Looking ahead 2010-2011 Academic Year...

4th Grade
Language Arts
Writing & more: Intermediate Language Lessons (Part 1) OR Wordsmith Apprentice (or both?)
Grammar: G.U.M. (Grammar, Usage, Mechanics) Level B
Handwriting (as needed):Copy work from Happy Scribe Copy Books
Spelling: The Natural Speller
Reading: From this list: Under construction

Math
Teaching Textbooks 4 or 5


2nd Grade
Language Arts
Writing, basic grammar & more: Primary Language Lessons
Reading: Elson Readers
Handwriting: Copy work from Happy Scribe Copy Books
Spelling: Natural Speller or Explode the Code 2 & 3

Math
McRuffy Math 2


Both Grades
Science
One half year each Earth and Space Science, using the following as spines...
Earth: Kingfisher Young People's Book of Planet Earth, supplemented with videos like How the Earth Was Made, and hands-on books like The Amazing Earth Model Book,
Space: Kingfisher Young People's Book of Space, supplemented with videos like The Universe, and hands-on books like Amazing Solar System Models You Can Build Yourself. We also plan to read George's Secret Key to the Universe.

History
The Middle Ages, using Story of the World Vol. 2 with activity guide & various read-alouds

Art Appreciation
Art Fraud Detective or tied into History

Music Appreciation
Meet the Great Composers or Composer of the Month

Wishing everyone a....

Got weeks 1-6 of our new plan...

all written up. I actually pulled together all our resources/workbooks/etc. and went in and put lesson numbers, pages I hope the kids finish, and so on and so forth. I only did 6 weeks as that's the next two months at the charter school (the one right after winter break is only two weeks), and I figured that was enough to try my new plans. I feel so darn organized at the moment! Of course, while my newly printed plans are sitting on my desk next to me, there's a pile of dishes in the kitchen waiting to go in the dishwasher, which first must be unloaded, and a pile of laundry to be folded.... well, one thing at a time.

I also came up with a plan to handle both the stuff I want to do and the stuff the state wants us to do (the one downside thus far to charter schools)... of course I have to attribute much of this idea to M... I want us to continue on our chronological path through history, kind of along the lines of the Well Trained Mind, and the state wants us to cover county history this year and state history next (for Elf). So, the first week of every full month in the academic year, we'll focus on state standards, and the other three weeks back to chronological history. By the time he hits 5th grade, we'll be up through early exploration of the New World, and then I can fold in US history (state standard for 5th) pretty seamlessly. Phew! We're trying this new plan in a couple of weeks, when we'll shift focus away from ancient times to county history for a week, and then back to ancient, forming a nice little gap between Greek and Roman history.

Plans for next week include the Greek vases we never made, and then the following week we'll wrap up Greece with an Olympic festival of sorts and a Greek feast! Off to plan a "class" in Global Arts and Crafts now.

Feeling organized....

I have taken advantage of our winter break to plan out the rest of our year. So I now have a spiffy spreadsheet divided into the charter school's academic months, and then into weeks, with a basic outline of which units, lessons, and chapters need to be covered each week. I also chose our history and science projects/experiments for the rest of the year. I plan to alternate, so we have a history project one week and a science experiment the next. The week we do hands-on history, we'll do science worksheets, and vice versa. So with the new plan in place, we'll finish up Ancient History by spring break, and then finally we'll move into the Middle Ages! We'll also finish all math, writing, phonics, and science by the first week of June.

I also plan to implement a sort of block scheduling for history, science, and music/art appreciation. We'll do the basics daily - reading, writing, math - and then....
Monday - history
Tuesday - science
Wednesday - geography, local (county) history
Thursday - project day
Friday - Park Day, or gymnastics

We were trying to do every subject every day, but it has gotten to be too much! So hopefully this will work well for us. And from what I did with the weekly outlines, I can go in and do daily lesson plans pretty easily.

Other than that, we are ready for 2010 to be here! 2009 has been a challenging year, and I am wishing for a smoother ride in the next year. I have a few minor resolutions, and some goals, and am encouraging the kids to set goals too. Organization continues to be a major goal for me! I need to actually implement the ideas I have for simplifying and organizing my life so that I can be places on time, get homeschooling (and my own homework) done, have a fairly tidy home, and so forth! Oak Meadow parent/teacher resources talk a lot about the need for routine, something we are sadly lacking in, and that I would like to have. I really believe that if my kids had a regular routine, they would do a better job keeping up with schoolwork, chores... all the day-to-day things that really need to be done.

So, keywords for 2010: Organization, simplification, routine!

Wishing you all a....

The end of term one...

We have (not quite officially) reached the end of our first term/semester, and are now embracing Christmas break wholeheartedly! Had a meeting with the kids' resource teacher today, and I felt bad because this cold has rendered me pretty much incapable of actual thought, and I forgot to get her a little something. She gave us two jars of honey from her own beehives, which is totally cool, and very yummy, but I still feel badly.

Anyhow, the meeting went well, despite my fuzzy-headedness. The kids read to her, she looked over the work samples we turned in, loaned me a book on nouns (for Elf), gave me an idea for working on blending sounds with Fairy, and offered me a chance to teach a one and a half hour class once a week (K-2nd graders). Teaching and planning an actual class might be good for me! So, since the meeting went well, and all, I have decided to start break a little early. Lessons will be resumed in January, hopefully with a little more organization than I have had as of late.

Also had Fairy's dance class today, last one until January. I was allowed to watch as were the other parents, and I enjoyed it immensely. I think she's still better in ballet than tap, but she enjoys both. When we return after break, they'll start in on practicing for June's recital, and in February we'll be ordering costumes. Elf has tap tomorrow, and then that's one more thing we won't have on the schedule for a couple of weeks. Fairy thinks that next fall she would like to continue with tap lessons from this teacher, and maybe do ballet at one of the ballet schools nearby. We'll see!

I am fiishing up my semester as well. I have completely finished one class and am in the midst of a retorspective essay for the other class. My final for Children's Lit was going to see The Fantastic Mr Fox, and then discussing it. So, M went with me and we took the kids, both of whom enjoyed the film quite a bit. Elf has finished reading the book, so he was really interested to see how it translated to the big screen. Afterwards, Elf talked to the class about the differences he saw, and then had hot chocolate with his dad and sister. Probably the best final I've ever had! Then in the spring, I'll be taking math two mornings a week, and finishing my final semester in the degree completion program, although I am not graduating until after the next fall semester. My "senior" and final semester in the program is self-directed. I need to come up with and execute a project. It doesn't have to be completely done... it can be a work in progress at the end, but there has to be something to write about and present. I had originally planned on writing and illustrating a children's book, and while that is still my number one choice, I will have to see how it all pans out. Lot to think about there!

