 1959, and yet so much of what Barzun has to say is still topical. In fact, there were times I felt it was eerily prescient.
I appreciated many things about this book, and I felt it gave me much with which to grapple. I want to pick it up and reread it. For those of you who read the recent threads about traditional grammar and structural grammar on the WTM boards, there are a few pages where he takes up the cause of traditional grammar for students in face of linguistic objections. He mentions several times the importance of what he terms the “traditional” curriculum – Latin, of course, and logic, as well as mathematics, memorization, and ancient Greek.
I don’t feel quite adequate of giving the book a proper review, so instead I’ll include a few of the quotes I noted for myself.
“To effect these changes is not a superhuman task if the firmness and rigor that are being preached to the schools exist also in our individual souls. The discipline of hard work in reading, writing, and counting must be matched at home by attention to speech, manners, and thought.” (p253)
“Meanwhile, the simple but difficult arts of paying attention, copying accurately, following an argument, detecting an ambiguity or a false inference, testing guesses by summoning up contrary instances, organizing one’s time and one’s thoughts for study – all these arts, which cannot be taught in the air but only through the difficulties of a defined subject, which cannot be taught in one course or one year, but must be acquired gradually, in dozens of connections. . . ” (p113-114)
"This is the corruption of the pedagogic advice of Montaigne and Rousseau. 'Teach the very young with aid of real things,' they said (like Aristotle earlier), 'let children learn by doing.' They thought of the curriculum and Latin declensions and figures of logic, and wanted a little open-air life and bodily activity to relieve it." (p106)
And, finally, perhaps my favorite quote, especially in light of the post I wrote last week.
“All private and public affairs, moreover, must have unremittingly applied to them to criterion of work. The business of learning must above all others be represented in its true guise as difficult, as demanding effort.” (p254)
The House of Intellect, Jacques Barzun. Still alive today, I would love to sit down and discuss the world with this author.
I needed to read this book. It was written in 1959, and yet so much of what Barzun has to say is still topical. In fact, there were times I felt it was eerily prescient.
I appreciated many things about this book, and I felt it gave me much with which to grapple. I want to pick it up and reread it. For those of you who read the recent threads about traditional grammar and structural grammar on the WTM boards, there are a few pages where he takes up the cause of traditional grammar for students in face of linguistic objections. He mentions several times the importance of what he terms the “traditional” curriculum – Latin, of course, and logic, as well as mathematics, memorization, and ancient Greek.
I don’t feel quite adequate of giving the book a proper review, so instead I’ll include a few of the quotes I noted for myself.
“To effect these changes is not a superhuman task if the firmness and rigor that are being preached to the schools exist also in our individual souls. The discipline of hard work in reading, writing, and counting must be matched at home by attention to speech, manners, and thought.” (p253)
“Meanwhile, the simple but difficult arts of paying attention, copying accurately, following an argument, detecting an ambiguity or a false inference, testing guesses by summoning up contrary instances, organizing one’s time and one’s thoughts for study – all these arts, which cannot be taught in the air but only through the difficulties of a defined subject, which cannot be taught in one course or one year, but must be acquired gradually, in dozens of connections. . . ” (p113-114)
"This is the corruption of the pedagogic advice of Montaigne and Rousseau. 'Teach the very young with aid of real things,' they said (like Aristotle earlier), 'let children learn by doing.' They thought of the curriculum and Latin declensions and figures of logic, and wanted a little open-air life and bodily activity to relieve it." (p106)
And, finally, perhaps my favorite quote, especially in light of the post I wrote last week.
“All private and public affairs, moreover, must have unremittingly applied to them to criterion of work. The business of learning must above all others be represented in its true guise as difficult, as demanding effort.” (p254)
The House of Intellect, Jacques Barzun. Still alive today, I would love to sit down and discuss the world with this author.
17.12.10
Weekly Report: Week Twenty-One (days 098-102)
I liked my big/small weekly report this week, so let's try it again!
EG
• EG took a video of herself performing an "ad" for her critical thinking class. Her father vetoed posting it on youtube, so you won't be able to watch her performance, but it was pretty funny. She created a "product" – a ever-tied hair ribbon.
• The best discussion we had all week was probably about the nature of conclusions and their importance in writing a paper. We talked about how, with a good outline, you may want to do your rough draft of your conclusion before you write your body sentences/paragraphs.
FB
• FB has been zooming through the McGuffey Primer, now that I know he can read. :P It's really the perfect practice for him right now. Once we get to where it's more difficult, we'll do fewer sections per day. This is in addition to OPGTR, btw.
• FB is gobbling up Miquon at the moment. We're going to start on Right Start B after our holiday break, but continue doing Miquon as well.
PC
• PC had her belated two year old well visit. She's a tiny peanut, weighing just 22.8 lbs, which is the 5th percentile. She's a full 34" tall, though, putting her at the 50th percentile. It's a big discrepancy, especially given that she's fallen several percentiles since she started eating solid foods. Since she eats plenty, it's either that she's burning it all off, or there's an absorption issue. I think this is where the stagehands gives me the card that says "Stay Tuned."
