Putting My Foot Down...

In the interest of actually making progress this spring, I am putting my foot down, laying down the law, making a stand... whatever you want to call it! I am purposefully trying to keep the scheduling very, very simple, and allowing for super-jam-packed-bare-minimum days.

image courtesy of movemequotes.com

Our school days:

Sunday (half-full day)

Monday (bare minimum)

Tuesday (full day)

Wednesday (bare minimum)

Thursday (full day)

Friday & Saturday: catch-up/make-up

On a full day, we will do:

Math

Language Arts

Literature

Read aloud from the Afternoon Basket

Documentary or Downton Abbey

On a shorter day, we will do:

Math

Literature

 Language Arts

And as time allows, read aloud from the Afternoon Basket

And on a bare-minimum day, we will do:

Math

Literature

Basically, my goals for each week are as follows:

Five math lessons per child

One Lively Art of Writing lesson (The Boy) / One spelling lesson (The Girl)

At least five chapters per week from our lit choice

One science project/observation each week

At least two chapters from our history read aloud each week

At least one chapter each from other rotational readings

I am hoping this is doable. I'd love to actually feel like we are really moving forward.

Now, having planned all that, I will say the most important things to me are (in order from most to slightly less important) MATH, LANGUAGE ARTS, LITERATURE

Everything else is just gravy!

A Weekly Wrap-Up!!!

I haven't done a proper one of these in ages! Let's just say that at this moment, I am glad this week is drawing to a close. It's been too full, too busy. Just too many things going on, between both jobs, homeschooling, some housework, and playing catch-up with my dad's doctors appointments (which, by the way, I am not done with yet)!

Anyhow....

This week, in our homeschooling, we:

...did math 4 times... (YAY!)

...read about Bloody Sunday in the Romanov book, and I am hoping to read another chapter or two today, introducing Rasputin to the kids...

...watched another Downton episode, and will be watching another one today...

...The Boy found a science course to try out (I highly recommend Coursera!)...

 ...read a little more in A Wrinkle in Time...

It was not the best homeschooling week, in that we did not accomplish much overall. I spent Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with my dad; Monday was packed, and Wednesday too. I'm re-configuring our schedule a little to mesh better with other expectations/obligations. The Girl started another spelling lesson, but didn't get far with it. The Boy did no writing. And there was no science. We're getting, in all likelihood, a little chance to catch up this afternoon*, but that's not really enough.

So here is the schedule I'm working on now. Math and writing/spelling/language arts are top on my list, followed by literature, then science, and then history, followed by geography. I'm not worrying about arts because they do plenty of that.

Math, Language Arts and Literature schedule:

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, at a minimum, plus one other day whenever we can

(oftentimes lately, on busy days like Mondays, the kids will do math while I make dinner. This seems to work well!)

Science:

Tuesday and Thursday, at a minimum 

(plus, since the courses are done by the kids on the computer, they can work on it independently. Then, I also want to spend some time together working on hands-on projects, such as this one, which I am absolutely determined we will do this spring!)

History:

Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, plus movies on weekends or Mondays

Geography:

Tuesdays or Thursdays

So that's what I have in mind now, though I'll probably work on fine-tuning it. Okay, not probably... almost definitely!

Weekend Plans

Hiking if it is not raining too hard

Cleaning the family room, which looks sort of like a mini hurricane went through

Tutoring... I'm cutting this from 1.5 hours to an hour, as I need the time at home more than the extra $26... I think.

Watching Iron Jawed Angels, and hopefully another episode of Human Planet. Speaking of which (the latter), I've been thinking that if we don't continue with modern history in the fall, I might create a year's worth of world geography based off Human Planet, much along the lines of my Downton study: some books, documentaries, movies, etc. OR, if we continue with history based on a TV series, I'm looking at continuing the 20th century with Foyle's War, backing up a bit with The Forsyte Saga, or perhaps even going back in time here in the U.S. with Mercy Street.

I'll leave you with a picture of a recent sunset taken from the car, and wishes for a happy weekend!

*this is if it is actually too rainy for a park day, and that's saying a lot! We're pretty hardcore when it comes to our beloved park days.

Linked up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Thinking, Planning, Choices to be Made... UPDATED

We're thinking about fall. A few choices have been made, but there are still some to go.

For The Boy, we know he will be:

• taking art and basic welding this fall (spring 2016 still to be decided) at the local junior college. Art is for enjoyment, and the basic welding is part of the automotive repair training certificate program. The Boy has decided that he intends to complete the automotive repair certificate program, and take all applicable tests to become a fully certified mechanic by the age of 17 or 18.
• doing an overview of world history with the Big History Project  World History: Our Human Story, as per California state graduation requirements. Not that he has to follow those, as we are a private school, but he wants to "just in case", and this seemed the easiest route.  Plus, we like the K12 books! I think he'll just be reading through it for a "survey" approach.
• reading a lot. I'm putting together a list of suggested books, mostly dystopian or sci fi, but will leave it up to him as to what he actually reads off the list, aiming for at least one book per month. He'll be listening in on family read alouds as well.
• algebra. Which program to use? He and I are looking at and comparing: Life of Fred Beginning Algebra, Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1, TabletClass Algebra, and ChalkDust Algebra. This is proving to be a difficult decision! We do like Fred, but I worry that it isn't enough.... and video lectures might be helpful. I just don't know right now.  Update: He ended up choosing Teaching Textbooks as he wants the step-by-step instruction at this point.
• he will probably be finishing off reading the roughly 3/4 of Conceptual Physics that he neglected this last year. Or ????  Science will be integrated with his history program, using additional readings and documentaries, maybe lectures from The Joy of Science if I can get it.

