Avery has officially started algebra, although he's been quite excited to discover that he's already been doing algebra, for years now, without even knowing it. Anyway, Life of Fred is still interesting and exciting, funny and smart, and the combination of LoF and the Key To... workbooks for practice in all the other stuff is working really, really well.
So, we're moving along.
So many things have been of schedule for us this year, with big sicknesses and lots of adventures, that we're sort of just hanging on the basics. No foreign language this year, the big intricate blocks planned for Nordic Myths, with great crafts and a beautiful lesson book- not happening. We've been reading the myths, retelling them at bedsides and in between hospital visits, but that's about it. We're just starting Pilgrims right now, and all of the science stuff I'd planned that wasn't in a kit, all the real meaty good stuff (zoology and anatomy) we've barely scratched the surface. Avery's learned to ski, cross country and downhill, and rock climbing at a gym an hour away every week. This school year has been lots of work Avery can do on his own or nearly so- the Thames and Kosmos history of science kit has been wonderful, even the Home Science Adventures kits have been fun and good, and the boys have been working those together. None of those things are out of the realm of what I could and have in the past put together, but sometimes you just need to be able to open a box and have everything ready to go. And sometimes you just have to be okay with it. They're having fun, they're getting outside, they're reading and playing and learning and doing and that's pretty good.
And pretty good is sometimes, just sometimes, good enough.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Still Here
We're here. Plodding along. Well, maybe not so much plodding, as racing along, in between breaks of every kind imaginable. I think there's been ONE week since the start of school where we've had a full, normal week, without vacations, illnesses, field trips, floodings, computers dying with all the school plans on them (why oh why don't I learn to back things up?) or catastrophes of one kind or another.
And still- though I feel like so many things are falling through the cracks- we're making progress. Learning is happening. We're not stuck to a school calendar (Oh! Imagine all those abscences!) with mountains of busy work to make up. We're a little pared down, but here we are.
Avery finished Life of Fred Fractions today, and Key to Geometry 1 yesterday (Because we're homeschoolers math can look like that- fractions, geometry, algebra, calculus all at once). He's done four of the lessons in Writing Strands 3, and a bunch of grammar work. He's doing some embroidery work for the baby. History of US is great, and he's been poring over the National Geographic Exploration Experience. Love those old maps!
There's more, but it's all unschooly- child directed stuff, and isn't getting anything crossed off on MY plan for the year. Why is it hard for me to count that mountain of learning as "school"? Is it just because I'm not in charge of it?
Miles is busy writing all day long, taping little pieces of paper all over the house with funny little notes written on them. He's beyond pleased when he writes something that sounds like a real word, but sometimes gets the funniest look on his face, like "Hmmm. I wonder why I wrote that. What does DOT TAP NAP really mean?"
I am also searching for these answers. That and "I AM APPI LAM 7".
I'm not sure if it counts as preschool, but it's more fun than worksheets. And so, we hop and skip along. Merry, merry homeschool!
And still- though I feel like so many things are falling through the cracks- we're making progress. Learning is happening. We're not stuck to a school calendar (Oh! Imagine all those abscences!) with mountains of busy work to make up. We're a little pared down, but here we are.
Avery finished Life of Fred Fractions today, and Key to Geometry 1 yesterday (Because we're homeschoolers math can look like that- fractions, geometry, algebra, calculus all at once). He's done four of the lessons in Writing Strands 3, and a bunch of grammar work. He's doing some embroidery work for the baby. History of US is great, and he's been poring over the National Geographic Exploration Experience. Love those old maps!
There's more, but it's all unschooly- child directed stuff, and isn't getting anything crossed off on MY plan for the year. Why is it hard for me to count that mountain of learning as "school"? Is it just because I'm not in charge of it?
Miles is busy writing all day long, taping little pieces of paper all over the house with funny little notes written on them. He's beyond pleased when he writes something that sounds like a real word, but sometimes gets the funniest look on his face, like "Hmmm. I wonder why I wrote that. What does DOT TAP NAP really mean?"
I am also searching for these answers. That and "I AM APPI LAM 7".
I'm not sure if it counts as preschool, but it's more fun than worksheets. And so, we hop and skip along. Merry, merry homeschool!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Stick Figures
According to the Norse Myths we've been studying the first man and first woman were made from trees. Alder and Ash, specifically. Personally I kind of like the image. And it does put an interesting spin on the evolution vs. creation debate, don't you think? We made figures from sticks, our own "first boys". They didn't come out as I'd intended, exactly, but I think they're awfully cute anyway. And Miles spent the rest of the day making stick figures all on his own and planting them all around the house. Hopefully they don't ALL grow into people- our house is kind of small already!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Two Little Mice
Man and Animals inspired handwork: wool felt mice made from an old sweater, felted thick and sturdy in the washing machine, cut, stuffed and sewn into cute little mice for the Thursday, October 15, 2009
Loving, Liking, Liking Not A Bit
Loving
Life of Fred- Fractions. Still.
