History

We're continuing with Story of the World for history.  This year, we're at volume 3:  Early Modern Times. I'm also getting the test booklet, but I'm borrowing the activity book from the library so we don't have to kick out the extra $21.  Sarah will supplement that with corresponding entries from the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia.  Both girls will also read plenty of fiction from this era, though I don't have a specific list made up yet.

Geography

I'm taking an easy out with Geography this year.  I heard about National Geographic's Geography Bee and saw their website with study materials.  Works for me!  I'm hoping we can get enough local kids interested to have a Bee of our own, but if not, this is still a worthwhile area of study.

Sorry for the wimpy post.  I'm still not sleeping well, but the pain has diminished enough so that I keep forgetting to take more Percoset.  That's a good sign, right?

Home Ec

Both girls like to cook and sew, so making that a part of lessons wasn't a tough choice.

They're going to alternate weeks. So one week, Sarah will have a night where she cooks dinner, and Lauren will have a sewing project. The following week, they'll switch.

Planned sewing projects:

• Heated Cuddle Buddy - we all love those microwaveable heating pads in the winter; this particular variation is a little more challenging because of all the curves, but the cuteness factor kicks it up
  

• Scrap Swaddle Blanket - probably the most basic of blankets, and they've both already made something similar
  

• Hobo Sack - cute basic backpack
  

• Lunch Bag - we do already have a few lunch bags of this style, and Sarah would die for a tiffin, but it never hurts to have extras, and being able to choose your own fabric and embellishments is always a plus.
  

• Winter Fleece Hat - cute and useful, and I might make one for myself!
  

• Travel Tissue Holder - definitely the easiest and fastest project

• Pajama pants - we'll buy a pattern for this

Not all of the projects will be for them to necessarily keep. I'll especially encourage them to donate the blankets they make.

The cooking aspect is that they're allowed to cook whatever they want, but it has to be something I can do (so when Lauren announced she wanted to do sushi for her first week, I suggested spring rolls instead), and they have to understand the nutrition aspects--Sarah's first week request is biscuits & gravy, so that should be a very interesting lesson!

Song I had no idea Sarah likes, but that I heartily approve of: Joan Jett's "I Love Rock n Roll."

English

For English, we're starting with reading lists from Mensa for Kids. I'm letting both girls start with the level below where they currently are. That means the K - 3 level for Lauren and the 4 - 6 level for Sarah. Some of the books are really easy for them (i.e. Harry the Dirty Dog for Lauren and Pippi Longstocking for Sarah), but I'm ok with that at this point. Some of the books in those levels are more rigorous, like the original Pinocchio (Lauren) and Swiss Family Robinson (Sarah). All the books are worth reading, and we'll get to the next level soon enough.

For the ones that I know will be super easy for them, I'm getting them out of the library now and letting them blitz through them before school officially starts for them in September. If there's a BookAdventure quiz, they do it. If not, I know that they read it, and that's enough. Some of the books will be the basis of additional exercises in the fall. I spent quite a bit of time over the weekend, finding links to lessons for Anne of Green Gables, Black Beauty, My Side of the Mountain, Freckle Juice, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and Charlotte's Web, to name a few.

Some of the books, especially the ones that have more archaic language, are really best for listening instead of reading. Lauren listened to Pinnocchio yesterday and really liked it, which I doubt would have been the case if she'd had to read it herself.

As for spelling & grammar, we'll do those as well, but I don't have a specific plan yet.

I also want to start reading out loud again in the evenings, but don't know what to start with yet. I'm really leaning toward The Hobbit . . .

Planning

My thoughts on this morning's walk were considerably more . . . um . . . focused, shall we say, than yesterday.

It's the middle of August. School is going to start for us the day after Labor Day. So what is the school year going to look like for us this year?

For one thing, I'm trying to limit our outside activities. That means no co-op, at least this semester. I find that when we're running around all the time, work at home tends to fall by the wayside. They'll still have Scouts, Girls' Club, Book Club at the library, and lots of other fun stuff. (Un)fortunately, I don't think I'll be working much in the foreseeable future.