Then, still up in the air:

• writing. I have The Lively Art of Writing on hand, as well as Fairview's Guide to Composition & Essay Writing, and both are quite solid, but then I love Brave Writer, and Help for High School is supposed to be fantastic. He might also be doing Excavating English, or using something like English From the Roots Up, or Word Roots.

For The Girl, we know she will be:

• for science, literature, and some light history (see below too), I'm putting together a plan based off of the Scientists in the Field series, adding in either literature or biographies with each title we cover. She'll be doing hands-on science through nature studies.
• doing some light history this year, mainly through books like Girls Who Looked Under Rocks, Girls Think of Everything,  and Girls Who Rocked the World. We'll just read through a profile each week, and she might keep a notebook/timeline of some sort. I decided that since she'll be hitting high school in another couple of years, and will do world then American history at that point, we could go "light" this year.
• spelling. Her invented spelling is very, very interesting, but hard for anyone besides me to actually read. I think I've settled on Spelling Works, though I am also considering Spelling Workout, or Megawords. I'm also looking at Apples & Pears, as it is supposed to be very good for dyslexic students.
• and plenty of reading. She is finding books she really enjoys, though I will continue making suggestions, and I will be reading aloud to her, both from family read aloud books, and books she would love, but that are above her current reading capabilities.

And up in the air:

• math. Math Mammoth? Life of Fred Fractions, then Decimals & Percents (both after some fall multiplication/division review with Math Mammoth)? Saxon 7/6? She says no to Teaching Textbooks. And thank you Erin, for mentioning Math Essentials. This looks like it might be right up Cassia's alley!
• and writing. Again, it comes down to Brave Writer (the author suggested Partnership Writing to begin as The Girl has not done a lot of writing), or a more "standard" approach, with something like Jump In (although I might have to do a fair amount to "secularize" that one), or maybe Evan Moor's Writing Fabulous Sentences & Paragraphs , or something like Core Skills Writing 6?

And for both, I know we will be:

• using the old Great Books academy schedule (no longer available on their website!) of math, writing, science, and literature 4 days a week, then a 5th day with history, geography, the arts, and maybe philosophy or logic (I'm leaning toward The Fallacy Detective). Of course, our time frames will likely differ from what they have listed, example: The Boy may well spend an hour 4 days a week doing math, not 30 minutes!
• using our Afternoon Basket, though I haven't decided quite how yet. I know we want to read good books together, and enjoy some more of Richard Halliburton's travels (geography), etc., but I have to put it together.

A Day in the Life...

I was inspired by Farrar, over at I Capture The Rowhouse, with her recent Day in the Life post. This is just an overview of a pretty average day for us, not any particular day, but we can call it Tuesday (no evening activities like derby or fencing on Tuesdays!).

...6 am...
I'm up. Most days I take a shower first, though sometimes I have to hit that snooze button and get another 15 or so minutes of sleep. Then coffee, and I lay out breakfast stuff for the kids, or pop a batch of baked oatmeal into the oven (I prep it the night before). I also leave the kids and the husband little notes! And I usually try to wash the previous night's dinner dishes before taking off.

...7:30 am...
I'm off to work, smoothie or egg sandwich, depending on my mood, in hand. I leave a tiny bit early so I can take the pretty backroads instead of the horrid freeway. I get to work just before 8:00, and am there until 12:30 Monday through Thursday, and until noon on Fridays.

...Meanwhile...
The kids get up sometime between 8 and 10 most mornings. I do like it that they can sleep in, as both are adolescents, and have a different circadian rhythm than I do right now! They putter around, fixing breakfast, making tea, feeding the pets, and at some point, they get dressed. Morning is their free time (sort of the opposite of many homeschooling households). They might watch a TV show, play on the Wii or computer, spend time reading, sketching, etc. This is also the time of day that they work on projects with their dad.

...1 pm...
I am home, and fixing lunch! Generally, I eat a sandwich or a salad with some chicken and beans, while the kids have sandwiches, or quesadillas, and fruit/veggies. Sometimes we all have soup. Anyhow, while we eat, we watch something together, like Big History, Downton Abbey, Wild China/Africa/South America [or sometimes Lost]. We chat about their mornings, check the chickens, and all that.

...2 or 2:30 pm...
I read something out loud, like a story from Wild Muir, or a few sections from The Everyday History of Someplace. Then we get some math going! I get The Girl set up with Saxon, then work with The Boy on Jacobs Elementary Algebra. Once they have everything under control, I can work on something else for a bit -- housework, sewing, my homework -- though I am frequently interrupted to further explain something.

Reading goes for about 15-20 minutes. Math generally takes about 45 minutes, then we move on to writing, which is another half an hour or so.