• PC went to run errands with me after her well visit, just her and I, no siblings. She's hilarious when she doesn't have her siblings to entertain and gets to be the sole focus of parental attention. It doesn't happen often for her!
Me
• I made sausage balls. And cheese ball. And cookie bar. And then more sausage balls. Really, who could ask for anything more?
• I finished all of my Christmas knitting! I made a hat each for PC and FB, but the piece de resistance was EG's scarf.
The scarf pattern shares a name with EG's first name, written by the same company that dyed the yarn. The colorway on the yarn shares a name with EG's middle name. This scarf is literally her name.
EG
• EG took a video of herself performing an "ad" for her critical thinking class. Her father vetoed posting it on youtube, so you won't be able to watch her performance, but it was pretty funny. She created a "product" – a ever-tied hair ribbon.
• The best discussion we had all week was probably about the nature of conclusions and their importance in writing a paper. We talked about how, with a good outline, you may want to do your rough draft of your conclusion before you write your body sentences/paragraphs.
FB
• FB has been zooming through the McGuffey Primer, now that I know he can read. :P It's really the perfect practice for him right now. Once we get to where it's more difficult, we'll do fewer sections per day. This is in addition to OPGTR, btw.
• FB is gobbling up Miquon at the moment. We're going to start on Right Start B after our holiday break, but continue doing Miquon as well.
PC
• PC had her belated two year old well visit. She's a tiny peanut, weighing just 22.8 lbs, which is the 5th percentile. She's a full 34" tall, though, putting her at the 50th percentile. It's a big discrepancy, especially given that she's fallen several percentiles since she started eating solid foods. Since she eats plenty, it's either that she's burning it all off, or there's an absorption issue. I think this is where the stagehands gives me the card that says "Stay Tuned."
• PC went to run errands with me after her well visit, just her and I, no siblings. She's hilarious when she doesn't have her siblings to entertain and gets to be the sole focus of parental attention. It doesn't happen often for her!
Me
• I made sausage balls. And cheese ball. And cookie bar. And then more sausage balls. Really, who could ask for anything more?
• I finished all of my Christmas knitting! I made a hat each for PC and FB, but the piece de resistance was EG's scarf.
The scarf pattern shares a name with EG's first name, written by the same company that dyed the yarn. The colorway on the yarn shares a name with EG's middle name. This scarf is literally her name.
16.12.10
Secular Thursday: A Little Hard Work
I think too many homeschooling parents are afraid of hard work, with regards to what they require of their children. I see it in several areas. It seems at time like many are afraid of requiring "too much" work for a child. Others are afraid of being seen as "too rigid." Still others are afraid of accusations of being "elitist."
Let's address the question of being "elitist" first. I'll quote Aaron Sorkin's piece about if Obama met Bartlet: "And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence."
Who wants to argue with President Bartlet? I certainly don't. I'll accept him as the final word on being elite. Let's be well above average. Let's be excellent.
When it comes to "too much" work, the oft-cited schedules and guidelines in The Well-Trained Mind come under fire. For first grade, for example, daily work is suggested that should, according to the guidelines, take between one hour forty-five minutes and two hours thirty minutes. Additionally, thirty minutes should be spent on fun reading during another portion of the day. Non-daily subjects add up to 7 to 8 hours per week, or an additional 84 to 96 minutes per day. Please keep in mind that this non-daily work includes art projects, picture study, and an hour of listening to classical music. Not all work that we as adults categorize as school is considered onerous, work, or "school" by our children.
Still, then. Our minimum total for first grade work, as laid out in WTM, is three hours nine minutes, and the maximum total is four hours six minutes.
In practice, the suggested approach does not take, for many homeschoolers, as long as the guidelines say!
On average, children between the ages of five and twelve years are suggested to get ten to eleven hours of sleep. This leaves thirteen hours in a day. The suggested schoolwork, at maximum, would compromise 30% of a child's waking hours. This is hardly onerous. (By comparison, a child in my school district in first grade would be officially in school for six and a half hours per day, not including time spent there before the official start of day and time after dismissal, and travel time, which is 50% of a child's waking hours.)
For fifth grade, schoolwork does become an increasingly large portion of the child's day, taking (according to those pesky guidelines) between six hours and six hours forty minutes. Notice that this just now reaches that 50% mark that kids in elementary school have had since first grade!
In WTM: "It's still hard work. We don't deny it. We'll give you a clear view of the demands and requirements of this academic project. But a classical education is worth every drop of sweat – I can testify to that. I am constantly grateful to my mother for my education. It gave me an immeasurable head start, the independence to innovate and work on my own, confidence in my ability to compete in the job market, and the mental tools to build a satisfying career."
