Hey There!

...What We've Been Up To...

The Girl started working with the wildlife rescue center. These are her foster babies:

They are, of course, opossums, four of them. We actually interact with them as little as possible, so that they remain relatively feral. They'll be released back into the wild once they're larger. The Girl learned to tube feed them (they can't suckle), but thankfully we are past that stage now, and they just eat foods (mice, sardines, fruit). They live in a very large tub in the bathroom for now!


The Boy is soon to wrap up his figure drawing class. His skills just continue to blow me away!

Some of his work has been hung in the student art center, and he's thinking of entering some in the local fair this year.

As far as homeschooling, it's been spotty, which is something we really need to address. The kids have already agree we need to work through the summer. Math, writing, literature, and more documentaries have all made the summer to-do list!

Speaking of literature, we watched the movie League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the kids loved it! So we decided to read through all the books mentioned in the movie (a list I am still working on). Here is their first pick...

We have agreed to check out this movie version when we are done with the book.

We started watching Bill Nye Saves the World, which I think is okay, and they seem to like. I'm thinking American Experience, and/or maybe actually finishing Mankind: the Story of All of Us, and America: The Story of Us. We also have a few unwatched episodes of Big History. And there are plenty of biographies, etc. I also need to find some more science documentaries! We finished up all three seasons of The 100 that are currently available, and can't wait for season 4 to come to Netflix in June. If you haven't checked it out, you should. Totally engrossing!

Besides all that, I'm wrapping up my year of teaching at the university. I am planning to continue my teaching assistant position at the junior college for another year, but beyond that, I am not sure at the moment. I've applied for a couple of very part-time things, so we'll see what works out!

Hope all is well in everyone else's corners of the world!

Whoops! Time Does Fly...

Lazing by a small river

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."
 ~ John Lubbock

Summer is fully upon us, and so I've been too busy to post! Not necessarily busy with practical things, but with enjoying life right now.

Swimming hole

Puppy petting

Fishing

Canoeing

Beach play

More beach play

One of the best places to be

We've also...

Gone swimming at one of my former co-worker's pool

Watched fireworks

Enjoyed a few movies

Eaten popsicles and crazy amounts of watermelon

Listened to a lot of music

Spent time playing games at the park with friends

Talked about planning and ideas for next fall

Skipped math lessons/practice too often (need to get back on the wagon here!)

It's been very, very good so far! I hope your summers are going equally well!

Wordy Wednesday... Either/Or... And a Prodigy review...

It's that time of year again, when I start thinking "well, what if we did this?" or "we could do this...". So I've basically come up with an Option A and an Option B+.

For both options, regardless:

• Math
• Language Arts
• Literature

Then, Option A would simply be to continue as is... basically unschooling all other subjects, following interests, etc.

Pros:

• The kids get to figure out what they are interested in, and explore it
• Flexibility
• Empowerment

Cons:

• They tend to jump around from subject to subject sometimes, which can make getting resources in a timely fashion hard
• Lack of follow-through
• Sometimes even they feel they're not "doing" or "learning" enough!

Option B is a little more "schooly". We would use The Big History Project for history*, and this awesome science book (biology) that I found, called Life on Earth**.

Pros:

• More organized
• Might get around to more projects in science, as they are part of the text
• Would introduce The Boy to a good study of biology (he's always been the physics guy here), and would introduce The Girl to more biology than animals
• Could develop a better understanding of history as a whole

Cons:

• Having to follow through!
• Less room for rabbit trails

*Other options for history that are under consideration would include Hakim's Story of Science series, OR K12's World History: Our Human Story, the latter of which we could read from just once a week, leaving room for rabbit trails the rest of the time.

**I think we're most likely to use the biology text mentioned if we do formal science, but I'm also considering science tied in with history, if we use The Big History Project or Hakim's Story of Science

Anyhow, I obviously need to think on this some more! In the meantime, let's talk about Prodigy, the free interactive math game I found through a message board recently. The Girl took the placement test a few days ago (which is within the framework of the game, so she didn't even realize it was a placement test!), and then she's worked with it twice since. For hours, literally. The first day after the placement test, she spent about two or three hours doing math, and yesterday, another 2 hours, roughly. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less....