...Around 4 pm...
Snack time and quiet reading time. I do not tell the kids what to read during this time, so on any given day, The Girl may be reading from Little House in the Big Woods, or a Wonder Woman comic, while The Boy spends time with books like The Maze Runner, or The Small Engine Handbook. After a good chunk of reading to ourselves, I read out loud from our current book choice, which right now is The Hobbit.

...4:45ish...
Science time! This can take the form of reading, or looking through the microscope, or working on a project, or watching a documentary.

...About 5:30 or 5:45, or even 6...
We're done with "school" for the day. The Girl often moves on to an art project, or making paper clothing for her Groovy Girls -- she's currently working on a line of girl super hero outfits (Bat Girl, Aqua Woman, Spiderwoman, etc.). The Boy will work on computer science, or engine work (he's rebuilding a four-stroke engine from a rototiller in our garage), or an art project. I catch up on whatever I need to around the house, and start prepping dinner.

...7:30 or 8...
We sit down to dinner. Yes, I am old-fashioned in that I like to eat at the table and talk, rather than sit in front of the TV. Last night (a Tuesday), we had veggie burgers on sourdough toast, salad, and salt potatoes with fresh minced chives.

...9ish...
We start winding down. I like the kids to be in bed by ten, though they can read for an hour after that. 10-11 is the time that I always set aside to hang out with M, since the rest of the day is so busy! We interact a lot during the day, but it's nice to have this time set aside. So the kids will have dessert (last night it was Kashi Dark Chocolate Almond Butter cookies), watch a TV show or play a game, and then brush their teeth and head off to bed. I try to make some tea for myself.

...11ish...
Good night!

Monday Musings...Much Thinking Going On...

We're taking a bit of a break right now from the rigors of homeschooling, to focus on getting our lives more organized. Part of that is thinking over, and rethinking over, what is working in our lives and what is not.

First, an easier one: menu planning. I found a lot of inspiration in this post from Kim over at Our Enchanted Place. With many evenings dedicated to practices (fencing, roller derby), hectic work schedules, and my college class(es), planning ahead is key. We've slowly settled into a rotation that works well for us:

Saturdays: this is one of the days I really have time to cook. Sometimes I'll roast a chicken, if we want the leftovers, or we tend to do a lot of our ethnic cooking on this day, such as curries, African stews, and more. In the summer, if M is home from work, this also tends to be a grilling outdoors kind of day.

Sundays: The Girl has derby until 6:30 pm most of the year. This is a great night for pasta during the colder months, and salads (containing pasta or not) in the warmer months.

Mondays: Soup during the colder months, sandwiches or salads during the warm ones, due to a busy Monday schedule and The Boy's fencing class. We use the crockpot a lot on Monday soup nights!

Tuesdays: Another day I actually get to spend time cooking, and often, The Girl helps. I am thinking of making this our learn to cook night--I'll take turns with the kids, letting them choose what to cook, making grocery lists, budgeting, and then doing the cooking.

Wednesdays: More fencing, so this is generally a quick-cooking sort of evening. We often have things like quesadillas, or tacos on Wednesdays. Sometimes, when M is home, he'll take over cooking this evening, and then we'll have omelets or a stir-fry.

Thursdays: A cook-ahead day, so things like casseroles or crockpot dishes beyond soup, as The Girl has a later derby practice most of the year.

Fridays: Sometimes the kids will spend Friday night at their Nonna's house, and then M and I have whatever we feel like (within reason of course..no Maine lobster and caviar!). On other Fridays, we have pizza night! I make a big batch of dough for crusts and freeze some, so pizza night is never too challenging. Toppings range from regular ones like pepperoni, to leftover chicken, roasted veggies, etc., depending on what flavor we want.

Then, homeschooling. I am coming up with new goals fro January through May, so I think I'll dedicate w post to that later in the week!

Thirdly, budgeting. I have good intentions in this area, I really do. But, somehow it never gets done -- writing and sticking to the budget that is, although I can't say we're spending in excess either. I'm reading Total Money Makeover at the moment, and M and I have been discussing how we are going to put it into practice. That is one of our major goals for 2015... to implement the tools used in the book. We want to model fiscal responsibility for our children, we want to tackle debt (which we have far too much of in my mind), and we want to start getting ready for the future, since we are both in our 40s.

Do you, my loyal reader(s), budget?

Other projects: I am working on a housecleaning rotation, and having the kids take more responsibility for helping with housework. Part of this is part of their education -- housekeeping, budgeting, cooking, etc., are all like skills in which I feel they should be well versed. M and I are listing household projects that need to be done, and then ranking them in order of importance (i.e. roof work = very important, rebuilding the chicken hutch = not as important).

Hope you all have a good week!

Wordy Wednesday... Midweek Update...

On Monday, I wrote about a new (to me anyway) scheduling plan. And in theory, it still looks really good.

But...

I chose possibly the worst week to try it out!

Monday

Monday actually worked out fairly well. I stayed home from work (thank you, Sunday's mild food poisoning), so we had plenty of time. We read a math story, did Life of Fred, and The Boy did a lesson from Zaccaro's Primary Challenge Math as well. We did a fun free write from Brave Writer, the one I posted about last week actually, and the kids loved it! I'll make sure to transcribe their work later in the week. The Girl read two pyramids from Reading Pathways to me as well.