I think a large part of the objection to "too much work" has come from an interesting source. Millions, it seems, has been made in the last decade by writers and others decrying American children's overscheduled lives. Kids need time to play, to be outdoors, and time to simply be with themselves. I don't argue with that. I do argue with the idea that a preschooler with two or three outside the house activities is fundamentally the same as an eleven year old with two or three outside the house activities. In the rush not to overschedule children, anecdotes about four and six year olds that do four sports a year, that go from class to playdates to swim lessons to art – these stories are rampant.
I have a confession, here. According to the definition of overscheduling given in many resources, I was an overscheduled child. For example, when I was in third grade, I took piano lessons, I played softball, and I did ballet. I also participated in Girl Scouts. These are the activities that stand out from that year in retrospect; there may have been others. I don't remember feeling rushed or hurried. I had plenty of time to run around outside, to make up stories, to read for pleasure, and to spend time with my family. I even lived twenty-five minutes from my elementary school!
I think the overscheduling hype might just be exactly that – hype. I especially want to question its applicability to homeschooling families. I made a list of my daughter's obligations and what I would like for her to have time to do, including music practice, time with her siblings, time to read, and down time. I included a good amount of sleep, and an adequate amount of time for meals. In a twenty-four day, after all of those? There was a surplus of five hours. Granted, travel time to activities needs to be considered in that five hours, but travel time does not have to be wasted time. In the car, we do memory work, we listen to music for music appreciation, we sing, we talk, and, when the car sickness isn't too bad, reading takes place. It's not wasted time, and could be argued to substitute nicely for some of the other time involved.
Is it possible to do too much, or to overschedule, even as a homeschooler? Yes. Absolutely. What I am arguing, however, is that the saturation point is much higher than most assume it to be.
Finally, there’s the objection of being “too rigid.” I’m sure there are better defenses of rigidity, not to mention better refutations of the charge of being rigid. What comes to my mind, though, is a quote from Bones. The titular character is explaining why she likes free form jazz. “No, I love it. The artist has to live within a set tonal structure and trust his own instincts to find his way out of a infinite maze of musical possibilities, and the great ones do.” Sometimes, the rigidity of a system can set us free. By learning the basic facts and laws of math, a mathematician can create brilliant proofs; by learning grammar, the writer has a framework for creative output. This is true across disciplines.
Ultimately, the objections to hard work can be answered and shown not to be the problems they are thought to be. The perception remains with homeschooling, though, as it does in many institutional school settings, that learning should be fun. Edutainment, not education. Others mistake industry for work, and while appropriately shunning empty showings of industry, forget the value inherent in work. Whatever the reason, the homeschool community has begun to embrace the view that requiring hard academic work is not a positive thing – and I think it’s a foolishly negative turn of events.
Let's address the question of being "elitist" first. I'll quote Aaron Sorkin's piece about if Obama met Bartlet: "And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence."
Who wants to argue with President Bartlet? I certainly don't. I'll accept him as the final word on being elite. Let's be well above average. Let's be excellent.
When it comes to "too much" work, the oft-cited schedules and guidelines in The Well-Trained Mind come under fire. For first grade, for example, daily work is suggested that should, according to the guidelines, take between one hour forty-five minutes and two hours thirty minutes. Additionally, thirty minutes should be spent on fun reading during another portion of the day. Non-daily subjects add up to 7 to 8 hours per week, or an additional 84 to 96 minutes per day. Please keep in mind that this non-daily work includes art projects, picture study, and an hour of listening to classical music. Not all work that we as adults categorize as school is considered onerous, work, or "school" by our children.
Still, then. Our minimum total for first grade work, as laid out in WTM, is three hours nine minutes, and the maximum total is four hours six minutes.
In practice, the suggested approach does not take, for many homeschoolers, as long as the guidelines say!
On average, children between the ages of five and twelve years are suggested to get ten to eleven hours of sleep. This leaves thirteen hours in a day. The suggested schoolwork, at maximum, would compromise 30% of a child's waking hours. This is hardly onerous. (By comparison, a child in my school district in first grade would be officially in school for six and a half hours per day, not including time spent there before the official start of day and time after dismissal, and travel time, which is 50% of a child's waking hours.)
For fifth grade, schoolwork does become an increasingly large portion of the child's day, taking (according to those pesky guidelines) between six hours and six hours forty minutes. Notice that this just now reaches that 50% mark that kids in elementary school have had since first grade!
In WTM: "It's still hard work. We don't deny it. We'll give you a clear view of the demands and requirements of this academic project. But a classical education is worth every drop of sweat – I can testify to that. I am constantly grateful to my mother for my education. It gave me an immeasurable head start, the independence to innovate and work on my own, confidence in my ability to compete in the job market, and the mental tools to build a satisfying career."