Anyhow, if I don't make it back here before the holidays, have a safe, joyful, and happy time!

Simplicity...

Ah, simplicity. According to the Merriam Webster online dictionary, simplicity is: the state of being simple, uncomplicated, or uncompounded. I look around at my life, and it is anything but simple. I tend to heap more and more upon myself, and others, at nearly every opportunity I get. So, when I was reading a friend's blog entry, I felt inspired, not so much about friends as I don't have that many anyway, but with stuff, which I have in abundance. I found this on a web site: "The stunning beauty of a Japanese home is partially due to its clean, uncluttered look. While Western homes tend to be filled with furniture, textiles, and ornate decoration, a Japanese home seems almost empty in comparison. Japanese interior design, then, is not about "adding" extra items to the room. Instead, the goal is to minimize distractions." I could definately go for a clean, uncluttered look! And so I think 2010 will, for me as well as my blogging friend, be about simplicity, both as it applies to stuff and to daily life. This is a year too of my kids being involved in a lot of activities, and I think next year I will curtail that a bit.

On another note, Fairy is making progress with reading! We've been doing Phonics Pathways and using simple readers, like the Dick & Jane books of old. She loves the illustrations, as do I. I think taking a two-pronged approach is helping. She's doing the solid, foundational work of phonics, and at the same time is getting read books, which gives her a sense of accomplishment. I read aloud from a page (usually only 3-5 words, each used a few times), and then she reads it back to me. Today she was able to read a sampling from Dick & Jane aloud to her brother and dad, which made her beam with pride (and me too)! That kind of accomplishment is leading into her asking to do phonics and copy work, so that she can "hurry up and learn to read already!"

Besides that, we're enjoying listening to the Prince Caspian audio book. Lynn Redgrave is a wonderful narrator! After a lot of debate, we are opting to listen to the books in order of their writing/release, rather than in the order they were later arranged into. We're also continuing to enjoy local Native American studies, continued Greek history (almost to Rome!), and our life science program of choice. So homeschooling is going pretty well, though I'll admit I am already on the hunt for treasures for next year. I am trying to find ONE program for each subject that will really work (see simplicity above, and no, I am not counting library books). I think I may go with this great workbook edition of Intermediate Language Lessons for Elf's language arts next year, since it seems very complete, and with plenty of variation, though I wish they had a similar format for Primary Language Lessons! We're pretty much enjoying Writing Tales still, but it's the same format week after week, and I think Elf would do well with a little more variety. I also like that ILL, and PLL, involve memory work, as well as grammar, writing, and even some art appreciation!

For now though, we'll stick with what we're doing, with only minimal updating/changing. I am getting Word Families back out for Fairy in the next couple of weeks, which I can easily mix in with the Word Family Reader from Oak Meadow. I have some Story Starters for Elf to work with for a more creative approach. In science, we're working on life cycles, and then classification. Math-wise we're on track with Saxon. We haven't been doing art appreciation, or music appreciation, like I had hoped, so I am going to try to fold those into the mix.

And that's it for now!

So I was just bumming around the internet...

and came across this article... How to Write Your Own Homeschool Curriculum (Third Grade). I read the entire thing, enraptured. And thought, what if I did that? What if I wrote my own second and fourth grade curriculums for next year, or even first and third for the rest of this year? Using free resources (with the exception of Saxon Math from the charter school, which is free to me at least), could I create a comprehensive plan? So I started by looking at California State Content Standards for first and third grades, and came up with brief lists of goals for each...

First Grade
Language Arts:
Be able to identify letters and their sounds.
Read short words (three to four letters, short vowels) fluently.
Be able to write, and speak, in complete sentences.

Math:
Not worried about this, as Saxon covers everything plus.

History/Social Studies:
Ability to construct a simple map with four directions.
Be familiar with the meaning of holidays.
Contrast and compare living now and in the past, as well as here and other locations.

Science:
Understand what plants and animals need to live.
Understand the three phases of matter.
Use of simple tools to help understand and catalog weather.

Health Education:
Be able to name major parts and organs in body.
Understand basic concepts of safety, healthy behaviors, and cleanliness.

Third Grade
Language Arts:
Be able to read fluently (silently or aloud) at grade level.
Be able to identify various forms of literature, i.e. poetry, plays, prose, etc.
Write a single paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting information.
Read and write cursive.

Math:
Again, not worried about this, as Saxon covers everything plus.

History/Social Studies:
Ability to draw and read maps.
Be familiar with Native American tribes of their area, and how living here affected them (climate, crops, animals, etc.), as well as the influx of settlers.
Understand the basis for laws, rules and regulations.

Science:
Basic understanding of energy and matter.
Animals and plants in different biomes, adaptation.
Basic understanding of what is in the night sky, patterns formed, solar system structure and planet identification.

Health Education:
Understand the cycle of birth, life, and death in living things.
Recognize that people, plants, and animals grow at different rates.
Be able to identify major body parts and organs, as well as their functions.
Understand how recycling, reducing, and reusing help create a healthier planet.

So, after looking at this, and identifying what I felt were the key characteristics of each area (believe me, the state of California uses a lot more words), I think I could come up with something to suit us. Much of this is stuff we already cover - such as the health education. 2nd and 4th don't look that much harder to summarize and condense.

Food for thought (since my stomach is already full of delicious Thanksgiving fare)!

Wishing you all...

Hoping everyone out there has a peaceful and enjoyable Thanksgiving! This year I am thankful for my family, my home, my friends, and everything that comes with it all.

Somewhat off topic...

Today is my FOURTEENTH wedding anniversary. Absolutely crazy.... where has 14 years gone? And off course, this is a 14 year marriage following a three month whirlwind courtship, during which I was proposed to 5 days after we met. I know some people thought we might be "in trouble" since we got married so quickly, but if I was, that was the longest human pregnancy ever since Elf didn't show up until about 6 years later.

So, in honor of all that, we are taking today off from homeschooling. And tomorrow, we'll do just the basics - you know, the three "R's" (???), and then Elf is off to a new 4H project... juggling! And there's Park Day. I requested the day off from work, so I don't have to hurry anywhere, and M and I can go out to dinner then. My mom has generously offered to take the kids overnight, so M and I plan to head out to the coast on Saturday, maybe with some yummy lobster rolls from the fish market down the street... mmmmm....