Subjects are going to include: Math, Science, History, Geography, Spelling, German, English (Lit, Comp & Grammar), Cooking/Nutrition, PE, Sewing, and Art.

Obviously, some subjects will be studied more frequently than others. Math, Spelling and PE will be every day. Cooking and Sewing will be no more than once a week (in fact, we might alternate those: one week, Sarah plans and cooks dinner, and Lauren sews something, and the next week they switch). The others will be a few times a week.

I plan to go back to my "checklist" method of keeping track of things. At the beginning of the week, they each get a list of subjects with a number of check boxes by each one, representing the number of lessons they need to get through. They pick which boxes to do every day and highlight them. They check them off as completed. They get some measure of control over what they're doing, but still have responsibility to get it done.

Through the rest of the month, I'll write more specifically about what we'll do for each subject.

Song I've most recently added to my "want" list: Coldplay's "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall."

Starting Shakespeare

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare ``It's Greek to me'', you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is farther to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise - why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare. - Bernard Levin, quoted in The Story of English, p. 95.

When I signed up for a Shakespeare class in college, I was so excited, because it was being taught by a professor I really liked. I couldn't wait--which plays and sonnets would we cover? Would we lean more towards the comedies or the dramas? No emoticon in the world can convey my disappointment when I discovered that we were going to cover the histories. The histories? Oy. Dull. I didn't do very well in the class, largely because I had a very hard time keeping track of who was related to which person, and who was fighting with the other, and who was an ally. That's not a family tree; that's kudzu.

One of the basic tenets of the classical model of education is an emphasis on the classic literature. In lower elementary, you read a picture book about Hamlet. In junior high, you read a novelization. By the time you get to high school, you're ready to read the original. You're not bogged down by the plot or the characters, because you already know it so well, so you can really focus on the language. It loses a lot of the intimidation factor.

This year, we're doing the Middle Ages & Renaissance for History. When I friend offered to take Sarah to see Richard III for free, I jumped on it. But I knew I had to prepare her for it so that she didn't get lost in trying to follow the plot.

I've found two great Shakespeare resources if your kids (or you!) are just starting out.

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
This is a 4 disc set, with three 25-minute episodes per disc. I thought it was a great format for introducing the story, and both girls really got into Richard III, down to yelling at him when he went into battle that they hoped he would die. "I hope his mother's curse comes true!" They immediately wanted to watch Julius Caesar, and were disappointed that we had to return it before we had time to watch Hamlet. We have two more discs reserved at the library as well, and I'm sure the last one will also make an appearance in our DVD player eventually. It isn't traditional animation, but that didn't bother us at all.

Shakespeare Stories
The link I included only goes to the Richard III book. There is a whole series of a dozen Shakespearean plays that have been retold for elementary readers. Again, it's a good place to start.

As for full length movies, Ian McKellan's Richard III is amazing. A little too intense for our family to watch right now, though. I'll be very interested to hear what Sarah thinks of the version she sees. We've recorded A Midsummer Night's Dream (with Mickey Rooney as Puck), which we'll watch fairly soon. Lauren is especially interested in that, since she recited his final speech at Salem's talent show a few weeks ago.

When it comes time to do the History Fair this spring, I'm really hoping they want to do something Shakespearean, but in order for that to happen, I would probably be the one to end up doing it!

Reason #5,391 I Love Homeschooling

Because we get Medieval Demonstration days, and my kid says, "Mom, I look like William the Conqueror!" while wearing this: Because they get to taste whey after making cheese.
I guess the Vikings liked it, but no one in our group was too enthused.

Because we got to make chain mail key chains.

Because we learned that drop spinning is hard!
Because even though I was with Lauren's group, I still got pictures of Sarah like this:
and this:
Because we got to have an awesome feast with friends and eat meat pie with currants, from an authentic recipe! Sorry no pictures there. Great time yesterday!