Thames and Kosmos- Milestones of Science Kit. Very cool, good quality, varied and interesting. Would be better if it had ideas for further exploration, though....
Embroidery.
Autumn. Isn't it just the best season for starting new projects and getting reinvigorated? We love schoolwork in the fall.
School Baskets. The boys each have their own school basket, and each night I make sure their baskets have what they need for the next day's work. It's simple, keeps the clutter down, keeps them focused, and the baskets can move anywhere we need them- dining room table, downstairs, kitchen, even outside, I suppose.
A focused character study time.
A History of US by Joy Hakim. They're great. Really, really great. Much better than I was expecting. Totally worth the price.
Writing Strands 3. Funny, smart, short lessons each day, and Avery's favorite- breaks between lessons! The book is written directly to the child, not to the parent, and that little thing makes a big difference. Avery does the work on his own because he knows that the author expects him to. And you know, he does very well.
Liking
Simply Grammar. I think it would have been really nice two years ago. For us, for fourth grade, it's pretty simple. But the lessons only take a couple minutes and review is good. It's nice that it's oral work- I think if it were intended to be written it would feel too much like busy work.
Word Play. More at Avery's level, and it pushes him along. He insists lately he has no imagination, no creativity, so a little prodding in that direction is good.
Liking Not A Bit
Anatomy. Or rather, the fact we haven't studied this at all in weeks. For some reason this is too easy to push aside in exchange for other, ANY other activities. Hmm.
Guitar. Practice. Or at least the fuss about whether, in deed, Avery is supposed to practice today, whether or not he's really supposed to practice for 30 minutes or 3, whether the time spent setting up his music stand and getting his guitar out counts as practice, and so on and on and on. Nope. Not liking that one bit.
Life of Fred- Fractions. Still.
Thames and Kosmos- Milestones of Science Kit. Very cool, good quality, varied and interesting. Would be better if it had ideas for further exploration, though....
Embroidery.
Autumn. Isn't it just the best season for starting new projects and getting reinvigorated? We love schoolwork in the fall.
School Baskets. The boys each have their own school basket, and each night I make sure their baskets have what they need for the next day's work. It's simple, keeps the clutter down, keeps them focused, and the baskets can move anywhere we need them- dining room table, downstairs, kitchen, even outside, I suppose.
A focused character study time.
A History of US by Joy Hakim. They're great. Really, really great. Much better than I was expecting. Totally worth the price.
Writing Strands 3. Funny, smart, short lessons each day, and Avery's favorite- breaks between lessons! The book is written directly to the child, not to the parent, and that little thing makes a big difference. Avery does the work on his own because he knows that the author expects him to. And you know, he does very well.
Liking
Simply Grammar. I think it would have been really nice two years ago. For us, for fourth grade, it's pretty simple. But the lessons only take a couple minutes and review is good. It's nice that it's oral work- I think if it were intended to be written it would feel too much like busy work.
Word Play. More at Avery's level, and it pushes him along. He insists lately he has no imagination, no creativity, so a little prodding in that direction is good.
Liking Not A Bit
Anatomy. Or rather, the fact we haven't studied this at all in weeks. For some reason this is too easy to push aside in exchange for other, ANY other activities. Hmm.
Guitar. Practice. Or at least the fuss about whether, in deed, Avery is supposed to practice today, whether or not he's really supposed to practice for 30 minutes or 3, whether the time spent setting up his music stand and getting his guitar out counts as practice, and so on and on and on. Nope. Not liking that one bit.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
New Supplies, No School
We were sick. Some schoolwork got done, but not much, really.
The best part of the whole week was getting a giant box of new school supplies- the whole entire set of Key Curriculum math workbooks and answer keys, Writing Strands 3, Home Science Adventures science kits (birds, magnetism, light, micropscopy, insects, astronomy) and the Thames and Kosmos Milestones in Science Kit, which looks WONDERFUL.
Monday we'll be healthy and ready to dig in.
The best part of the whole week was getting a giant box of new school supplies- the whole entire set of Key Curriculum math workbooks and answer keys, Writing Strands 3, Home Science Adventures science kits (birds, magnetism, light, micropscopy, insects, astronomy) and the Thames and Kosmos Milestones in Science Kit, which looks WONDERFUL.