Next week will be a short week in honor of Thanksgiving. We have a few appropriate books to read, and we'll no doubt be making hand-shaped construction paper turkeys (I have a collection now from years past, a great way to see how much their little hands have grown!). We finally got this book from the library too, so I'll be reading that with Fairy sometime in the next few days.

I was talking with a friend (who used to teach and did a lot of early literacy work) at the park last week about Fairy's reading inabilities, and she suggested a great idea - everytime I manage to get Fairy to read a book, I can add it to a book basket. Then Fairy can read to herself from the basket and its growing collection anytime she wants, plus she can see how much progress she is making. So I found a nice basket that will hold a lot of books without being too heavy, and Fairy is very excited about this idea. She promptly placed the two Bob books she's gotten through into it. We're now working on the Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See book, and I have the other similar books by the same author. Fairy loves rhyming things, and repetitive things (like songs), so I am trying to pick simple books that are along those lines. So I mentioned this to our resource teacher yesterday at our meeting, and she loaned us a whole stack of very simple, mainly rhyming books!

Elf of course is reading like crazy. He is so much like me in that way - I find him awake late at night, just trying to finish "one more chapter". He's reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid right now in addition to Fantastic Mr. Fox (like me, always more than one book going), along with several reference books on various subjects, and of course his beloved Calvin & Hobbes. I think except for math, this kid could totally go with unschooling.

Have a good day!

In a box of books...

We got a GREAT box of books from my mom's neighbor, a former homeschooler whose children have grown up and gone on to college. Among the books on human anatomy, outer space, and so forth, I found two new-to-me resources that we're now enjoying and/or will enjoy in the future. In the "now enjoying" arena, we have the Oxford First Ancient History. Having browsed through it, I can say it is clear and concise, and it makes a great companion to the Famous Men of... series.

The second discovery will be useful in the future. It is an entire set of books, called Girls to the Rescue, in which the girls save the day, rescue someone, slay the dragon, and so forth. I think Fairy will really enjoy these in a couple of years!

Plus we got a whole stack of Zoo Books, some bug books, and more. Yaaay for former homeschoolers!

Changing a few things, and a progress report of sorts...

Changing: When kids groan every time you bring out a certain resource, it is time to change that resource! So, we're going to try Famous Men of Greece for a while (the gorgeously illustrated Memoria Press version), along with great Dover coloring books, and the Classical Kids Activity Guide, along with the activity guide for SOTW. And we've dropped our homemade biomes studies for the meantime, instead focusing on Elementary Life Science. I know we tend to switch things up more than some families might, but I think that is one of the beauties of homeschooling - the ability to adapt to what works and what doesn't.

Since Fairy is struggling with reading, I also got a copy of Phonics Pathways. We sat down yesterday to start working with it, and I am hopeful that it will work. It is designed for remedial readers, people with difficulties reading, so I think it is a good place to start.

Progress Report: Other than changing a few things around, we are doing well. Saxon Math is working really well for both kids, and Writing Tales is a dream come true for me, since it covers writing, grammar, spelling and vocabulary, all in one! And the kids both still love Explode the Code. Easy Lessons for Teaching Word Families is great too... yesterday it seemed that Fairy finally got the concept that the end doesn't change, just the first letter does! In another week and a half, I plan to bring back in another phonics/writing book for Fairy, and we'll see how she does with that. The great thing is that all the approaches, from Word Families to Oak Meadow, will be covering the same things, and so will complement each other.

We had a great homeschooling day yesterday. I cleared off the table, brought in some flowers (red and purple sage), lit a candle, brewed a pot of tea, and put on some classical guitar music. We covered phonics, reading, copy work, vocabulary, math, geography, and science, doing a project on burrow temperatures that was simple, and a lot of fun. We even played the grammar version of Red Light, Green Light from Writing Tales, which was a ton of fun (and sneakily educational). We didn't make it to 4H since I am still fighting off a cold or something, but I think a day at home was just what we needed, since the last few weeks have been hectic, hectic, hectic.

I am hoping for more of the same today. The kids want to do their Tae-Bo Kicks video, and then I already have history ready to go - complete with coloring pages scanned and printed from Greek Gods and Goddesses... and we'll finish up the science project, plus reading, writing, math, etc. Elf is reading The Fantastic Mr. Fox right now as his assigned book (since the movie comes out later this month) and he loves it. It was always one of my favorite books as a child! Then Fairy has dance later today, and I have the evening OFF! M is cooking dinner too, so maybe I will actually get to relax a bit. Tomorrow we don't have any out-of-the-house plans until Elf has tap in the late afternoon, so I have plans for yet another day of good, solid education.

Hope all is going well for everyone else out there!

Another week has flown by...

Wow - another week has gone by way, way too quickly. We did some homeschooling, but we also had a lot of other adventures!

Monday - Homeschool Aquarium Day! We saw all kinds of creatures, from leafy seadragons (so, so cool!) to playful otters (Fairy's favorite). The kids explored tidepools, and tons of educational exhibits. Perfect way to start off our new academic month - our "months" go by the charter school "academic months", not quite by the calendar, so we are technically finishing week one of month three this week. My (used) copy of One Small Square Seashore showed up in the mail the same day!

Tuesday - In the morning, we headed off the 4H Food Decorating. The kids got a variety of cookie shapes, and bags of frosting with different tips. They had a blast decorating the cookies! Then we came home, and actually sat down at the dining table for lessons. Elf did math, writing, reading, geography, and science (e=mcq). Fairy did a couple of letters in her OM Main Lesson Book, math, geography, and a page about otters. I ordered a copy of Phonics Pathways for Fairy too, as she is struggling a bit with letter/number recognition, reading, etc. The charter school has offered, if there is no improvement by the end of the year, to have her assessed, if M and I choose to do so. We do have a history of learning disabilities in the family, on both sides, so while this thought does upset me, I wouldn't be terribly surprised.

Wednesday - They headed off to the charter school in the morning, for gardening and art. Elf is finishing a ceramics project in his art class, and planting a fall/winter veggie garden with a friend in gardening. Fairy did some wet-on-wet watercolors this week, and a flower garden with her friends! Then we took a break, the kids carved pumpkins with my mom, and then Fairy went off to ballet and tap, while Elf read and made a few notes on his reading.

Thursday - We went flying! Not one of the three of us (myself included) had ever been on a plane, so the opportunity was not to be missed. A friend from my college cohort flies from time to time, and took us up in a Cassna Skyhawk. Despite a little motion sickness on my part, it was awesome! Elf got to copilot, and had an ear-to-ear grin the rest of the day. Fairy took pictures, and I took pictures and tried to feel okay. I loved the view from up there... it was truly amazing!

Today - a few lessons, and an afternoon at the park.