Quid Pro Quo

There's been talk lately about homeschoolers getting a tax break.

Would it be nice to get some credit to spend toward buying books? You bet! Would it be nice to have to deal with the regulations & restrictions that would come with it? Not so much!

How do I prove I'm a homeschooler? Would I have to submit my lesson plans, demonstrate how many hours we spend on school work? Does a field trip count? Does bowling?

What if my kids don't pass a standardized test? Would I be required to send them to public school? (Conversely, if public school kids can't pass my test--or even the state test--can we require them to be homeschooled?)

There's no such thing as a free lunch. I'd rather keep my independence and my choices for my family, thanks.

German vs. Latin

When I was in 9th grade, I told my parents that I was going to take German. And Latin. At the same time. Wisely, they told me that starting two languages at the same time was a bad choice. Even at 13, I could concede the point, so I settled for German. The next year, we moved west, and although I continued with German through high school and college, I never did take Latin.

Considering how much German I know, it's kind of embarrassing that my kids don't know more. Every year, I say that I'll get up actual lesson plans and go to town. Every year, I let them listen to various songs & such, but it's never very organized.

So I'm making it official. This semester. Official lessons--I'll even post them here to keep me accountable. They'll still be casual, though. Sarah will be in 7th grade next year, and that's soon enough to expect her to learn to conjugate verbs and know the difference between der, die, and das.

Latin? Well, I actually had that on the list for this semester, too. I borrowed Getting Started with Latin from a friend, and it looks great. But then I decided that if it was too much for me back then, it would be too much for the kids now. Latin will wait until this summer, and we'll do it as a "bonus" thing. I can't wait to read Cattus Petasatus!

Classical Education

Classical Education, as defined by Susan Wise Bauer:

Classical education depends on a three-part process of training the mind. The early years of school are spent in absorbing facts, systematically laying the foundations for advanced study. In the middle grades, students learn to think through arguments. In the high school years, they learn to express themselves. This classical pattern is called the trivium.

Susan Wise Bauer's book, The Well Trained Mind, is one of the best homeschooling books I've read, but it's a lot to implement on your own. The concept is very systematic, and well organized.

Classical Conversations is a program based on the trivium. We went to a meeting last night for a group that wants to start a local chapter. It was a fabulous, informative meeting, and it sounds like a great program, but I do have some reservations.

High on that list is cost. For both girls it could easily run over $1,000 for the year. That doesn't include Math, either. I could offset some of that cost by working as a tutor for the program, though I don't know how much. Also, I'd certainly prefer to be able to spend all my time with them in their classes so I can see more closely what the lessons are for that week when we work on them at home. It would be more work/stress for me, obviously, but that's what having a job and making money is, at least to some extent. Would I enjoy it? Probably, but it would also be nice to be able to take that time "off." I'm strongly considering doing no co-op of any kind next year.

Another reservation is the nature of classical education itself. I know, I really like that whole "building a solid foundation" model. But the parrot stage, with its rote memorization, bugs me. Memorizing terms that have no meaning (yet) irks me. I know that the classical answer to this is that the current education model is to expect kids to learn stuff before they're ready and to make judgments about stuff the don't fully understand. I also know that this style of learning flies in the face of the Whole Language reading method I strongly prefer. (I do not dispute the importance of Phonics--I think Phonics is important and useful, but without Whole Language, it lacks meaning.)

Whenever you use a "canned" curriculum, you relinquish some freedom for that convenience. In the past, I've loved developing my own curriculum. It's been one of my favorite things, in fact. Sadly, this past year I've done precious little of that and less follow up. A program like this has some accountability built in, which can be really helpful.

The last reservation is the strong literal Christian aspect. We're Christians, go to church pretty much every week. However, I'm not so interested in defending Creationism, which I know is a part of this. But it's also likely to be a part of any co-op we join.