Then we moved on to geography. They drew a map of the Nile for their cartography books, and we read about Strabo and Eratosthenes (Mapping the World With Art). We read about St. Peter's in Rome in The Complete Book of Marvels, and watched Anthony Bourdain eat his way through that same city before making pasta for dinner ourselves!

However, for our next geography "block", I want to offer a little more freedom. Do they want to play a geography game? Watch a documentary? Draw a map or make a salt dough one? Choose a place in the world to really learn about?

Tuesday

I totally forgot I had to take my dad to a doctor's appointment after work. And then I have a class myself at 5, so time was very short. We did math, and The Girl read to me.

Today

We have fencing at 5, and before that we need to finish getting our Halloween stuff together. We'll still have time for math, reading (The Girl), The Boy's paragraph assignment (Write With the Best), and for art, we're carving Jack O' Lanterns. Not quite what I envisioned for an art Wednesday!

Tomorrow

We're meeting friends for a few hours of afternoon fun before heading out with M for trick or treating. I've promised the kids that if they do the candy buy-back many dentists around here offer, I'll buy them a little Unreal Candy to try out instead. They actually just love the activity of trick or treating, and we always head to an amazing street in nearby Petaluma, where people go all out to decorate their houses and yards... it's not really about the (junky) candy that they get doing it. So it is a win-win situation -- they get the fun of Halloween night, a couple of dollars or so for candy, and some yummy treats!

But you'll notice, that does not leave time for anything remotely homeschool-y. Ooops.

Other Thoughts on the Blocks

The Girl asked me "when do we get to do a math block?" Since I own Family Math, and the second book, we could do some great hands-on learning. And I'd love to do a day with language arts games and activities. So now I'm thinking rotating blocks every two weeks?

Geography; language arts; math; history; art; music; science; and ??? Or maybe just listen to a chapter of Story of the World each day and then...

Monday: Geography
Tuesday: Alternating math and language arts focus
Wednesday: art and music
Thursdays: science

I don't know, but I think we'll figure it out!

Week 2... Rough Waters...

What a week! My sciatica flared up last Friday, and I was in excruciating pain for the next 3 days. Then I took my father to his dr's appointment on Monday, and one the way home, a hose blew out and the car overheated. Took the tow truck driver (nicest tow truck driver EVER) about 10-15 minutes to get my dad into the seat in the tow truck so we could be hauled 8 miles. Get to the car repair place to find out it is closed on Mondays, so I had to have my mom (they're divorced) come and pick us up. Then I borrowed my mom's van to pick my husband up from college, and while waiting for him (class ran over) dealt with a very nasty screechy woman who accused me of purposefully blocking her driveway (which I didn't), and screamed at me, while honking nonstop from inside her car, that I had better never do it again.

Yep. That was about it. After that, I managed to get home, put food on the table, and collapse. Great start to the week!

As of today though, the sciatica flare-up has almost gone... phew!

On to schooling now, which did not go as I hoped. But, we did hit the basics much of the week.

The Boy

He worked through a few more division lessons in Math Mammoth, and feels ready to head back to Saxon next week, much more confident!

He also enjoyed working with a thesaurus this week in Write With the Best. He likes finding unusual words, so this was a good exercise for him.

And of course, he did a lot of reading! He finished Goliath and started Over Sea, Under Stone. He also worked on a house made from popsicle/craft sticks and hot glue, which he is making for a friend.

The Girl

She was very happy to work on math again this week, and was especially excited by the challenge of adding columns of numbers! She also really enjoys the exercises where she has to find the missing number... good practice for algebra later on.

Her work in Reading Horizons is going well too. This week it was about adding suffixes, so a little review of phonetic families, and some new work on when to double an ending consonant, and when not to.

She helped cook dinner again this week, and made most of a tamale pie by herself! She worked on some cartooning and abstract painting as well.

Both

We listened to another chapter in Story of the World, about ancient Egypt. They are both in love with the way Jim Weiss reads, comparing it favorably to another favorite narrator, Jim Dale. They agree that Jim Weiss is the American equivalent of Jim Dale!

We read The Fantastic Adventures of Krishna, and both kids made a Main Lesson Book entry, though both also said the story was absolutely bizarre.

We read more in our bedtime Harry Potter book, and a little more of The Princess Bride.

And we finally started Latin! We're using Getting Started with Latin, and each kid is keeping track of what we've done in a composition book.

For Next Week

Honestly, I think we're just going to stick with daily basics (math, reading/writing, Latin, a chapter of SOTW) and then interest-led for everything else--we actually get stuff done, and the kids really look forward to learning more about the things that interest them. I picked up a beautifully illustrated (Michael Hague) version of The Story of Dr. Doolittle to start reading with The Girl for her animal studies. And The Boy is going to start reading through The New Way Things Work, as part of his physics and engineering studies. We decided that we'll stick too with our plan of having me "do science" with each of them separately, so The Boy will watch a documentary on Mondays, while The Girl and I study zoology, and then it will reverse on Thursdays. I added a bunch more documentaries to both our Amazon Watchlist and our Netflix Instant Queue, so we'll be ready to go!