Next week, no special plans, finally. We are back to our "normally scheduled" lineup!

Homeschool Day at the Aquarium...

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday...

Unexpected front yard visitors (technically just inside the neighbor's yard)

Wow, another week has passed!

We were a bit better last week about getting some lessons done. And we have goals set for this week, so all should be well there. I am redoing the chore charts I made to have morning chores and afternoon chores, and I am adding dance practice (10 minutes a day) to both kids' academic charts. Yes, I know it isn't really academic, but they're supposed to practice - it was given to them as "homework", and homework is academic, right? See, I do use logic, though it may be a bit twisted sometimes. Speaking of dance classes, Fairy is really enjoying her new higher level class - still mixed tap and ballet. She says it is more challenging, but really enjoyable. And she says while she loves dance, gymnastics is her passion (yes, she said passion). So maybe, just maybe, I'll find a way to put her in regular gymnastics classes in January, instead of just taking her to drop-in homeschool gymnastics, which is still pretty good as it is with the same instructors, etc. she would have in the "real" classes.

I came out of my bedroom this morning to find Elf reading Homeschooling: A Patchwork of Days, so that he could "see how other kids homeschool". I thought it was funny, because that is why I bought the book, and why I read other homeschooling blogs! Fairy said she'll stick with reading Bob Books for now. And I finally am getting it... I have been semi-panicking at her lack of ability to connect letter names and sounds with printed matter, but she can read the Bob Books, so I think she's learning much the same way I did, many, many years ago... by memorizing the books and then figuring out which word is which. If it works, then I guess all is okay, though I am stubbornly keeping on with phonics and letter work.

Going to be a busy week. Today was roller skating, and I have a class this evening. Tmorrow, Strega Nonna on stage, and 4H Engineering. Wednesday art and gardening classes, Friday is gymnastics and Park Day. Saturday, maybe a science workshop, and Sunday a Halloween party. I have my witch costume all ready to go, and the kids are going to be zombie pirates! Halloween is probably our all-time favorite holiday. Who doesn't like an excuse to be someone, or something, else for a day?

Oh, and my kids are questioning me about magic and paganism. I blame the book Wizardology entirely, as Elf has been reading it to Fairy. I have dabbled in it myself off and on for years, to the point that we still celebrate the change of seasons and full moons, so maybe this is a sign I should dabble a little more?

A fresh week and a fresh start...

We kind of forgot about homeschooling last week. Too busy cleaning the house, getting over headaches (me), putting log rounds in a circle around our backyard firepit, tearing out all the annuals that were done, just too busy in general. I think we "hit the books" twice.

So today is the beginning of a new week, and so we're starting fresh. I have my plans for the week all made out, and it looks like Wednesday will be the only really-busy-day-with-no-chance-to-homeschool (art classes, pumpkin patch field trip, Fairy's new midlevel dance class). This afternoon - afternoons are our best homeschooling time - we have: language arts (which includes phonics and spelling); math; history; and handwriting planned. Tomorrow will be the same, except we'll have science instead of history!

For me, having the house clean actually really helps. I feel more motivated in general to keep it that way, and do other things, like fun projects with the kids, because I am not bogged down in "oh, my house is a dreadful mess". Chore charts are helping too! Right now I am debating - start our long waited Greek vases? Make cookies? Cook up a batch of playdough and put some pumpkin pie spice in it? Hmmmm.... the possibilities are endless, except that I have a class at 6 today, and a paper to finish editing. Maybe we should just do our lessons and see what happens from there!

I am trying really hard to better manage time, driving, etc., as well. We've been doing two field trips a month, on Wednesdays. I am now (starting in November) going with ONE field trip a month, on Mondays. The kids don't want to give up any activities, so we're just not adding any more at all. I'm moving my once-a-month Global Arts and Crafts class from a Wednesday afternoon to a Tuesday morning, since on first of the month Tuesdays, we don't have to be anywhere else. I am also finally - yes, it has taken me this long - using the calendar M got me for Christmas last year, which has room to write all our activities, so I can see them all laid out.

Maybe there is something to organization? Have a good week!

October plans...

Here's a quick run-down of what we will study in October, as much for my own reference as anything else!

Language Arts
Elf: Finish The Mouse & the Motorcycle, summarizing the story in a few sentences per chapter, with pictures. Start Henry Huggins OR The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Do lessons 3 and 4 in Writing Tales (lessons cover 2 weeks each). Start working on G.U.M. or Daily Edit programs. Work on D'Nealian handwriting in preparation for cursive.

Fairy: Work through the letters C-M in Oak Meadow 1 (3 letters a week), and related print-outs/workbook pages. Work in HWOT. She loves being read to, so in addition to the Oak Meadow fairy tales, I am putting a lot of these books on hold at the local library. They're just lovely.

Math
Elf: lessons 16-31 in Saxon Math 3 (we only do math 4 days a week)
Fairy: lessons 36-51 in Saxon Math 1

History
Chapters 22-25 in SOTW, with narrations/summaries. Project-wise, we need to finish our Greek vases and then I haven't chosen yet.
Finish The One-Eyed Giant and move into the 2nd book in Tales from the Odyssey

Elf has done a map of our county with notable geographical features labeled on it and now we'll move on to Native Americans of the area. There is a great hiking trail about an hour or so from our house that has points of interest labeled along the way, and in reading the signs, you get a great sense of the day-to-day life of the Miwok Indian.

Science
We're using One Small Square Woods as a jumping off point for nature studies in October. Also, the kids decided today that they really, really want to do this funny, very informative, and really cool (not to mention free) life science program. So, nature studies once-a-week-ish, and life science twice a week, more or less. We'll see. They may decide after a week or two that one science is enough, so I am putting together a list of supplemental books for the One Small Square stuff. Or, maybe we'll do life science once a week (just the reading and worksheets) and do nature studies twice a week... hmmm.... methinks I like that idea!

Other
We are busy, busy, busy! The kids' dance teacher asked today if I would like to bump the Fairy up to the next level of ballet and tap classes after the winter break. She won't be technically old enough even then, but apparently she dances well enough! We are continuing with roller skating and drop-in gymnastics, Park Day, our homeschool 4H (all kinds of crafts and stuff), field trips... we have two in October: one to a pumpkin patch and the other to a fantastic aquarium. Plus, they love their charter school classes - art and gardening. Phew!

My "baby" just lost her first tooth!

A close-up

One happy girl, waiting for the Tooth Fairy to come tonight!