So--I have a lot of reservations. So why am I even considering this group? Because it would give me quite a bit of structure and framework, which I like. I do see the value in the way it is set up. It does give me flexibility within that framework.

There is a lot to consider with this. And I'm considering it.

Challenger Simulation

Last Tuesday, after three months of science ranging from geology to map plotting to phases of the moon, Sarah finally got to go to the Challenger Resource Center in Ohio for a space shuttle simulation.

It was SO COOL. Jeff said that he wishes he'd been able to do that kind of stuff when he was a kid, but I know that he'd love to be able to do it today if he had the chance.

The group was fairly small, so instead of dividing them up into two groups, they tapped some of the teachers who were there for training to share the mission. First, our kids were at Mission Control. They all had different jobs, from Life Support to Communication. Sarah was Navigation.

Halfway through, they switched with the other team, and went into the space shuttle. We even got to go through an "airlock."

Once there, most of Sarah's job was plotting potential landing sites, using longitude & latitude. At the end, though, all eyes were on her, because she was the one landing the shuttle. Let's say that Sarah is not likely to become an air traffic controller as an adult. She didn't react well to the pressure, but after some reassurance from the Mission Commander, she pulled it together and got them down safely. Whew!

After, we rode back down to Earth.

The whole experience was really cool, and well worth the time and effort we all put into preparing her last fall.

Coming soon: more sewing posts!

Home Ec

Home Ec is once a week, alternating between Cooking and Sewing. I've tried to tie the lessons in with Geography. The first week, we made a couple recipes from Amish Cooking for Kids, with moderate success. I'm a little skeptical of an Amish cookbook that calls for the microwave, you know?

Last week's project was Bandana Bonnets, keeping with the Pennsylvania theme. I made one for Lauren (she chose a very bright print, with "Love" written all over it), and Sarah made her own (from a more sedate blue/green). They turned out cute, but if I were to make them again, I would make the front part narrower. The proportions seem a little awkward. Also, I used fabric glue instead of fuseable web to attach the ribbon. I didn't want to do any more ironing, and I think glue holds better. She did a good job with it (sewing a seam, running elastic through the casing), and says that she likes the finished product, but not as much as she thought she would.

Tomorrow, she's going to make Pineapple Casserole to take to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. We got the recipe about a year ago from a woman at church, and have made it a couple times. It's kind of like a pineapple bread pudding.

I know, that doesn't tie in with Geography too much. We've been doing Arizona and Oklahoma last week and this (next week is Texas), and she's so not a fan of southwestern food. I'm going to look around for a Native American type sewing project for next week, unless I come up with something else. Oh, and I'll probably also show her how to make (not sew) a chiton, which I found in The Daring Book for Girls, to tie in to Ancient Rome.

Ultimate Resource

Holy cow, am I drooling. I just got Best books for children : preschool through grade 6 from the library. I thought it would be another nice list of fiction, like The Read-Aloud Handbook. What I got was an incredible reference book. It lists over 25,000 children's books, arranged by theme. It also has an author list and a subject index. Each book only has a one-line summary, but it's enough to get me to investigate more through Amazon.

Sadly, it costs $80, so I guess I'll be checking it out of the library periodically and getting ideas for books to last a few months.

3rd Grade Spelling

We're using this list, which I think has reasonable words. I like the way they're grouped, and that the choices are spelled out--ou or ow make the "ow" sound for this week.

Last year, I made an effort to make spelling interesting and fun. We'd do something different with her words every day: crossword puzzles, word searches, Scrabble tiles, secrete codes, etc.

Not this year. This year, I write the words on Monday and she has to copy them twice for handwriting practice. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, she writes them on the white board, and I help her if she has trouble. If she has a lot of trouble, she then copies them five times on a separate piece of paper. If she has a little trouble, it's only two or three times.

Spelling is easily her most difficult area. She really has a hard time with it. I don't know that this year's boring, repetitive approach is better--she's still barely getting a 7/10 average. It frustrates me a bit because I'm generally a pretty good speller. We'll see how the rest of the year goes.