I also hope to get back to our rotational readings next week. No more back pain, and no more car trouble, I hope!

Have a great weekend! We have some fun plans which I'll share pictures of next week!

Ahhh... Experimenting...

I am experimenting, on my children to be exact.

This week, we tried Option A when it came to homeschooling. There were pros and cons to this...

Pros:
The basics have gone really well! The Boy is enjoying Write With the Best, and both loved Hot Fudge Monday for grammar. The Girl is happy to have her Saxon Math at hand again (strange child). We enjoyed a few chapters from the Story of the World (audio book with Jim Weiss, who strikes us as the American version of Jim Dale, one of our all time favorite narrators!); The Girl had a pleasant nature study; etc. [More details and pictures tomorrow] I did have The Boy start some review work from Math Mammoth on long division, so he hasn't gotten far in Saxon Math this week, but that's okay too.

Cons:
We feel like we're jumping around a lot. And The Boy has said, with The Girl emphatically agreeing, that our days seem long. I think maybe we have too much going on! Probably no maybe about it... we do have a lot going on.

So, the experiment
Next week we're going to switch gears, and try out Option B. Just the basics and a study of ancient India. Nothing else. No extra reading, no actual science. The Girl was browsing through the stack of books on ancient India that I had picked up at the library "just in case", and is eager to get going. The Boy wants "things to be simpler". It'll be an interesting contrast to this week!

I'll do the full weekly report tomorrow, with some pictures, I hope. We have accomplished a lot this week, but maybe next week will feel calmer and less rushed.

Down to the Wire...

We're gearing up to start school again, officially, in just two days. Yes, on Sunday, but we don't "do Fridays", so Sunday through Thursday works for us. And yes, we'll be schooling on Monday too, as I have the day off from work, and that will give me the opportunity to work on getting us up and going!

Having said that, we have a couple of decisions left to make...

1. History: I am deciding whether or not to read aloud from a history spine this year. The kids definitely have historical interests of their own, so I am carefully considering whether their interests are "sufficient" (for lack of a better word), or if we should read from The World in Ancient Times. I also have A Little History of the World, and Builders of the Old World, on hand, so plenty to think about here! Maybe I'll bring them all out, and ask the kids to choose, maybe.

2. Math for my boy: I know this is cutting it close, but he'll/we'll be making our decision tomorrow, when we get our (used) copy of Lial's Basic College Math. Yes, I realize it says "College Math", but from careful research, I have found many recommendations for it as a good review/skillbuilder/overview of prealgabraic math. The other option is Saxon 7/6. Either way, we're gearing up for prealgebra next fall - a little scary!

3. Scheduling: I have some rough ideas. I need to fine-tune these ideas over the next couple of days. Here's what I am thinking thus far...

Sundays:
Music appreciation/theory
Cartography (Mapping the World with Art)
Art lessons
Philosophy
IF I add in a history spine, we'll do readings from it on Sundays as well

Mondays-Thursdays:
Math
Language Arts
Literature/Reading
Rotating readings and subjects:
      Monday: Zoology with The Girl, while The Boy watches a documentary. Reading: Halliburton
      Tuesday: no extras as it is our short day! Reading: living math
      Wednesday: project(s) of choice. Reading: poetry (3x/month), Shakespeare stories (1x/month)
      Thursday: Physics with The Boy, while The Girl watches a documentary. Reading: science/nature

So that's what I have planned at the moment. We'll have to see how it works out! I'm not making lesson plans per se, but will be keeping track of what we learn in my spiffy new Home Schooler's Journal! And, naturally, there is every chance that we'll end up going with PLAN B instead, meaning that I don't have to worry about numbers 1 and 3 quite so much!

Now, I just need to get together the supplies for our science studies, make sure we have plenty of good documentaries ready to go, and get our art supplies in order!

Have a good weekend!

Scheduling Thoughts...

Do you follow a "traditional" school calendar? School year 'round? Do something else entirely?

image courtesy of madison.k12

I read this post this morning, and it got me thinking. Why exactly do we follow the traditional schedule, and what would it look like if we didn't? What would it be like knowing that every six weeks (or however many I chose), we could take a week off? And extra time off around Christmas sounds good too... time for baking cookies, reading stories, watching all our favorite Christmas movies...

Then, how to transition the kids to such a schedule? Actually, that might not be that hard. We're already planning, this year, on going through the end of June since we took off a few extra days/weeks here and there. So if we just took July and August off over the summer (8 weeks), then started back up with the new schedule in September, it might transition pretty well!

What do you think? Have a good Tuesday!

Let the Countdown Begin...

We're starting fresh in January, after a big family conference, that ended up with M saying "I don't think they're learning enough", and The Boy saying "I don't think I'm learning enough", and me saying "I don't think they're learning enough"... you get the picture. Even The Girl says she would "like to learn more." And says she wants "real science."

Oops.

So I'm working my way through all the resources I own, trying to decide what will be best to remedy the situation. And believe me, I have a lot of resources on hands. One might even call me a curriculum junkie! For example, world history (the current and ongoing bane of my planning)--I own, and am trying to choose from:

K12's Human Odyssey Volume 1 (I like the fact that it covers ancient China, India, Africa, and Japan, along with classical Greece, Rome, etc. Fairly well written too)

Famous Men of... series (love the tone of these, but they are limited to Western cultures)

Builders of the Old World (again, love the tone, but very little mention of cultures outside Western civilization)

Several volumes of The World in Ancient Times (well-written, and they cover a lot of the world!)