She's worked on multiplication, division, mode, median, angles, addition, subtraction, perimeter, and more during those hours. Yesterday, I found I could give her assignments too, to focus on a skill area I think she needs help with! And, when I login, I can see how well she did on the assignment, and exactly which problems she struggled with. After she completes the assignment, she can move into free play, and that's where she's getting an intro to geometry, fraction work, and a lot more. She has to answer math questions to move ahead through the game, defeating various creatures with math, and collecting new "pets" along the way.

I think we'll finish out our year with her working on this, and she can play it over the summer. In the fall.. well, we'll see!

I feel like I'm on one of these!

Sundries...

...Some random notes for Wednesday...

The Boy started studying physics again, this time through Khan Academy. So, inspired, I went ahead and had him add me as a coach, then I added The Girl in there too, so I can have her work on math and science through the site.

If you haven't checked it out, Khan Academy is FANTASTIC! I use it regularly with the two girls I tutor, and am hoping to make far better use of it with my own kids.

M and I put the Duolingo app on our phones, so we can start learning Spanish. I know some, and can understand a lot more than I can speak, but there's a lot left to learn!

Learning is, and should be, a lifelong process, as far as I am concerned.

image courtesy of patheos.com

I took the CBEST yesterday. Thankfully, I never will have to take it again! Anyone in California who wants to teach has to take it at some point though. One more hurdle out of the way! I got my math and reading scores right away, and those are just fine. I'll get the essay results in another week and a half. I've applied for a few positions teaching English in the fall, but haven't heard anything back... yet. Some of our districts are notoriously slow to hire.

The Boy is teaching The Girl his newly-accomplished parkour skills. She loves spending the time with him, and they're being active. It's a win-win situation! I've also been taking both of them roller skating once a week, when the rink has its $2 days. And when they are at my mom's, the often take the basketball down to the local park to shoot some hoops.

As for my own physical activity, I've recently begun working on running. Right now, I go back and forth between a fast walk, and a relatively slow jog. But, my distance is increasing regularly, and I'm really enjoying it, much to my own surprise!

A Wind in the Door hooked both kids in right away. We're actually reading most of the books from our Afternoon Basket! And we've been doing math and language arts regularly!

M found a dead butterfly that I think we'll be checking out with our jeweler's loupes. I'm thumbing through The Private Eye, and need to get some sketchbooks!

This Saturday, The Girl and I have our last puppy petting session for a month and a half. This litter will be moving on, now that they are bigger and have mastered basic commands, and the new litter isn't due until early-mid May. We'll get to meet them around the two-three week mark.

Just for fun, here is what happens when the kids get a hold of my phone while I'm driving them around...

Hope your week is going well!

Bookish Thoughts...

We finally finished A Wrinkle In Time, and of course, the first thought to cross our minds was, what do we read next? The obvious answer for now is A Wind in the Door, since Wrinkle was so thoroughly liked by all.

But then, what about after that?

This morning, on my way to work, I saw a couple of hot air balloons, and immediately decided that after our adventures with the Murry family (I think the 3rd in the series, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, is more enjoyable for older kids even than mine), we should revisit one of my all-time favorite books... The Twenty-One Balloons. My husband then said, "After that, you should read Around the World in 80 Days. They'd love that book!"

So I think we're in for a summer of adventurous travel (yes, we keep up with read-alouds all year)!

Other titles that then came to mind include:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Time Machine
and The Phantom Tollbooth.

I know there are plenty more of this genre out there, but I am only looking at summer!

This will actually transition very nicely into our fall lit plans—books/stories referenced to in the series Once Upon a Time.

I think we'll start with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, as that also fits with adventure travel, and then (shown here in no particular order), I hope to read:

Grimm's Fairy Tales (selected stories)
The Red Fairy Book, and The Blue Fairy book (selected stories)
Pinocchio
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales (selected stories)
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (selected stories)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Peter Pan
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Through the Looking Glass
The Lady of Shallot 
The Story of Mulan 
Beowulf: A New Telling
King Arthur & His Knights of the Round Table  
Rip Van Winkle

I think that's at least sufficient to start with! 