I think a large part of the objection to "too much work" has come from an interesting source. Millions, it seems, has been made in the last decade by writers and others decrying American children's overscheduled lives. Kids need time to play, to be outdoors, and time to simply be with themselves. I don't argue with that. I do argue with the idea that a preschooler with two or three outside the house activities is fundamentally the same as an eleven year old with two or three outside the house activities. In the rush not to overschedule children, anecdotes about four and six year olds that do four sports a year, that go from class to playdates to swim lessons to art – these stories are rampant.
I have a confession, here. According to the definition of overscheduling given in many resources, I was an overscheduled child. For example, when I was in third grade, I took piano lessons, I played softball, and I did ballet. I also participated in Girl Scouts. These are the activities that stand out from that year in retrospect; there may have been others. I don't remember feeling rushed or hurried. I had plenty of time to run around outside, to make up stories, to read for pleasure, and to spend time with my family. I even lived twenty-five minutes from my elementary school!
I think the overscheduling hype might just be exactly that – hype. I especially want to question its applicability to homeschooling families. I made a list of my daughter's obligations and what I would like for her to have time to do, including music practice, time with her siblings, time to read, and down time. I included a good amount of sleep, and an adequate amount of time for meals. In a twenty-four day, after all of those? There was a surplus of five hours. Granted, travel time to activities needs to be considered in that five hours, but travel time does not have to be wasted time. In the car, we do memory work, we listen to music for music appreciation, we sing, we talk, and, when the car sickness isn't too bad, reading takes place. It's not wasted time, and could be argued to substitute nicely for some of the other time involved.
Is it possible to do too much, or to overschedule, even as a homeschooler? Yes. Absolutely. What I am arguing, however, is that the saturation point is much higher than most assume it to be.
Finally, there’s the objection of being “too rigid.” I’m sure there are better defenses of rigidity, not to mention better refutations of the charge of being rigid. What comes to my mind, though, is a quote from Bones. The titular character is explaining why she likes free form jazz. “No, I love it. The artist has to live within a set tonal structure and trust his own instincts to find his way out of a infinite maze of musical possibilities, and the great ones do.” Sometimes, the rigidity of a system can set us free. By learning the basic facts and laws of math, a mathematician can create brilliant proofs; by learning grammar, the writer has a framework for creative output. This is true across disciplines.
Ultimately, the objections to hard work can be answered and shown not to be the problems they are thought to be. The perception remains with homeschooling, though, as it does in many institutional school settings, that learning should be fun. Edutainment, not education. Others mistake industry for work, and while appropriately shunning empty showings of industry, forget the value inherent in work. Whatever the reason, the homeschool community has begun to embrace the view that requiring hard academic work is not a positive thing – and I think it’s a foolishly negative turn of events.
13.12.10
The Constant Challenge: Challenge
The most common, most recurring challenge in our homeschool is challenge itself. There’s a sweet spot in which I want my kids to be working. Neither too easy, nor too hard, ideally they’d be always working just on the edge of their zone of competence, to borrow a term from a book I read recently.
If I err towards something that is easy, I risk boredom. In our house, boredom with schoolwork often results in dawdling, a poor attitude, and, somewhat paradoxically, taking too much time to complete assigned work.
If, on the other hand, I err towards something that is too challenging, I risk frustration. I risk tears, exclamations of an inability to complete the work, and possibly a cessation of all effort.
To complicate matters further, a tired, hungry, or thirsty child often looks similar to a child who is being asked to do something too challenging. On occasion, the tired child will look like the bored child.
I admit, even after all this time, I sometimes miss the signs of something being too easy. This time of year, it’s all too frequent that my kids are tired or working their immune systems hard to keep illness at bay. I know that EG usually takes a cognitive leap between mid-December and the end of February, and things that were just right only weeks previous become far too easy in a matter of days. I know this, and still I can miss it.
Of course, there is a time and a place for “boring” work. We must review math facts. We must continue to analyze the grammar of a sentence, no matter how many sentences we’ve analyzed previously. We must recite the poetry we’ve already memorized, lest we forget it. Books that seem easy need to be read, to increase speed and fluency. The problem comes when nearly everything begins to fall under the category of “easy” and “boring.”
I would argue there is even a place for the thing that is just slightly “too” challenging. To work at a problem or text, to grapple with it, and to emerge victorious – this, of course, is the stuff from which self-esteem is truly made. Still, that’s the place for a challenge problem at the end of a chapter of math, for instance. The bulk of a day’s work needs to hit that sweet spot, even as a small fraction of it is spent grappling, and another small fraction is spent on the “boring” and the review.
Hitting the sweet spot, of course, is not exactly easy. Even in one subject, it can be difficult, but multiply the problem across multiple children and multiple subject, and it’s no wonder I occasionally have dreams about magical new curricula, and more diligent children.
What do you do to hit the sweet spot with your child or children? How do you balance the need for all three types of material, albeit in varying proportions? And, let’s admit it – how often do you think “I coulda had a V8!” because you’ve been ignoring the evidence staring you in the face (again)?