Monday we'll be healthy and ready to dig in.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Weather Tree
We've done weather trees before, but this one was inspired by Ann Druitt, Christine Fynes-Clinton, and Marije Rowling's book "All Year Round" which is chock-full of verses, recipes, craft ideas and games. I drew the tree on bigger paper, though- 18x24", and I discarded their suggestion of different leaf colors for different types of weather, and stuck with temperatures instead. Because we live in a place without weather. Seriously. It is sunny nearly every day. I thought temperatures would show the transitions of the year better- we'll see. In any case, the boys like it, and keep careful track of whose turn it is to color in the leaves. Miles, after being excluded for making some little angry scribbles, now takes great care and even colors inside the lines of the tiny leaves!
Weeks 2 and 3: After
Week 3 is in the bag, as they say. Yeah, I know, this should be the end of week 4, but who is counting, exactly? And, um, yeah, Friday hasn't happened yet, but we're going to the Fair, which is at least as important as fractions, cursive, and American History. Actually, I planned for this to happen well in advance-I knew we'd be going on vacation and hectic and started school two weeks before the regular school kids, just to compensate. 'Cause Lord knows homeschoolers can't fall behind public school kids, even in attendance, right?
So...Avery is speeding through Life of Fred~Fractions. Loves it. I'm waiting still for the whole entire set of Key Curriculum Press workbooks to arrive, then we'll start adding in those. We haven't done any Calculus by and for Young People yet, but we did check out the Mathematics Made Meaningful Cuisenaire rod kit, Miles and Avery both. I'm not sure how much we'll use the cards, frankly- they seem a little... ahem... boring... but we do love our cuisenaire rods, and Miles sorted out a bunch by color, and enjoyed being able to "do school" with Avery.
All last week was nature study, at Glacier and the Bison Range. The boys saw turtles sunning themselves and poking their heads out of the water like mucky little sticks, dragonflies mating, elk bugling, antelope, bison, bears, deer, fish, birds, slugs, all kinds of creatures.
Avery zoomed through a ton of the Earthsearch book on the trip, plus a lot of map reading, compass work, and general geography of the inland Northwest and Rocky Mountain region. He straddled the Continental Divide and learned to identify U-shaped glacier-made valleys, and V-shaped river made valleys.
He had a guitar lesson and his teacher finally let him move past The Blue Danube, which has been driving him from even wanting to look at his guitar for weeks now. On to more fun stuff. Whew!
The boys love circle, and love taking a walk first thing- if only I could get Papa out of the house at 7:30, so that we could have a decent walk AND not start school so late. He's been leaving at 8, and we're out the door before him, but the boys hate to leave while he's still home. We've been walking for an hour, then starting circle at 9, then oral reading, math puzzler, main lesson, Life of Fred, spelling, and just trying to stuff as much in as possible.
We attempted some wet felting, making octopus figures, but it didn't work out. I'm not so good at wet felting, except snakes and balls, which is all the octopus was supposed to be, just felted together, but it didn't work. At all.
We haven't started embroidery yet, even though he's been asking for weeks.
We haven't really started Latin yet, Artistic Pursuits, and a whole bunch of ther stuff, too, probably. Gotta get out the door just a little earlier, and take shorter walks in the morning, I guess.
The good news, though, is that Miles loves having his own school basket, and eagerly works through his activites and stories every day, so he's not begging to watch TV or bugging Avery. Ansel is exactly the Buddha baby I KNEW I was going to have- he watches his brothers and chuckles, and sucks his fingers, nurses, sleeps, and tries to figure out how to crawl all with equal delight. Avery is cheerful and good about school this year, and likes having shorter lessons, a clear plan to the day, boxes to check off, and interesting work to do. So all's good, if not quite on schedule yet. Which, you know, is pretty darn good!
So...Avery is speeding through Life of Fred~Fractions. Loves it. I'm waiting still for the whole entire set of Key Curriculum Press workbooks to arrive, then we'll start adding in those. We haven't done any Calculus by and for Young People yet, but we did check out the Mathematics Made Meaningful Cuisenaire rod kit, Miles and Avery both. I'm not sure how much we'll use the cards, frankly- they seem a little... ahem... boring... but we do love our cuisenaire rods, and Miles sorted out a bunch by color, and enjoyed being able to "do school" with Avery.
All last week was nature study, at Glacier and the Bison Range. The boys saw turtles sunning themselves and poking their heads out of the water like mucky little sticks, dragonflies mating, elk bugling, antelope, bison, bears, deer, fish, birds, slugs, all kinds of creatures.
Avery zoomed through a ton of the Earthsearch book on the trip, plus a lot of map reading, compass work, and general geography of the inland Northwest and Rocky Mountain region. He straddled the Continental Divide and learned to identify U-shaped glacier-made valleys, and V-shaped river made valleys.