And my latest acquisition, Journey Across Time: The Early Ages. I'm not sure about this one yet because I just ordered a used copy, but I figure the combination of Spielvogel and National Geographic has to be good!

Hmmmph. Hard to choose. One part of me wants to touch on many of the major civilizations (K12, or the World in Ancient Times, maybe Journey), another part knows that the kids would love the Famous Men series.

What I do know is that we are really going to give this schedule a try (with a few minor alterations, such as switching their Friday to our Sunday, and mythology/cultural studies instead of logic/philosophy), and due to The Boy's request for "real science", we're going to be using this. So to make it very simple for myself, I'm simply taking the schedule linked above, putting it into a table format in Word (Open Office really), and then plugging in resources to use. I am also still working on my "good books" list, and from that we can just pick and choose for the literature portion of the schedule.

I know it is a far cry from the more-or-less unschooling approach we've been using, but it is short (3 hours a day), so the kids will still have plenty of time for exploring their interests, and I think it will be a solid education. We'll probably school right with this new schedule/approach through June, at least through mid-June, then take July and August off for project-based learning/more of an unschooling approach.

As far as housework, etc., I'm also writing a plan for that. Yes, 2013 will be the year of organization. Flying by the seat of my pants just isn't cutting it anymore.

Do you have any big plans for the New Year?

Just Nevermind...

Friday's post about scheduling, that is. We're going to wait until January to try this out. In the meantime, we have a detour...

THE BOY

Will be studying mythology, will be waiting on Story of Science. We're going to read this together for history over the next few weeks...

THE GIRL

Found the American Girl Welcome to ______'s World books at the library. She wants to "do them in order, please", so I found this timeline, and we decided to learn about Kaya! We'll read the story books too, and maybe add in some crafts--I own a lot of the craft/cookbooks for other dolls in the series, but this one doesn't appear to have those. I'm not sure if we'll do just the one, or a bunch of these, but since she is showing actual interest in something historical, I am not going to say no!

 

As for everything else, we'll hit the basics each day (reading, writing, math), 4-5 days a week. In science, I'm frankly not sure at the moment! The Boy does want to finally finish reading The Magic of Reality, so I'll do that with him, and maybe I can find animal and other American-Girl-related science topics for The Girl. I bet there are some ideas in the ______'s World books!

And for art, we're going to focus on making some nice pieces that I can scan, print, and turn into calendar gifts for family. We'll be doing some of the projects from this book for this, and some from other sources.

So we're more or less back to this idea. Wow, that scheduling thing sure lasted long, didn't it? As I said though, we'll revisit it in January... fresh year, fresh start. I think it is a good and workable schedule, but we're going to relax for now.

And It Is Friday...

I love that I have been off work 2.5 days already and still have 2.5 to go!

We had a good, relaxed Thanksgiving. Some good reading, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, plus the Charlie Brown version of the Mayflower journey/Pilgrims. Lots of good food!

And a chance to reflect, plan, and tinker.

Our schedule for now:

Sundays:
~ Read-aloud(s) from A Picture Perfect Childhood, mythologies, Harry Potter
~ Language Arts (PLL/ILL, spelling/phonics, reading)
~ Math (Life of Fred and/or Zacarro)
~ World history, with work in our Books of Centuries (Builders of the Old World, World in Ancient Times)
~ Introduction to our science topic of the week (BFSU) through a book or video
~ Art and/or Music
~ Geography with Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels

Mondays:
~ Read-aloud(s) from A Picture Perfect Childhood, mythologies, Harry Potter
~ Language Arts (Grammar with either Grammar-Land or The Sentence Family, spelling/phonics, reading)
~ Math (Life of Fred and/or Zacarro)
~ Reading and/or video for BFSU science topic
~ Independent work with The Boy on Story of Science, while The Girl watches a video on a country (we like the Families of the World series)

Tuesdays:
~ Read-aloud(s) from A Picture Perfect Childhood, mythologies, Harry Potter
~ Language Arts (PLL/ILL, spelling/phonics, reading)
~ Math (Life of Fred and/or Zacarro)

Wednesdays:
~ Read-aloud(s) from A Picture Perfect Childhood, mythologies, Harry Potter
~ Language Arts (word families work for The Girl, free writing with Unjournaling for The Boy, spelling/phonics, reading)
~ Math (Life of Fred and/or Zacarro)
~ American history, and Books of Centuries (Rainbow Book of American History)
~ The Boy will work on his Main Lesson Book of Greek myths, while I read a story or two, along with an excerpt from Just Like Me, to The Girl for her world cultures studies

Thursdays:
~ Read-aloud(s) from A Picture Perfect Childhood, mythologies, Harry Potter
~ Language Arts (PLL/ILL, spelling/phonics (spelling tests), reading)
~ Math (Life of Fred and/or Zacarro)
~ Hands-on day for our science topic
~ Nature journaling/Outdoor Hour challenges

Homeschool Boot Camp Update & Ramblings...