History and science rotations

2007-08 (1st & Pre-K)
History: We studied Ancient Times, from cave people up through a whirlwind look at Greeks & Romans
Science: Real Science 4 Kids Biology (prelevel 1), with extra books and projects

2008-09 (2nd & K)
History: Took the year off to do World Cultures
Science: Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry; study of flora, fauna, etc. from World Cultures

2009-10 (3rd & 1st)
History: Ancient Greeks through Vikings
Science: Life Science (aka Biology), maybe dinosaurs
Elf: County History (basically a few field trips here and there, and a couple of biographies)

2010-11 (4th & 2nd)
History: Medieval Times through the Age of Exploration
Science: Earth & Space sciences

2011-12 (5th & 3rd)
History: Age of Exploration through Early Modern Times (roughly 1850) with additional resources for U.S. history
Science: Chemistry

2012-13 (6th & 4th)
History: Modern Times, with U.S. History blended in. Maybe a brief state history
Science: Physics

2013-14 (7th & 5th)
History: Ancient Times
Science: Linked to history studies

2014-15 (8th & 6th)
History: The Middle Ages
Science: Linked to history studies

2015-16 (9th & 7th)
History: Early Modern Times, with some focus on U.S.
Science: Geology & Astronomy

2016-17 (10th & 8th)
History: Modern Times, with some focus on U.S.
Science: Environmental Science

2017-18 (11th & 9th)
History: Political Science/Government (for Elf); ??? for Fairy
Science: Chemistry

2018-19 (12th & 10th)
History: Independent study (Elf); Women in History (for Fairy)
Science: Physics (Elf); Women in Science (Fairy)

2019-20 Fairy only
History: Political Science/Government
Science: Physics

2020-21 Fairy only
History: Independent Study
Science: Independent Study

Borrowing a post topic...

from Athena Academy. Thanks!

Our Homeschooling Who, What, When, Where, Why and How

Who: I am the primary teacher, curriculum planner, etc. M is the hands-on project guy and general support. Elf is my 8 year old, train-car-plane-space-robot-Lego loving 3rd grader, and Fairy is my 6 year old, fairy-music-dancing-dirt-worshipping 1st grader.

What: We use what is called an "eclectic" approach. I take bits and pieces from various disciplines - Charlotte Mason, classical education via The Well Trained Mind, and the more Waldorf-inspired Oak Meadow. I use Oak Meadow as a base curriculum, Charlotte Mason for the nature-friendly, short lesson approach, and classical ed in that we are doing a modified version of the history/science rotation, alongside Oak Meadow & the state's history/science focuses. We did meander away from it, but are meandering back. They'll study history and science together for at least the next few years, though I think I may split them when Elf reaches 6th grade. For more on our history and science rotations, go here.

My kids follow a lot of their own interests too. Elf is interested in dragons, robotics and tap right now, while Fairy is all about cooking, dancing, and Olivia at the moment.

When: All along so far. My kids have never really been to school, though they do attend some classes at a charter school through which we are enrolled as a Home Study family. We decided on homeschooling before we even had kids. M had poor experiences in school, and I wasn't too fond of it either. Plus with budget cuts, large class sizes, a lack of focus on arts and sciences... the list could go on and on. Homeschooling is just where it is at for us.

Why: To allow a very individualized education for both our children. To allow them to move at their own rates, spend more time on something they love, and less on things that they don't. Plus, I love being the one that gets to see the moment when they realize something, or figure it out.

How: Well, we sit down and do lessons! Seriously - we spend some time at the kitchen table, some on the couch, some in the chair-and-a-half. We read aloud, do hands-on projects, do copywork, work through math lessons... I try to do as much as I can with both kids at the same time, in the interest of saving time, but I split them up for language arts (though I found yesterday that having Elf so math at the same table Fairy and I are doing language arts at worked well).

And there you have it!

Weekly report for Sept. 14-18... week 3...

It hasn't been the most productive week ever, but we did hit the books a few times!

Elf
We're behind in Writing Tales, already. But, since we have a 36 week academic year, and there are only 30 weeks of lessons, I figure we'll catch up fairly easily. Other than that, he's been reading like mad, both from The Mouse & the Motorcycle, and his beloved Calvin & Hobbes. He also gets Odyssey magazine, and since it arrived a couple of days ago, he's been deeply into reading that as well.

In math, he's continuing the review work present in the first 20 or so lessons of Saxon Math 3. So far, he hasn't dawdled or given me trouble with this - he does one worksheet side and a drill or other supplementary page each day.

Other than that, I am going to start using the Mouse & the Motorcyle for an Oak Meadow style blank book - he'll write a (brief) summary of what he has read and draw a picture related to the summary. I picked up a bunch of blank books this week for this, and other (see below) purposes. He is really enjoying art and tap classes - his tap teacher says he is doing a fantastic job, and he practices nearly every day. He's also having fun planting a garden bed at the charter school with his new buddy R, and his "old" buddy A.

Fairy
Change of plans/approach here - we missed Oak Meadow! So I picked it up at the charter school at the same time I picked up all the blank books. We're three weeks late starting, but since the first 12 weeks of first grade in OM are alphabet review, I figure we'll just do 3 letters a week instead of 2, having done A and B already this week. Then, when we hit word families, etc., I'll add our other resources back in as supplements.

In math, she is continuing Saxon 1 with no problems. Her drawings for the word problems are less involved than Elf's were at that age, but simple is fine, and faster! She loves to do math verbally as well, and is frequently coming up to me to say things like "4 + 6 is 10, Mommy".

She loves her combo dance class - she and Elf were practicing tap moves in the kitchen last night, although she's been talking about going back to straight ballet (maybe in January?). She also loves her charter school classes where she has plenty of friends.

Both
We're thinking of switching things up, and trying ice skating next week, rather than roller skating. This would leave Mondays completely free until Fairy's dance class later in the afternoon. Plus, the ice rink is closer to home, and cheaper! We can even stop at our favorite library branch just down the street afterwards.

History... well, we're a little behind where I hoped to be. This is entirely my fault, as I keep putting off reading about the early Greeks until we have the supplies for our chosen craft project, and I can never seem to remember to pick up balloons at work! We'll be making paper-mache Greek vases. Still, we're continuing with The One Eyed Giant, and enjoying that. I got blank books for drawings and notes about our history studies. I also want to start county history with Elf (another blank book), so I plan to read the first chapter of a small, locally published book to him, and then have him draw, and label, a county map.

In science, we're just enjoying our local habitats. We have blank books for nature journaling now, and we chceked out a couple of books on creatures the kids are interested in - crickets and ants. We're also learning about blue jays, after seeing a few in our yard earlier this week. Perhaps we'll make some peanut-butter-birdseed-pinecones to hang outside and see what birds we attract! A friend has generously offered to get us a few owl pellets from her brother-in-law, so when we get to Woods, we'll study owls as well. I am trying to be a little more organized in our nature studies, but not to much avail, yet.