If I err towards something that is easy, I risk boredom. In our house, boredom with schoolwork often results in dawdling, a poor attitude, and, somewhat paradoxically, taking too much time to complete assigned work.
If, on the other hand, I err towards something that is too challenging, I risk frustration. I risk tears, exclamations of an inability to complete the work, and possibly a cessation of all effort.
To complicate matters further, a tired, hungry, or thirsty child often looks similar to a child who is being asked to do something too challenging. On occasion, the tired child will look like the bored child.
I admit, even after all this time, I sometimes miss the signs of something being too easy. This time of year, it’s all too frequent that my kids are tired or working their immune systems hard to keep illness at bay. I know that EG usually takes a cognitive leap between mid-December and the end of February, and things that were just right only weeks previous become far too easy in a matter of days. I know this, and still I can miss it.
Of course, there is a time and a place for “boring” work. We must review math facts. We must continue to analyze the grammar of a sentence, no matter how many sentences we’ve analyzed previously. We must recite the poetry we’ve already memorized, lest we forget it. Books that seem easy need to be read, to increase speed and fluency. The problem comes when nearly everything begins to fall under the category of “easy” and “boring.”
I would argue there is even a place for the thing that is just slightly “too” challenging. To work at a problem or text, to grapple with it, and to emerge victorious – this, of course, is the stuff from which self-esteem is truly made. Still, that’s the place for a challenge problem at the end of a chapter of math, for instance. The bulk of a day’s work needs to hit that sweet spot, even as a small fraction of it is spent grappling, and another small fraction is spent on the “boring” and the review.
Hitting the sweet spot, of course, is not exactly easy. Even in one subject, it can be difficult, but multiply the problem across multiple children and multiple subject, and it’s no wonder I occasionally have dreams about magical new curricula, and more diligent children.
What do you do to hit the sweet spot with your child or children? How do you balance the need for all three types of material, albeit in varying proportions? And, let’s admit it – how often do you think “I coulda had a V8!” because you’ve been ignoring the evidence staring you in the face (again)?
10.12.10
Weekly Report: Week Twenty (days 093-097)
I am, frankly, too tired to write a full weekly report. Therefore, we have one BIG thing and one little thing for everyone.
Me
• One of my good friends had her baby on Tuesday night, which happened to be her actual due date. She had a quick, intense homebirth-turned-unplanned-UC. Mama & baby are healthy, happy, and gorgeous!
• I updated my Ravelry account with actual pictures of my stashed yarn and my projects.
PC
• PC has added several words to her vocabulary lately. This week, however, we have added the all-important "Why?"
• PC also moves ever closer to be potty trained. We had to resort to getting her the non-preferred Publix training pants. Target's have a kitty on them and therefore she likes them too much.
FB
• I had suspected for a bit that perhaps FB could read more than he was letting on. Over the weekend, he exposed the depths of his knowledge. The little stinker can read! When queried about hiding it, he said, "I didn't want you to realize until I was eight or ten." Thanks, kid.
• FB finds the whole compost process fascinating to observe. We also finally finished reading a couple of the Greek myths books that we'd been slowly working through with him.
EG
• EG has been working diligently to wrap up the computer portion of PLATO Earth & Space Science before we break for Christmas. She's got just four mastery tests, three applications, and two lessons left!
• EG had her piano recital on Monday! She performed two pieces. Her pubic speaking class also performed a short skit.
EG & FB
Monday was their "Colonial Feast" at Master's Academy, as you can see…
Me
• One of my good friends had her baby on Tuesday night, which happened to be her actual due date. She had a quick, intense homebirth-turned-unplanned-UC. Mama & baby are healthy, happy, and gorgeous!
• I updated my Ravelry account with actual pictures of my stashed yarn and my projects.
PC
• PC has added several words to her vocabulary lately. This week, however, we have added the all-important "Why?"
• PC also moves ever closer to be potty trained. We had to resort to getting her the non-preferred Publix training pants. Target's have a kitty on them and therefore she likes them too much.
FB
• I had suspected for a bit that perhaps FB could read more than he was letting on. Over the weekend, he exposed the depths of his knowledge. The little stinker can read! When queried about hiding it, he said, "I didn't want you to realize until I was eight or ten." Thanks, kid.
• FB finds the whole compost process fascinating to observe. We also finally finished reading a couple of the Greek myths books that we'd been slowly working through with him.
EG
• EG has been working diligently to wrap up the computer portion of PLATO Earth & Space Science before we break for Christmas. She's got just four mastery tests, three applications, and two lessons left!
• EG had her piano recital on Monday! She performed two pieces. Her pubic speaking class also performed a short skit.
EG & FB
Monday was their "Colonial Feast" at Master's Academy, as you can see…
7.12.10
The Other Planning
Okay, the easy planning.
For language arts next year, FB will continue in his curriculum from this year, for the most part. He'll use Printing Power for penmanship, and Spelling Workout for spelling – probably Level B, but he could get into Level C before the end of 2011-2012. He'll also keep using First Language Lessons, and we'll continue his writing with Writing With Ease Level 2. Literature will continue to be a mix of him listening to great picture books and history-related fiction and reading books on his level.