So this week I signed up, a wee bit late, for the:

Now, you might ask, how am I doing with this challenge? I'd say mixed results... so far. Yes, we have "hit the books" a bit more this week, but again, we should be doing it a little more.

I did have parent-teacher-student conferences this week! And I have reinstituted my checklist, although I updated it to include weekends, and a place for "notes". I do have goals - math 4 times a week, writing at least twice, history at least once, etc., but we don't do well with actual schedules. Sometimes, we'll get really excited about a topic, and we'll want to spend more time on it. Other times, it is not interesting, and we hurry through, or set it aside for something else, so no, scheduling doesn't work for me.

Overall, we're doing better this week, and I hope we continue to improve.

Thinking about homeschooling has gotten me reconsidering our goals, and whether we are working toward them. What do I really want for my kids in homeschooling? Earlier this year, there was a big thread (many pages) on a homeschooling message board I frequent about pursuing truth and beauty in homeschooling. Then there was a resulting spin-off Yahoo group on pursuing a classical, liberal arts education, and while the others in the group are far more religiously minded than I am, I still benefit from the depth of connections and ideas they share. My BA is in Liberal Studies, and I feel very fortunate that it was through the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies. We were encouraged to explore topics more deeply, to build and foster connections, and to discuss our ideas and thoughts. Ideally, that is my aim with homeschooling - deeper exploration, building connections, pursuing truth and beauty, fostering discussion. Are we reaching those goals, those ideals? Sometimes, when we get into the whole workbook-do-the-next-thing rut, I feel very far away from it. Other days, when we have a good history lesson, great literature, art, and living math, I feel as if we are stretching in the right direction.

I've gone from a mental image of at-the-table homeschooling... the kids answering questions, filling in the blanks, to an image of cuddling up on the couch or under the apple tree, perhaps sipping tea or lemonade, and discussing whatever book we are reading. I want our homeschool filled with good books, fine art, lovely music, a sense of the flow of history, and an appreciation for the scientific wonders of the world.

Now, how do we get there?

In other news, I decided I needed a better goal for myself in fitness. So (very late to the game), I am challenging myself to....  

I know, super geeky, aren't I? While I doubt I'll participate in any online forums, etc. with this, I do plan to track my journey with a Middle Earth map. I'll keep track in my sidebar too. It'll take a while!

Tuesday Tidbits...

We are now in our sixth week of homeschooling for the year. There have been, and continue to be, some adjustments as always. Some things are working very well, others need some work.

What IS Working...

We have definitely found a way of doing history that makes it work for us. Our two spine books - one on world history and one on American - are lovely read alouds, and the kids are really enjoying putting together their Books of Centuries. In fact, every time they add to them, they rush off to proudly show their dad what they learned about this time! After all the stress I had about history, I am so glad this is going well!

For The Girl the combination of Explode the Code and Reading Pathways (Dolores Hiskes) is marvelous. These two resources work very well together, and she is gaining confidence daily. I no longer have to lead her through each page of Explode the Code... instead she does it on her own and then shows it to me for any corrections, of which there has only been one recently, on the word "glass", which she spelled originally with only one "s", certainly an easy mistake to make.

The Boy loves a couple of his language arts resources: Soaring with Spelling & Vocabulary because it has fun activities, and Unjournaling (writing prompts) because they (the prompts) are both hilarious and challenging. I do need to work with him on drilling the spelling words, but that is a simple adjustment. I also really want to get him working on a Writing Project each month.

There are other parts of language arts that are working well - i.e. Grammar Land - and then things we need to get to, like poetry. I think what we'll start doing is alternating Mondays on grammar and poetry.

Math is both working and not working, or rather I should say parts of it work better than others. Once again, as was the case last year, while Teaching Textbooks is nice in many ways, The Boy and I miss that time together. I have next to no involvement in his math with Teaching Textbooks. So working through Life of Fred and some complimentary Math Mammoth has been refreshing this week. Of course, The Girl instantly wanted to know why she isn't doing any Life of Fred, which subsequently resulted in my ordering another copy of LOF Apples so that she and I can work through the elementary series together, alternating it with Math Mammoth! I firmly believe that after the prealgebra stage, LOF is very complete, especially with the Home Companion books, so if my kids enjoy and learn from Life of Fred now, they may be able to use it all the way through their homeschooling journey!

We're actually getting in a lot more nature walks this year! Instead of scheduling them for "school time", we're approaching them as a family late afternoon/early evening treat a couple of times a week, and then sometimes as a special trip on the weekend. I'm really enjoying this family time together, and we are all benefiting from the fresh air and exercise.

What is NOT Working and/or I Would Like to Adjust...

Our Afternoon Basket: While I love and am determined to use this idea, I need to adjust it. We're just not making the most of it! I have decided to add back in some books from the 12 month guideline in A Picture Perfect Childhood, and I may add in our Narnia study books after all. I like the cohesiveness of the lit plan I came up with, and there are many books on that list I would love my children to have some exposure to. Right now we're just kind of going here, there, and everywhere with books, which can be fun, but doesn't seem enough.