I love book planning.

And of course, there is our own reading that is always going on...

I am currently reading The Help, on our librarian's recommendation, while waiting for The Boy to finish The Martian. The Girl is three quarters of the way through Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone! She still reads a little slowly, but hey, she reads! We're also reading The Cloud Collector's Handbook (me); Spaceflight: A Smithsonian Guide and Black Holes: A Traveler's Guide (The Boy); and Eyewitness: Mammal and Slither & Crawl (The Girl).

Other books we're thinking about, for the Afternoon Basket, include:
Frost Hollows & Other Microclimates
The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth
DNA
Random titles (and to-be-added titles) from our selection of Intriguing/Unusual History Books, such as one we have on hand right now: Outbreak! Plagues That Changed History
Death by Black Hole & Other Cosmic Quandaries 
Coville's version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which we plan to see on stage in May!

I'm sure I'll come up with more... more is never the problem when it comes to me and books!

Ch-Ch-Changes...

 

Yes, I've done it again. Changed my blog title, etc. I wanted something that reflects the fact that this really is not just a homeschool blog anymore. It's a "life" blog. I'd like to share more recipes, gardening pictures as we rebuild/re-landscape, and things of that nature. So it feels right!

I'm sort of overhauling a lot of things right now.

 ...Around the House...
As I mentioned before, I'm reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and I'm looking at approaching things (housework and organization) in a different manner than before. I've always cleaned each room as a room unto itself, separate from everything else. The author (Marie Kondo) of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up though, says to look at each category of possessions... bring out all your clothes, shoes, etc., or all your books.. from every room of the house, into one main spot, so you can truly see what you have.

I think our mountain of books might overwhelm even me.

Some critics (on Amazon) have blasted Kondo's advice to get rid of things. Personally, I think our culture puts too much emphasis on possessions. Don't get me wrong.. I love my books. But, there are many I simply don't turn to anymore. And I use the library a lot. I don't need to own so many of them, gathering dust, sitting unread.

Kondo talks about surrounding yourself with only things you love, having a home with only the things you treasure. Or, as William Morris put it,

This weekend, I plan on tackling the first challenge... books (Kondo suggests clothes first, but I'm not dedicated to following her exact advice). Not just mine, but M's and the kids too. I will not (as Kondo suggests) get rid of their things for them, but instead will involve them in the process. The following weekend, we will tackle clothes; again with everyone helping.

Other house-related work that is coming up:

New curtains for the living room

Decide once and for all if we even want curtains in the family room, or if we want it to be more of a "sun room"

Curtains for the kids' rooms

...Around the Yard...

As for the gardening, I'm in charge of the front yard, M is in charge of the back (except for the chickens, and a border by the patio), and we will all be working on the vegetable garden/beds. I'm slowly making plans for the front yard, which is in two sections, separated by a sidewalk. In one section, I have an olive tree that is thriving, rosemary (on both sides of the front gate actually), lavender, and lots of healthy lamb's ear. And weeds. I plan to dig out all the weeds, and plant some of the hyacinth bean seeds I got from a friend along the chain-link fence. I might divide the lamb's ear, and place some in patches around that side of the yard, interspersed with perhaps creeping thyme, or other low-growing perennials, in a sort of patchwork, with some Johnny-Jump-Ups tucked in here and there, and perhaps some other cottage garden flowers. There's also a space I've marked out already for a Mayer lemon tree. As for the larger half, which is anchored by a maple we put in eight years ago, and a couple of boulders, I haven't quite decided yet, except that I want it to coordinate with the smaller "half". So far, there's a matching rosemary bush, lavender, and artichoke plants, among the weeds/grass.

As for the patio border/bed, I want to put in roses, with Sweet Alyssum, lobelia, salvia, etc., underneath. I think that will be both very pretty, and will attract honeybees!