Mathematics will be what he has left of Right Start B after this year, followed by Right Start C. He'll also keep working in Miquon – I anticipate him working in the Red book and possibly the Blue. Drill will continue, using Calculadders, and we'll throw in some other resources as well: MathStart picture books, the Kitchen Table Math books, and possibly Primary Challenge Math.
For history, FB will be continuing with The Story of the World, moving into Volume Two, which covers the time period from 400 CE through 1600 CE. We'll use the Activity Guide again, and add supplemental non-fiction, which I anticipate pulling primarily from the You Wouldn't Want To Be… series.
Science next year will be biology. We'll probably start that a little early, doing some botany in late spring and throughout the summer, using Incredible Plants and perhaps Green Thumbs. I'm going to use The Natural World as a primary spine, alongside the Kingfisher First Human Body Encyclopedia and the DK First Animal Encyclopedia. The Natural World does touch on cells and evolution, which otherwise would go neglected. Supplemental books will be pulled heavily from National Geographic, Let's Read and Find Out, and Rookie Read-About Science.
German… I want to start all the kids on German. As with EG, this may involve tutoring, or Saturday school, or who knows.
FB will continue attending Master's Academy, which does a good deal of art and music appreciation. We're doing those very informally at home this year, which I'll probably continue next year. We have the Classical Kids series, The Story of Classical Music, and we do listen to Classics for Kids as well. I'd like to get more of the Venezia books on composers. I'd also like to get the Venezia books on artists. We have a few books on art and artists. Again, we'll keep this informal for the most part, though I do have Art in Story that we'll use periodically, correlated to history. I'd like FB to attend a ballet performance, a theatre performance, and a musical performance next year.
In terms of skills in fine arts, FB has expressed interest in starting piano next year. I think we'll use something like Music for Little Mozarts at home. They use the classroom program at Master's Academy and he's always talking about it. We may even start this by mid-spring of this year. He also is learning recorder at Master's Academy, and they do art projects there as well. In either first or second grade, I'll have him work through Drawing With Children.
This is really all even easier than it looks. I'm fine with music appreciation being decided as we go, as well as most art. Art in Story takes a little bit of prep, but no more than an hour or two total. I do have to finalize supplemental books for history and science, as well as create a schedule, and make literature selections. That's it, though, for FB. Easy peasy! All the major decisions are already made.
For language arts next year, FB will continue in his curriculum from this year, for the most part. He'll use Printing Power for penmanship, and Spelling Workout for spelling – probably Level B, but he could get into Level C before the end of 2011-2012. He'll also keep using First Language Lessons, and we'll continue his writing with Writing With Ease Level 2. Literature will continue to be a mix of him listening to great picture books and history-related fiction and reading books on his level.
Mathematics will be what he has left of Right Start B after this year, followed by Right Start C. He'll also keep working in Miquon – I anticipate him working in the Red book and possibly the Blue. Drill will continue, using Calculadders, and we'll throw in some other resources as well: MathStart picture books, the Kitchen Table Math books, and possibly Primary Challenge Math.
For history, FB will be continuing with The Story of the World, moving into Volume Two, which covers the time period from 400 CE through 1600 CE. We'll use the Activity Guide again, and add supplemental non-fiction, which I anticipate pulling primarily from the You Wouldn't Want To Be… series.
Science next year will be biology. We'll probably start that a little early, doing some botany in late spring and throughout the summer, using Incredible Plants and perhaps Green Thumbs. I'm going to use The Natural World as a primary spine, alongside the Kingfisher First Human Body Encyclopedia and the DK First Animal Encyclopedia. The Natural World does touch on cells and evolution, which otherwise would go neglected. Supplemental books will be pulled heavily from National Geographic, Let's Read and Find Out, and Rookie Read-About Science.
German… I want to start all the kids on German. As with EG, this may involve tutoring, or Saturday school, or who knows.
FB will continue attending Master's Academy, which does a good deal of art and music appreciation. We're doing those very informally at home this year, which I'll probably continue next year. We have the Classical Kids series, The Story of Classical Music, and we do listen to Classics for Kids as well. I'd like to get more of the Venezia books on composers. I'd also like to get the Venezia books on artists. We have a few books on art and artists. Again, we'll keep this informal for the most part, though I do have Art in Story that we'll use periodically, correlated to history. I'd like FB to attend a ballet performance, a theatre performance, and a musical performance next year.
In terms of skills in fine arts, FB has expressed interest in starting piano next year. I think we'll use something like Music for Little Mozarts at home. They use the classroom program at Master's Academy and he's always talking about it. We may even start this by mid-spring of this year. He also is learning recorder at Master's Academy, and they do art projects there as well. In either first or second grade, I'll have him work through Drawing With Children.