Science is very definitely a work in progress. Much as I love and adore Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, I'm struggling with implementation. I think for the remainder of this month at least, I will revert to my old plan: a documentary of their choice once a week; work from a living book once or twice a week; and something nature related the other day(s). Throw in a few experiments from books like The Irresponsible Book of Science, and reading from books like The Magic of Reality, The Story of Science, etc.,  and I think we'll be good to go!

Art and music need work as well, since we just are not getting to them. I did get a copy of a fantastic book called The National Gallery of Art: Activity Book, and I think this will really help! It has pictures to investigate, with a list of questions and prompts to work from, as well as hands-on activities. I have looked through it several times since getting it a few days ago, and am very happy with it. As for music, I think we may start utilizing the Composer of the Month again, with additional music from my own collection and the library. Nice and simple! We could read about the composer at the beginning of each month, and then listen to their music while working on art.

And finally, implementation of everything! I need to actually set aside "school time" as sacred each day, and keep the TV and computers OFF.

So now that we are getting well into the new academic year, what is working and not working in your homeschool?

Monday Bits & Pieces...

Not as smooth a title as Monday Musings, but oh well! It feels more bits and pieces today.

Yesterday, we headed out to a free mini-workshop offered by Lowe's. The kids got to construct a dragon (the dragon in the Shrek movies) from a simple kit. Hammers were involved, so it was fun!

I'm back at work this week, regular hours, more or less. My boss and I did adjust my schedule a bit, so I work 5 hours on Mondays, and 4 hours a day the rest of the week. I will have an occasional longer day here and there, as my target is 1000 hours per year. Since M is home, the kids are only heading off to my mom's house a couple of days a week right now. Things are definitely a bit different when I have work... and I am going to try from today on to establish a good rhythm to our days, perhaps something like this:

~ When I/we get home, I will have the kids do a couple of chores each while I make lunch.
~ While we eat, we can watch a documentary.
~ Everyone clears up their dishes, and then we settle in for some reading from the Afternoon Basket (which yes, I am putting into full use this week. I decided to add it another subject or two a week over the next couple of weeks rather than starting up out of nowhere in September.)
~ Then, they can play while I get my workout and some housework out of the way, before tackling dinner, etc.

I'd like to establish this routine now, and get everyone into the groove soon, since next week I go back to school myself, and September is drawing near!

This week's agenda:

~ Establishing a routine
~ Getting my project/experiment book basket set up
~ Switching out some books in my Afternoon Basket
~ Finish cleaning the kitchen, and get the living room done (I am deep cleaning one room at a time)
~ Go swimming at a pool with friends!
~ Try to get out hiking again over the weekend, or maybe even mid-week
~ Get geared up for the big airshow that happens around here next weekend!

It should be a good week. And just for fun, here is a recipe for the recent family favorite...

Quinoa Salad

Quinoa:
Rinse 1 cup quinoa well. Add to 2 cups boiling water, bring back to a full boil, then cover and simmer about 15 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Put quinoa in a bowl, and chill.

Once the quinoa is chilled, add the following:
About 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved, or larger tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup fresh salsa
About 3/4 cup cooked corn kernels (I like grilling corn for this recipe)
1 avocado, cut into small cubes
A good handful of chopped cilantro
A squeeze of lemon juice
About 1 Tbsp. good olive oil
A few dashes cumin, salt, and pepper

Mix well, return to fridge until nice and cold. You can serve this by itself, with meat or shrimp or black beans, over mixed salad greens, etc. Yum!

Hope everyone has a good week!

A Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding Flow Chart...

MyBFSUflowchart -

Another idea for day-to-day scheduling...

I am thinking somewhat about going with Waldorf/Oak Meadow block scheduling, which would go about as follows...

Monday/Wednesday:
Charter school classes in the morning (music appreciation in the car)
Poetry
Calendar work/weather charting
Phonics (Elf) / Handwriting (Fairy)
Short story time
Language arts block
Social studies (world cultures) block
Elf reads aloud

Tuesday/Thursday:
Poetry
Calendar work/weather charting
Phonics (Elf) / Handwriting (Fairy)
Short story time
Math block
Science block
Art appreciation
Elf reads aloud

Friday (our light day):
Spelling test (Elf) / Phonics/letter review (Fairy)
Nature journaling using Oak Meadow science topics
Read aloud from Story of the World
Optional art or other project time

Day-to-Day Schedule for Fall 2008...

This follows more of a Charlotte Mason approach, with short lessons planned...

Monday/Wednesday
Charter school classes in morning (music appreciation in car) **
Poetry
Calendar and weather/temperature charting
Copy work (Elf) /Handwriting (Fairy)
Short story time
Phonics & Oak Meadow Language Arts
Math
Social Studies
Elf reads aloud

Tuesday/Thursday
Poetry
Calendar and weather/temperature charting
Copy work (Elf) /Handwriting (Fairy)
Short story time
Phonics & Oak Meadow Language Arts
Math
Social studies
Science
Elf reads aloud

Friday (our light day)
Spelling test (Elf) / Phonics/letter review (Fairy)
Nature journaling using Oak Meadow science topics
Read aloud from Story of the World
Optional art or project time

**Monday: Art & art appreciation, Wednesday: Spanish & Music