In other outside activities, we had our first Engineering project, through the homeschool 4H (not animals, just projects). we made a few paper planes of various types, and balsa wood models, to test flight, aerodynamics, etc. The leader's father was there, and as an engineer, was able to explain a lot about wind resistance, Bernoulli's Principle, and more, to the kids (well, the adults too). I had a hard time dragging the kids away afterwards, as the boy of the leader has TONS of Legos, and really cool puppets - all different animals. My kids wanted to stay and play forever!

Now I am off to plan lessons for next week. I find planning ahead really does help!

Redwood pictures... Wordless Wednesday

Homeschooling Stereotypes...

Borrowed from another blog...

There's a bit of a long-standing stereotype that homeschool Moms :

drive mini-vans
Nope. Though I am considering an old Volvo. You know, a station wagon!

wear denim jumpers
I have not worn a denim jumper since maybe 3rd grade? Had a denim jumpsuit too (okay, it was the 70's!)

Turtlenecks
Occasionally, if it's really cold outside. But very rarely.

Sneakers
If you count Converse, which yes, are sneakers.

and have long hair
I did until I chopped it off.

often in braids or ponytails
When it was long, I almost always wore it in a ponytail. Now I only occasionally do.

I've also heard that we are all vegetarians
Off and on, yes.

strict fundamentalist Christians
Not so much.

Hippies
Guess so!

wear dresses to our ankles
I like dresses, but generally they are impractical for me.

never watch TV
Ummm.... yeah. As if. Yes, we watch TV!

don't allow our kids out of the house during school hours
Considering most of our outside activities are during "school hours", they're out a LOT!

keep our drapes closed during the day
No, because I like natural light!

General, rambling update...

Today was the first day the kids went back to the charter school for classes - Elf had Art and then Gardening, while Fairy had Gardening, and then Arts/Crafts/Stories.

Fairy knew a lot of the kids in her class from last year, while Elf knew only a couple of the kids in his. Two boys from last year were not returning this year, and his best-at-class buddy was MIA today. But, he quickly made friends with the new boy, and by break time, they were chatting away like old friends!

In homeschooling news, we've been (mostly) plugging along. I am having second thoughts about Fairy and Oak Meadow's first grade, and am thinking I could easily blend that in for her - the charter school has it, so I could get ahold of it by next week. I really do like the look of Oak Meadow for 4th grade (and up), and may have Elf go back to it then. 2nd and 3rd grades are where neither was thrilled with the book list, etc. Hmmmm.....

And just to wrap things up for today, here are some pics from our camping/backpacking trip in June!

Made it through day one...

And it went quite well! Even though no one else we knew could make it to skating, we went so the kids could practice (and it's totally P.E., right?). Then we stopped at Quizno's for a first-day-of-"school" lunch treat, and the kids learned about acrostics. When we got home, we found our package from Rainbow Resource waiting for us, couldn't have been better timing! After lunch, and some play time, we hit the books. I purposefully kept it light for yesterday, just the basics.

Both
We read the first few pages from the D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. At bedtime, we finished 2 more chapters in Danny, the Champion of the World. This has been one of our best read-alouds to date!

Elf
Math: started in Saxon Math 3, doing one side of the first worksheet, and a measuring page. It is review work, so he went right through it.
Language Arts: started Writing Tales. Read aloud the first story, then sequenced the story strips I had made. He then worked on making his own acrostic. He did a couple of pages in Explode the Code and took a spelling test (100%). He also started in a handwriting book that will lead him through denelien handwriting into cursive.

Fairy
Math: did a lesson from Saxon Math 1, using our new (replacement) set of linking cubes to great success.
Language Arts: Did a page in HM Phonics in Action book and made words from Easy Lessons for Teaching Word Families with her new letter magnets. She did 2 pages in ETC 1, and a couple of pages in HWOT My Printing Book.

Today will follow much the same idea for basic work, but I'll be adding in history with chapter 18 in Story of the World, volume 1. Yes, we are backtracking, but we really just kind of skimmed through Greek & Roman history, and the kids want to know more! Tomorrow will be science in the place of history. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to go well!

And, just for fun, the BBC 100 Book List. I have highlighted those I read in green. Most people, according to the BBC, will only have read 6 of these... I can't say I'm impressive with how many I have read, but at least it's more than 6!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (in french)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola (in french)
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery - I read it in an English translation (in french)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas (in french)
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo, again read an English translation (in french)

Gearing up...

Monday will be the first day of our new academic year - first grade and third grade, here we come! We met with our resource teacher today, coming away, as usual, with a huge armload of books. This afternoon I am putting together our work tubs - workbooks, blank books, crayons, etc., and putting the finishing touches on next week's lesson plans. I also need to check and make sure I put all my library hold requests in - Elf will start up with The Mouse & the Motorcycle next week, plus we'll start our nature studies with One Small Square Backyard, and we'll need D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths.

The meeting went really well. As usual, she asked me what I had planned, and then gave me materials to support my goals. I have heard that this is not the case with all resource/independent study teachers, that some are much more directive and forceful, so I feel grateful that I have such a good one! The class schedule is the only thing that bothers me this year - they changed it quite a lot from last year's... no Spanish for the little kids anymore, and instead of art and science on one day (which would have worked very well for us), they split them up and combined them with other classes. While my kids are fine with gardening classes, they don't care so much for music and creative movement - it's just not their cup of tea. So, Elf will have art and gardening, while the Fairy will have gardening and stories/arts & crafts. We do plenty of science here at home, so I am not too worried about that. Plus, with Mondays free, we can keep up with roller skating!

We also start dance classes next week. Elf is excited about tap, and Fairy is looking forward to her combo class. The homeschool 4H is starting up again soon too, and the kids are interested in felting, engineering (I think Lego), cooking, and of course the project I am leading - global arts and crafts. Maybe hiking too. Thankfully for our schedule, these classes are only once a month each. Plus we have field trips, and a drop-in homeschool gymnastics class, oh, and of course Park Day.... I think we're going to be very busy people, but busy in a good way! Makes me want to be much more organized!

Other than that, I am enjoying the reading for my Children's Lit class - fairy tales right now, and am deep in Frankenstein and other readings for my other class, which starts this Saturday. And now I am off to water the garden, which is wilting in the nearly 90 degree heat!

And it's...