This is really all even easier than it looks. I'm fine with music appreciation being decided as we go, as well as most art. Art in Story takes a little bit of prep, but no more than an hour or two total. I do have to finalize supplemental books for history and science, as well as create a schedule, and make literature selections. That's it, though, for FB. Easy peasy! All the major decisions are already made.
5.12.10
After December Comes 2011.
And, of course, 2011 means that after 2010-2011 is over, there will be 2011-2012. How'd that happen, again?
When it comes to next year and my two students, there's one for whom it's easy to list what we'll be doing. Then there's my darling EG.
Thank goodness for Michael Clay Thompson's language arts. We'll be using the entirety of the level four package - grammar, poetics, vocabulary, and composition. We'll also be continuing to use All About Spelling through the planned seventh level (no, we haven't started the sixth level; that will happen after Christmas, hopefully).
Everything else? Is vague.
Literature… I am taking a serious look at Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings, possibly done through the onlineg3 class. That would cover September, October, November, December, and January, leaving me with a month at the beginning of our school year, as well as the remainder of the school year after January. I need to look at what we're going to do in history through the end of this school year, and restructure that literature accordingly. Then, I'll have a better sense of what other works I want her to read next year.
Mathematics… EG loves Fred, so I won't take her from her beloved Life of Fred for Geometry, even though I think the idea of putting "algebra" in a proof for any algebraic property is bunk. I've looked through the text, though, and anticipate it taking only 108 days, leaving plenty of room in the schedule for her to work through the proofs and end of chapter problems, if not the entire book, from Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Geometry. All of that said, if next year is like every other year with math, she'll accomplish more than I suspect possible at the outset, so I'd better buy up Life of Fred Trigonometry. (I half-think she'll start Geometry before the end of 2010/2011.)
Social Sciences… I have to reconfigure my expectations for this year. Once I make sure she can finish the middle ages and the Renaissance, then I can begin to move forward. Tentatively, though, I'm looking at Ellen McHenry's Excavating English, as well as her Mapping the World with Art. I also have plans to pull together an economics study, and United States government, plus a world history course focused through the lens of food. All of this is for sixth and seventh grade (and possibly part of the remainder of fifth grade, to be honest), so here's another area where things are totally up in the air.
Science… I'm seriously considering having her tackle chemistry next year, as opposed to biology. Why? For starters, this year, we've spent and will spend a lot of time on biological topics. PLATO Life Science, yes, but also a human body study, a prehistoric life study, and a focused study of evolution and genetics. I love biology, but I do not want to burn her out on biology! Chemistry also fits more neatly into my Hogwarts school plans. We'll probably supplement science in other areas, thanks to Hogwarts, but I can find a chemistry program designed for homeschooling so much more easily. I'm actually seriously considering Spectrum Chemistry, even though I've sworn for years that I wouldn't buy any science materials from an obviously sectarian or creationist company. As far as I can tell, though, from all my reading and investigating, there's nothing in it to which I would object. It seems to be a 32 week course, with only three days of work expected in a week. Since we do core subjects four days a week, that gives us the flexibility to add enrichment (Caveman Chemistry, anyone?) as well as the other Hogwarts sciences (astronomy and herbology/botany).
German… I am considering enrolling the kids in a German Saturday school. I'm also making doe eyes at a friend who knows German to teach the kids. We may do both. Who knows? Not me!
Fine Arts, Skills… EG will continue with trumpet instruction and participation in band. She will audition for the "Advanced Band" and may apply to join Beginning Jazz (admission based on qualifying for Advanced). I think she'd like to continue piano lessons, even though my requirement of two years piano instruction will be met at that time. If she doesn't do any formal drawing instruction this year, it will definitely be on the list for next year. I'm going to outsource it, though, either by getting my mother to do it (with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain) or by paying for outside instruction.
Fine Arts, Appreciation… Performances will continue to be important. I'd like her to attend two ballet performances, at least one musical performance in addition to the band concerts, and one to three theatre performances. I really would like to take her to an opera if there's an accessible one being performed nearby. She'll continue working through The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History for, well, music history and world music appreciation, and Art for art history. I hope to renew our membership to the art museum, as well.
Logic… Unless something drastically changes, EG will be using The Snake and The Fox. I anticipate it taking one-half to two-thirds of the year. I also have Nonsense about fallacies, and a list of possibilities saved on amazon, to round out the year. Thanks to onlineg3, she'll have done both Critical Thinking 1 & Critical Thinking 2 this year, which should be a good basis for all of this. I also have some books on mathematical logic by Suppes, though I have no answer key for either. I think that's the point where I outsource, right?
Computers & Technology… I want EG to take some of the free classes and workshops offered at the Apple store. Ideally, I'd like her to take Art of Problem Solving's introduction to Python in seventh grade, so our main goals for sixth grade are to improve typing speed and to get comfortable with basic software usage.