He had a guitar lesson and his teacher finally let him move past The Blue Danube, which has been driving him from even wanting to look at his guitar for weeks now. On to more fun stuff. Whew!
The boys love circle, and love taking a walk first thing- if only I could get Papa out of the house at 7:30, so that we could have a decent walk AND not start school so late. He's been leaving at 8, and we're out the door before him, but the boys hate to leave while he's still home. We've been walking for an hour, then starting circle at 9, then oral reading, math puzzler, main lesson, Life of Fred, spelling, and just trying to stuff as much in as possible.
We attempted some wet felting, making octopus figures, but it didn't work out. I'm not so good at wet felting, except snakes and balls, which is all the octopus was supposed to be, just felted together, but it didn't work. At all.
We haven't started embroidery yet, even though he's been asking for weeks.
We haven't really started Latin yet, Artistic Pursuits, and a whole bunch of ther stuff, too, probably. Gotta get out the door just a little earlier, and take shorter walks in the morning, I guess.
The good news, though, is that Miles loves having his own school basket, and eagerly works through his activites and stories every day, so he's not begging to watch TV or bugging Avery. Ansel is exactly the Buddha baby I KNEW I was going to have- he watches his brothers and chuckles, and sucks his fingers, nurses, sleeps, and tries to figure out how to crawl all with equal delight. Avery is cheerful and good about school this year, and likes having shorter lessons, a clear plan to the day, boxes to check off, and interesting work to do. So all's good, if not quite on schedule yet. Which, you know, is pretty darn good!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Lessons Learned on Vacation
1) When your Mom says "Don't lean over the railing" she actually means "Don't go anywhere near the steep side of the road, no matter what." In fact, don't even undo your seat belt. Let's just get down the mountain, really, really slowly. 'Cause, you know, she's trying to be cool, and let everyone enjoy this amazing adventure, but really, she keeps having flashes of children falling off cliffs and being devoured by wild animals.... Well, at least she's trying, right?
2) Mountain goats, big horn sheep, black bears, black back woodpeckers, deer, elk, even the antelope and bison, bears, turtles, and elk at the National Bison Refuge, are all really interesting and fun to watch. But getting to hold a little slug, watch it for hours, and take pictures of it close up? Well, that, apparently, is worth going on vacation and camping out for.
3)This is close enough to a black bear for your mother's comfort. Especially since there were three, and we can only see two. And there might be rustling in those bushes right behind us....
4)Bison don't care about the rules of the road as they apply to automobiles. And we're not arguing with them. We don't mind sitting still, right here. No sir.
5) A carousel ride (or maybe three) is a great way to end a vacation. Riding with your brother is even nicer.
6) We love going on vacation. We love each other, and we love visiting our friends. We love camping, but maybe we can love a newer, bigger, more weather-proof tent next time. We love being away, seeing new things and having adventures, but we really love coming home again.
2) Mountain goats, big horn sheep, black bears, black back woodpeckers, deer, elk, even the antelope and bison, bears, turtles, and elk at the National Bison Refuge, are all really interesting and fun to watch. But getting to hold a little slug, watch it for hours, and take pictures of it close up? Well, that, apparently, is worth going on vacation and camping out for.
3)This is close enough to a black bear for your mother's comfort. Especially since there were three, and we can only see two. And there might be rustling in those bushes right behind us....
4)Bison don't care about the rules of the road as they apply to automobiles. And we're not arguing with them. We don't mind sitting still, right here. No sir.
5) A carousel ride (or maybe three) is a great way to end a vacation. Riding with your brother is even nicer.
6) We love going on vacation. We love each other, and we love visiting our friends. We love camping, but maybe we can love a newer, bigger, more weather-proof tent next time. We love being away, seeing new things and having adventures, but we really love coming home again.Friday, September 11, 2009
The Rhythm of Our Days
Inspired by the topic ORGANIZATION discussed at my homeschool meeting last night: a copy of our official family schedule. Wake up time is 7am for the boys, and bedtime is 8pm. Everything else is sandwiched between!
For us the schedule is a rhythm, a guide, not a strict task master. We are not slaves to the schedule- we are opposed to slavery in all it's forms!
Here are the rules:
Everyone works during chore times. A child who doesn't want to help has to sit in the room with everyone else, not reading or playing. Once usually is enough to remind them that working together is more fun than sitting alone.
No TV/videos/long phone calls/play dates til school work is done. Period. Miles has his own "school" basket, with special activities and projects to work on during school time.