Happy Not-Back-to-School Day for us! All the public schools in our area started up today, which by the way seems really early, especially since they are considering cutting 5 days from the school calendar to save money. Anyhow, it was a morning of children going past our house to the elementary school right down the street - clean, shiny, in stiff new clothes, with new notebooks loaded in their backpacks... I admit, as a child I loved the first day of school! I loved having all the new supplies, the new clothes, a good tan after a summer spent mostly outdoors, seeing friends I hadn't seen in a couple of months. I think that nostalgia is one of the (several) reasons we start back in early September. I do go out and buy new supplies - I have a thing for those unused, unopened boxes of crayons, packages of paper, and newly sharpened pencils. And yes, I will be buying new clothes for my kiddos, mostly because they have outgrown nearly all of last year's fall and winter clothing. They do get a first day of school of sorts, both here at home, and at the charter school we use for art classes.

But today, we are hanging out, watching cartoons, and having french toast. We unfortunately stayed up far too late last night, and as a result missed roller skating, but we'll still have a good day, not going back to school.

A Short Weekly Report...

Still pretty laid back this week, although we're progressively picking up the pace in preparation for a full return to academics the first week of September.

Elf:
He did a couple of pages of review work from Saxon Math 2 (pages we had previously skipped). One of them was an assessment page, on which I am proud to announce he got 100%.

He is now reading The Magic Finger, along with his daily dose of Calvin & Hobbes. He is writing a story (on the computer) about himself as a knight, and hand-writing in a Scholastic story-starter booklet about a lonely giant. He also completed another 3 pages in Explode the Code 4.

In addition, he has been collecting and trying to identify rocks of various sorts.

Fairy:
She has been working diligently on letter recognition. I printed out some basic letter pages from Learning Page, in hopes that writing the letters repeatedly will help her form that connection.

She has also done a couple of pages of math this week, both from a cheap kindergarten book I got somewhere and from Saxon Math 1. Her addition and subtraction skills are pretty sharp!

Both:
We finished reading the Gilgamesh Trilogy this week and are now shifting our focus to Ancient Egypt. We got Mummies, Pyramids, and Pharaohs, along with Pyramids! 50 Hands-On Activities from the library and will start with those on Monday, plus we will have more books coming in soon. I am hoping we can go see this at the end of summer.

Scientifically speaking, the kids, and M, are having great fun playing around with projects from The Science Explorer (a great book from the San Francisco Exploratorium). So far the projects have been quite easy to do, with no special items needed - I really recommend this book!

And there's our week!

Ramblings...

I cannot believe how fast summer is going by! We'll start up our academic year in about 4 weeks - I think I am (mostly) prepared. I do need to purchase the average supplies - crayons, pencils, etc., since we always seem to be running out of, or at least low on, those items. I finally, finally, after much thought and, I'll admit, a lot of dithering, decided on science for our upcoming year... we are going to use Milestones in Science along with supplemental reading and worksheets from edhelper. This will work out very well for us as M can do the projects with them, and I can handle the reading/worksheets.

My school year starts a bit sooner than theirs. I have a class in Children's Literature (which sounds awesome) starting on the 17th, and then I start back up with my degree completion program on the 29th. So, 13 units again this semester, which is manageable. I decided to halt my job search for the moment, and stick with evenings at my current place of employment. This is for a few reasons... 1. health insurance - my entire family has medical, dental & vision at no cost to us; 2. I can have the days to work with the kids, take them to classes and on field trips, etc.; and 3. I would have to piece together other jobs to keep my income at its current level. It IS only for another year and a half, at which point I will have my BA and can do substitute teaching instead while I work on either getting my teaching credential or find an internship. How I will teach and homeschool at the same time remains to be determined, though I am sure that somewhere out there someone else has managed to do this! I still hope that I can find a position as an IST for other homeschooled families.

In other news, my front yard renovation is coming along nicely. I now have 3 big rocks for focal points, and a fountain, and all my plants are flourishing. I need to find a good supplier for a better range of herbs since I am turning it into one big herb garden, with some flowers. I plan to have culinary, medicinal, and aromatic herbal plantings out there, all of which are fairly easy to maintain. In the backyard, our melons are coming along nicely, and the squash and cucumbers are really taking off. The tomatoes are ripening and delicious.

We have been listening to the third installment in A Series of Unfortunate Events, and reading Little Grey Rabbit stories, which I remember fondly from childhood. Elf is writing a story about a knight version of himself on the computer. Both he and Fairy have been busy with art lately, as well as rock collecting, and Fairy's incessant preoccupation with creating mud. We checked out a couple of dance studios yesterday and decided to go with the smaller, newer one, at least for now - Elf wants to try tap dancing, and we found a mixed tap-jazz-ballet class for Fairy... she's debating that versus straight ballet training. I think the opportunity to try different approaches could be a lot of fun for her, though it does mean 3 types of shoes! We chose the studio we did because we liked the director, and the class times are good for my schedule.

So there's an update! Hope all is going well for anyone who reads this!

She read! She read!

Fairy read 2 Bob Books to me yesterday! I have been a bit concerned lately (though I try to relax and remember that each child learns at their own pace), because while she knew her letter sounds, she couldn't identify the letters of the alphabet verbally. But if she can read, I guess there isn't a huge problem! Such a giant sigh of relief....

We've been very relaxed this summer, so far, although we have been reading from my summer list. I need to get back on track with the little bit of summer work I was having them do, so today's plans are:

Elf
2 pages in his tiny summer math book
Work on one story starter
Read 15 minutes in his chapter book

Fairy
Review a Bob Book
Work on letter and number recognition (while she is starting to read, I do want her to be able to identify her letters and numbers!)
One page in a cheap math workbook I picked up somewhere

We also have to run some errands, including picking up a Desert King Snake that needs a new home. The kids are already arguing over a name for it! While I am not really a snake person, I don't mind them, and M loves them.

Two more things...

I have applied for 3 new jobs - please keep some good vibes coming, as all three are jobs I would like, with regular, normal hours (you know, evenings at home, weekends off). Two of the three are teaching assistant positions - one at a funky litle charter school (this is the one I really want), one at a preschool, and the third position is working at an environmental discovery center, leading and teaching kids.

Divided on whether to go for a single subject teaching credential in biology, or a multiple subject credential, specializing in early childhood education (ages 0-8). Both could eventually lead to a Master's, meaning I could teach at a community/junior college at least. Both could lead to decent jobs. Both come with their own benefits, and set of challenges... at least I have until next March to decide, as that is when I have to fill out the paperwork for my declared minor!

Just wanted to say...

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!

Hope your day is safe and fun!

Summer days...