Geography--United States

For Geography, we're slowly making our way through the United States.

For each state, we read one of the alphabet series (M is for Mitten, L is for Last Frontier, G is for Grand Canyon). I also like the Welcome to the USA series, Portraits of the States, and Rookie Read About Geography. The Rookie series is a pretty easy level for Sarah; I like mixing it up a little, and a lot of the other books are considerably more difficult. We also used the Enchanted Learning site regularly.

I'm also trying to get as much fiction that relates to the state as I can. I came across a list from Scholastic last year, of books that "go with" each state, broken down by grades. It was a great find, but some of the books leave something to be desired. See the Yak Yak is a fun book, but I don't see what it has to do with Alabama. So I'm adding to the list as I go. Last week, for Pennsylvania, it was Shoo-Fly Girl by Lois Lensky. We're almost done with it. With longer chapter books like that, I'll usually read her a chapter at night, and then she'll go and read some more before she goes to sleep. I got Brighty of the Grand Canyon for Arizona this week, and that is a long book! We'll be doing Oklahoma next week, and I doubt we'll be done with Brighty by then, so we'll skip a long book for that one. I try to get more short/picture books that she can read to Lauren.

For each state, she

1. fills in a blank map, and draws the flag, describing it a little.
   
2. does a spider graph with basic information: capital city, climate, resources, landmarks, etc.
   
3. answers ten questions that came from the non-fiction books we've used. She's allowed to look at the books for the answers.
   

After we've done some more writing practice, we'll start including a paragraph for each one as well.

Last week, we also tied Home Ec into Pennsylvania. I found Amish Cooking for Kids, so we made a couple of recipes. We did have some limitations, though. The oven is still unreliable, so that let out making bread. There were several other recipes that called for using the microwave--not so Amish, methinks. We ended up making Vanilla Pudding on the stove. It tasted ok, but sadly, was not as smooth as it should have been.

I'm going to start making extra credit available as well. I borrowed a book called Geography Challenge, which has 190 questions. I've copied about 45 of them so far, and am going to print them on little slips of paper, then put them all in a container. She can pull one out and try to figure out the answer. Some of the questions require map work, but others will let her try some internet research skills.

It's a rather superficial study (just sounds really complicated), but I think it's fine for this year.

History--Ancient Rome

I was only going to give Ancient Rome a month, then move on to other ancient cultures before the end of the year, but I found a really good resource from the BBC. It's a little heavy on the "Rome in England" end, not surprisingly. I'd rather it have a little more about Roman life, and Julius Caesar (rather than so much about Hadrian's Wall and Boudicca), but it has a lot of materials for us to work with, and I think it'll do just fine. Actually, I was relieved to find something that had so much of the work already done.

If we do History twice a week, we'll be done with this unit in about two months. In addition to that site, I have a bunch of books from the library. The one I like best for this is My Best Book of Ancient Rome. For fiction, we'll read Galen: My life in Imperial Rome. We already read The Roman Twins, which was cute (and tied in nicely with our Poetry unit, since it's written in couplets). I also found a cool Construct an Aqueduct site. I'd like to try some recipes, but I don't know that they're feasible. As a final activity, we'll do a Venn diagram comparing life then and now, and a time line--that'll probably be the hardest part.

To Grade or Not to Grade

This year, Sarah got a progress report, her first one. I started keeping track of her stuff fairly recently, but now the whole grades thing has really taken off. I've been keeping track of certain things for a long time: her Book Adventure points last year, her Math Magician scores practically since we started. But for the other stuff, I didn't assign grade values.

In some ways, homeschooling can be anti-grades. True understanding of the work is more important than a grade, right? Well, yeah, of course. That's true in any situation. But grading has had a few effects.

1. It's made me more accountable. I'm keeping better track of what we're doing, and I'm forcing myself to come up with concrete, objective, "grade-able" assignments.
   