School is not more or less important than chores, chores are not more or less important than having fun and relaxing, fun is not more or less important than school. If we miss a scheduled period for whatever reason, we just get back on rhythm wherever we should be, not where we skipped out. If we're missing the same periods frequently, or continually off-schedule, that's a clue we need to revise either the schedule or our choices.
Don't sacrifice an unexpected adventure for dishes and laundry, neither sacrifice a calm and happy home life for wild adventures!
If a task isn't done as well as I might do it, oh well. I can't do it all myself, neither do I want to. It's good for everyone to learn all the jobs of the household, eventually, so we rotate. Miles may be in charge of scrubbing the table on Monday, but Avery will do it Tuesday and I'll do it Wednesday. It won't kill us if it's a little crusty once in awhile, and it will eventually get clean, and certainly will get dirtier again, too! Besides, a few germs are good for everyone, right? Builds immune systems and all that....
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
Morning: Wash, teeth, dress, make beds, empty hamper, sort and start laundry, make breakfast, set table, unload dishwasher, clear table | Morning: Wash, teeth, dress, make beds, empty hamper, sort and start laundry, make breakfast, set table, unload dishwasher, clear table | Morning: Wash, teeth, dress, make beds, empty hamper, sort and start laundry, make breakfast, set table, unload dishwasher, clear table | Morning: Wash, teeth, dress, make beds, empty hamper, sort and start laundry, make breakfast, set table, unload dishwasher, clear table | Morning: Wash, teeth, dress, make beds, empty hamper, sort and start laundry, make breakfast, set table, unload dishwasher, clear table | Morning: Wash, teeth, dress, make beds, empty hamper, sort and start laundry, make breakfast, set table, unload dishwasher, clear table | Morning: Wash, teeth, dress, make beds, empty hamper, sort and start laundry, make breakfast, set table, unload dishwasher, clear table |
Walk: 30 minutes | Walk: 30 minutes | Walk: 30 minutes | Walk: 30 minutes | Walk: 30 minutes | ||
School time: May start supper during break | School time: May start supper during break | School time: May start supper during break | School time: May start supper during break | School time: May start supper during break | church, sunday school, social hour | |
Make & eat lunch | Make & eat lunch | Make & eat lunch | Make & eat lunch | Make & eat lunch | Make & eat lunch | Make & eat lunch |
Story, nap | Story, nap | Story, nap | Story, nap | Story, nap | ||
Quiet activities while little ones sleep: Handwork, reading, other projects | Quiet activities while little ones sleep: Handwork, reading, other projects | Quiet activities while little ones sleep: Handwork, reading, other projects | Quiet activities while little ones sleep: Handwork, reading, other projects | Quiet activities while little ones sleep: Handwork, reading, other projects | ||
Afternoon chore time: General quick pick up, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, table scrub, laundry fold and put away | Afternoon chore time: General quick pick up, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, table scrub, laundry fold and put away | Afternoon chore time: General quick pick up, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, table scrub, laundry fold and put away | Afternoon chore time: General quick pick up, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, table scrub, laundry fold and put away | Afternoon chore time: General quick pick up, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, table scrub, laundry fold and put away | Afternoon chore time: General quick pick up, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, table scrub, laundry fold and put away | Afternoon chore time: General quick pick up, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, table scrub, laundry fold and put away |
Focus Area: Kitchen | Focus Area: Bathrooms | Focus Area: Living/Dining | Focus Area: Bedrooms | Focus Area: Family Room | Focus Area: Yard, recycling | Focus Area: Groceries |
Walk/Play | Walk/Play | Walk/Play | Walk/Play | Walk/Play | ||
Make and eat Supper, set and clear table, dishes | Make and eat Supper, set and clear table, dishes | Make and eat Supper, set and clear table, dishes | Make and eat Supper, set and clear table, dishes | Make and eat Supper, set and clear table, dishes | Make and eat Supper, set and clear table, dishes | Make and eat Supper, set and clear table, dishes |
Bath and story, pjs, teeth, 5 minute pick up | Bath and story, pjs, teeth, 5 minute pick up | Bath and story, pjs, teeth, 5 minute pick up | Bath and story, pjs, teeth, 5 minute pick up | Bath and story, pjs, teeth, 5 minute pick up | Bath and story, pjs, teeth, 5 minute pick up | Bath and story, pjs, teeth, 5 minute pick up |
Boys to bed | Boys to bed | Boys to bed | Boys to bed | Boys to bed | Boys to bed | Boys to bed |
Prep next day, read, relax | Prep next day, read, relax | Prep next day, read, relax | Prep next day, read, relax | Prep next day, read, relax | Prep next day, read, relax | Prep next day, read, relax |
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