It has been really hot the last few days! Thankfully it seems cooler today, at least so far. The kids have weathered the heat by spending lots of time on the Slip-n-Slide Double, and by devouring homemade popsicles. We also spent some time watching movies to stay out of the heat - namely the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Inkheart. We've been reading (well, I have been reading) a lot too - we're wrapping up Gone Away Lake, and in the car The Reptile Room - as well as history read-alouds, in which we're finishing up cave people and getting ready to start the Gilgamesh trilogy. Elf has been doing bits of his summer math book with no trouble, and is researching dinosaurs, while Fairy plays around with Starfall and math games. Still haven't opened the giant tub of phonics activities we were given, but we'll get to that eventually! I can't get Elf to do much writing though, and I am trying so that he'll be more prepared for 3rd grade, in which yes, I will expect him to do a fair amount of writing.

I was having personal debates as to grammar for him. Writing Tales 1 does cover some, but I wanted to make sure he really "gets" it, so I spent hours researching, looking at samples, etc., before it hit me... let him choose! I pulled up a bunch of samples on the internet, showed them to him, and he chose G.U.M. by Zaner Bloser. It looks very simple and straightforward. And it's relatively inexpensive, always a nice bonus! I already have a copy of First Language Lessons someone gave me, so I may use that with Fairy, or I may not - I need to finish looking through it.

By the way, our backpacking/camping trip was fantastic! We were out at Point Reyes National Seashore for 4 days, 3 nights. The hike into camp was about a mile and a half, and the kids did it, with packs, without too much complaining. During the remainder of our time there, we hiked a lot. Up to the mountain peak, down to the coast, around on various trails... about 45 miles total during the time we were there. And the weather was perfect. Sunny, but not too hot, and not too cold. We saw all kinds of animals, ranging from hawks to deer to chipmunks, visited a Miwok village (reconstruction), and in general had loads of fun. I'll have to upload pics off my camera.

A couple of recommendations from recent reading and purchasing...
Siblings Without Rivalry - I am rereading this after skimming it last week, and I think it has a LOT of valuable info in it. Mostly common sense stuff that makes me say, well why didn't I do that already? But still a good read

And these dresses from Land's End. I have been looking at these for some time, and finally just bought Fairy one, and she loves it, plus it's just roomy enough that she'll wear it for quite some time without it being too big now. I was quite horrified that I had to shop the "big girls" section for her, as she's between a size 6 and size 7, so I went with 7 to be on the safe side. I may buy her a few more by fall for her fall/winter wardrobe. I figure in cold weather she can layer them over tights and long-sleeved t-shirts!

How it all fits together....

To see a larger, and therefore legible, version, click on the image below...

A whirlwind of activity...

I had to just sit and relax for a while. Today is the last day before our first backpacking trip with the kids, so naturally there are a million and one things to do. We have finished shopping, finished laundry, assembled backpacks, sleeping bags, and more... now for the actual packing!

We have been taking it very, very easy as far as schooly stuff goes. Elf continues to comparison shop and keep a running total at the grocery store (math), and reads everything in sight (reading), and in quizzing the Fairy while driving, I found that she really does know all her letter sounds! PHEW! We're listening to A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the Second: The Reptile Room whenever we are in the car, and at bedtime we are reading one of my personal favorites, Gone Away Lake, which the kids like so much that they asked me to bring it on our campout, to read in the evenings. And, for a slightly embarrassing confession, I have decided it is high time I read Tolkien's books. I love, love, love Lord of the Rings, and can't believe I have never made time to read any of the books, so I am bringing The Hobbit to read early in the mornings while the oatmeal cooks.

I am toying with joining edhelper in the fall, and using their (teacher) lit guides for some of my book choices over the next school year. They have them for nearly every book I want to read with/to the kids next year (or in Elf's case, books I would like him to read). Then I start thinking that none of this is necessary - I have a good, solid plan in place already, even without reading comprehension, etc. Has anyone used any of the teaching guides, and are they useful, or just more clutter?

Anyhow, I must run off and pack. I made packing lists yesterday, and now Elf is very eager to read his as he packs, and Fairy is eager for Elf to read hers aloud as well. Have a good weekend!

Our official academic year...

is OVER! As of today, I have a 3rd grader and a 1st grader. We have some light summer plans, education-wise, but mostly we'll be taking it easy, and the kids will be exploring a lot of their own interests.

Here's a quick re-cap of recent weeks, followed by some pics of our many adventures...

Fairy danced on stage, in front of about 200 people for her first recital. The theme of the ballet was Candyland, and she was a Lollipop. Her brother gave her flowers after the performance. She had a lot of fun, but says she still wants to go to a "real" ballet school in the fall!

We participated in the annual science fair at our charter school, which was both a lot of preparation, and very enjoyable. The kids' displays were fairly interactive, so they attracted a fair amount of attention. Elf also helped out at the (older kids) smoothie booth, which was bicycle-powered.

Our most recent field trip with the local homeschool association was a trip to a local honey farm. We learned a lot about bees - their life cycles, differing types within a hive and the roles they play, how honey is made and harvested. The kids wore beekeeping hats and got to go right among the hives. Fairy hung back a little, as she was nervous, but Elf got right in their, holding a drone bee, leaning over the open hive, and so forth. Continuing with the kids' interests in bees, we have signed up for the Great Sunflower Project, counting bees in urban areas.

Yesterday, M, the kids and I headed off to a day at Golden Gate Park. We took a picnic lunch with us, and went early enough that we had most of a day to explore. While it stayed overcast and chilly, we were really warmed up by a trip to the Conservatory of Flowers - we saw many, many incredible and beautiful plants, plus outside we saw a group of Morris dancers. After lunch, we headed off to the Japanese Tea Garden, wrapping up our studies of Japan in style! The kids loved the Moon Bridge, and the Tea House, as well as just exploring in general. We came home with lacquered chopsticks, which they attempted to master the use of at dinner time. Overall, it was one of the best days I have had in a long time! The kids were absolutely well behaved (they even spent 15 minutes picking up all the garbage in a meadow as they found it offensive), we had loads of fun, and there were so many beautiful things to see!

In costume for the ballet

Among the bees at a local honey farm

At the charter school science fair. Elf did a project on taste that seemed pretty popular among visitors. Even though his allergies were really bothering him, and he was getting a cold, he had a great time.

Fairy did a display on Touch, with lots of things to feel, including the ever-popular cornstarch-&-water mixture.

Playing on a bridge in the Japanese Tea Garden

Under a Pagoda (Japanese Tea Garden)

Having tea in the Tea House

Checking out tropical plants in the Conservatory

Smelling a Buddha's Hand (citron) in the Conservatory