2. Sarah seems more invested in how she's doing. Time will tell if that continues.
3. It's giving me a new place to go crazy with Excel. Seriously, I love setting up the formulas and formats so that all I have to do is plug in the numbers, and I get instant results.
   

I don't think every family needs to use grades, be they letter or number. In fact, they're kind of a crutch for me. Like the schedule I use that some of my homeschool friends really admire. Ha--I use that because I have to. If I didn't, nothing would get done.

As for Chicago, I love Chicago. Jeff suggested it early on, and I jumped on it. Then he reminded me that it will be cold there in late December/early January; I hate the cold. That makes Chicago a lot less appealing. It's still a possibility, but a slim one.

Story Time

Lauren is still young enough for Story Time at the library, but not for too much longer. I'm going to be sorry when that's over, because she really likes it. A few weeks ago, we started Story Time here at home, too. For about half an hour before lunch, Sarah reads out loud to Lauren. We have a bin of books from the library, and they choose from those. Sarah gets practice reading out loud, and they both really enjoy it. Sometimes they surprise me--in the second week, I had the adventures of Hercules for Sarah, but Lauren ended up requesting it pretty frequently.

Story Time also has historic precedent. When I was a kid, my brother was diagnosed as "hyperactive." My parents decided to forgo the Ritalin and do some other things instead. I vaguely remember some dietary changes (a different milk), and half an hour before bed every night, we would have Quiet Time. I'd get to do funny voices for the different characters, and he'd mellow out before it was time to sleep. It was a great bonding experience. When I found one of our favorites at a garage sale a few years ago (The Monster at the End of This Book, with lovable furry old Grover), the rush of memory that came flooding back was amazing. Those are the kind of memories I hope my kids will have.

I just got a poster for "100 Picture Books to Read in Kindergarten," along with stickers so that you can mark off the title when you're done with it. That'll give us fodder for quite a while! I'm so glad that I can reserve and renew books on-line. I love letting the librarians do most of the work for me! Sometimes it's a little embarrassing when I have over 15 books to pick up, though!

Lauren's current favorite is Skippyjon Jones in the Doghouse--it came with an audio CD, and she is in heaven. I really need to start making more use of that medium.

Homeschooling: This Year

I really like The Well Trained Mind's attitude toward homeschooling. The general idea is to delve very deeply into subjects--really take your time with them and be thorough. Another concept is that History is the framework for most other learning, including Geography, Literature, and Science. They also advocate a cyclical pattern.

• First grade covers "the ancients" (science is about things the ancients could see: animals, plants, and the human body)
  
• Second grade is medieval/Renaissance (science is the earth and sky observations--thank you, Copernicus!)
  
• Third is 1600 - 1850 (time for basic chemistry: atoms, molecules, elements)
  
• Fourth is modern times (beginning physics)

The idea is that "these divisions correspond to the child's growing ability to think abstractly." The cyclic part is that when you get to fifth grade, you go back to the ancients, but start dealing with it more in depth, as better fits the child's capabilities.

I like this book and its ideas a lot. They make sense to me. I haven't followed them exactly, though. I've used it more as inspiration. For one thing, Sarah's already in third grade. I don't want to start in the middle, so I'm compressing things a bit. We did Greeks last month, Romans this month. Next month we'll cruise on toward the medieval period, and in the spring we'll get to the "correct" time period. This has an added benefit for Lauren. She'll be starting the ancients next year (and we will take the whole year to do it), but she already has some background, thanks to Sarah. Also, it'll be good review for Sarah next year.

I am using the Usborne Book of World History quite a bit. So far, I keep getting it from the library, but I really need to break down and buy it. I'm also trying to get lots of literature from those time periods.

We are doing different things for Geography and Science, but that's for another post.

Follow that pumpkin

According to the general plan I had going, we weren't going to cover physics at all until the spring, but yesterday at the pumpkin patch, while rolling pumpkins down the hill, we started talking about inertia. Here's a nice starter site for dealing with Newton's three laws of motion.

Newton's Three Laws of Motion