I really want to have everything finalized by March, which means I will have a busy two or three months ahead of me. Why March? We're going to Greenville! (I'm so excited. Susan Wise Bauer, Jessie Wise, Jim Weiss, Michael Clay Thompson, Ed Zaccaro, plus Tim Hawkins. Yay!)
When it comes to next year and my two students, there's one for whom it's easy to list what we'll be doing. Then there's my darling EG.
Thank goodness for Michael Clay Thompson's language arts. We'll be using the entirety of the level four package - grammar, poetics, vocabulary, and composition. We'll also be continuing to use All About Spelling through the planned seventh level (no, we haven't started the sixth level; that will happen after Christmas, hopefully).
Everything else? Is vague.
Literature… I am taking a serious look at Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings, possibly done through the onlineg3 class. That would cover September, October, November, December, and January, leaving me with a month at the beginning of our school year, as well as the remainder of the school year after January. I need to look at what we're going to do in history through the end of this school year, and restructure that literature accordingly. Then, I'll have a better sense of what other works I want her to read next year.
Mathematics… EG loves Fred, so I won't take her from her beloved Life of Fred for Geometry, even though I think the idea of putting "algebra" in a proof for any algebraic property is bunk. I've looked through the text, though, and anticipate it taking only 108 days, leaving plenty of room in the schedule for her to work through the proofs and end of chapter problems, if not the entire book, from Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Geometry. All of that said, if next year is like every other year with math, she'll accomplish more than I suspect possible at the outset, so I'd better buy up Life of Fred Trigonometry. (I half-think she'll start Geometry before the end of 2010/2011.)
Social Sciences… I have to reconfigure my expectations for this year. Once I make sure she can finish the middle ages and the Renaissance, then I can begin to move forward. Tentatively, though, I'm looking at Ellen McHenry's Excavating English, as well as her Mapping the World with Art. I also have plans to pull together an economics study, and United States government, plus a world history course focused through the lens of food. All of this is for sixth and seventh grade (and possibly part of the remainder of fifth grade, to be honest), so here's another area where things are totally up in the air.
Science… I'm seriously considering having her tackle chemistry next year, as opposed to biology. Why? For starters, this year, we've spent and will spend a lot of time on biological topics. PLATO Life Science, yes, but also a human body study, a prehistoric life study, and a focused study of evolution and genetics. I love biology, but I do not want to burn her out on biology! Chemistry also fits more neatly into my Hogwarts school plans. We'll probably supplement science in other areas, thanks to Hogwarts, but I can find a chemistry program designed for homeschooling so much more easily. I'm actually seriously considering Spectrum Chemistry, even though I've sworn for years that I wouldn't buy any science materials from an obviously sectarian or creationist company. As far as I can tell, though, from all my reading and investigating, there's nothing in it to which I would object. It seems to be a 32 week course, with only three days of work expected in a week. Since we do core subjects four days a week, that gives us the flexibility to add enrichment (Caveman Chemistry, anyone?) as well as the other Hogwarts sciences (astronomy and herbology/botany).
German… I am considering enrolling the kids in a German Saturday school. I'm also making doe eyes at a friend who knows German to teach the kids. We may do both. Who knows? Not me!
Fine Arts, Skills… EG will continue with trumpet instruction and participation in band. She will audition for the "Advanced Band" and may apply to join Beginning Jazz (admission based on qualifying for Advanced). I think she'd like to continue piano lessons, even though my requirement of two years piano instruction will be met at that time. If she doesn't do any formal drawing instruction this year, it will definitely be on the list for next year. I'm going to outsource it, though, either by getting my mother to do it (with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain) or by paying for outside instruction.
Fine Arts, Appreciation… Performances will continue to be important. I'd like her to attend two ballet performances, at least one musical performance in addition to the band concerts, and one to three theatre performances. I really would like to take her to an opera if there's an accessible one being performed nearby. She'll continue working through The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music History for, well, music history and world music appreciation, and Art for art history. I hope to renew our membership to the art museum, as well.
Logic… Unless something drastically changes, EG will be using The Snake and The Fox. I anticipate it taking one-half to two-thirds of the year. I also have Nonsense about fallacies, and a list of possibilities saved on amazon, to round out the year. Thanks to onlineg3, she'll have done both Critical Thinking 1 & Critical Thinking 2 this year, which should be a good basis for all of this. I also have some books on mathematical logic by Suppes, though I have no answer key for either. I think that's the point where I outsource, right?
Computers & Technology… I want EG to take some of the free classes and workshops offered at the Apple store. Ideally, I'd like her to take Art of Problem Solving's introduction to Python in seventh grade, so our main goals for sixth grade are to improve typing speed and to get comfortable with basic software usage.
I really want to have everything finalized by March, which means I will have a busy two or three months ahead of me. Why March? We're going to Greenville! (I'm so excited. Susan Wise Bauer, Jessie Wise, Jim Weiss, Michael Clay Thompson, Ed Zaccaro, plus Tim Hawkins. Yay!)