Other yard-related work that is upcoming:

Getting the beds built for the veggie garden (we have most of our own soil to fill them)

 Building a new chicken hutch and run behind M's workshop/shed

Choosing another fruit tree or two to add to our mini "orchard" (apple and cherry now, looking at Italian prune plum, and ???)

Another {Pencil} Artist in the House...

I've always loved The Girl's sculptures...

And her mandalas, collages, etc.

 But now, thanks to some tutorials on her Kindle and plenty of practice, she's developing a real skill with pencils!

I love this drawing, and think that it is very good! I especially like the eyes, and the fur.

Like Puzzle Pieces Coming Together...

There are a number of reasons we homeschool... to move at our own pace, to explore interests, to follow passions, to provide what we feel is a solid base to work from... and so forth and so on. Our spring semester 2016 is coming together beautifully, and today I am happy that I can add another piece to the puzzle, or mosaic maybe, that we are creating.

If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know The Boy loves automobiles.

image courtesy of sodahead.com

 He's studied their history, can identify practically every make and model at a glance, has worked on my car. His goal is to become a mechanic who specializes in custom rebuilds. And now he has a tremendous opportunity. His best buddy's family is friends with a man I will call C. C is a retired electrician, who rebuilds cars as a hobby. He has invited The Boy and The Boy's Best Buddy (J) to help him rebuild vehicles this spring. So once a week, they'll be working with C for about 6 hours, starting with a 1940 Ford (Fords are The Boy's favorite vehicles). The Boy, who should be waking up soon to my text telling him the big news, will be SO excited!

On his transcript, I'll be calling it an internship, I guess?

So he'll be dropping down to one class at the junior college this semester—Intro to Engineering—which is fine with me. He's only fourteen after all. And I've asked him to find a Coursera class in the sciences. I told him too that whatever he chooses, he has all semester to finish it...we don't have to follow Coursera timelines.

And then, the Dinosaur Paleobiology course (also Coursera) has turned out to be a great fit for The Girl! I had only asked her to watch the videos, but she took the first quiz entirely of her own accord, and only missed one question! Of course, I am not making her stick to the timeline given either, but am happy if she makes it through the class by mid-June. While she already knows a lot about dinosaurs she has pretty much memorized Walking With Dinosaurs, etc.), this course is definitely adding to her knowledge base.

And, remember when she did puppy petting? There's another litter finally due at the end of the month! 

From December, 2014

...Where We're Shining...
History: Downton Abbey as the vehicle for history is a huge hit! We're really enjoying the book on the Romanovs too. The Girl and I had fun paging through Decades of Beauty: The Changing Image of Women 1890s to 1990s.

Math: We're actually getting math done most days! The Boy is working with negative numbers, and The Girl is working with multiple digit multiplication and long division at the moment.

Writing: I do love The Lively Art of Writing. So simple, straightforward, and it really teaches excellent essay skills (plus it's cheap!). And The Girl likes both the spelling program we're using, and Practice Exercises in Basic English (grammar).

Literature: A Wrinkle in Time is one of my personal, all-time favorite books. M loves it too, so we're reading this aloud as truly a family book. 

...Where We're a Little Dimmer...
Hands-on Science: I really want to do this project, but we just haven't made time for it!

Bedtime Reading: I need to work this in before we're fully back into derby practices and fencing classes! We are only on chapter two of The Fellowship of the Ring!

Documentaries: I think we're going back to lunch time documentaries. Easy, painless way to work in some extra learning. Today, I am aiming for another episode of Human Planet. We ended up watching Secrets of Highclere Castle, an overview of the history of the family occupying "Downton Abbey" in real life. I didn't realize that it was the 5th Earl living there who funded the King Tut excavation! And his wife was awesome too.

Writing: I need to be more consistent with it. What we have is great, but we need to make sure we're using it!

Geography: We haven't started the Halliburton book quite yet, so I want to get that going. I think one of our lunchtime documentaries each week should be something geography related perhaps, such as Wild China, or How the States Got Their Shapes, or even Anthony Bourdain's travel/food shows. And something hands-on... I have Mapping the World with Art, and there are always the geography club activities.

So that's where we are, and what's going on. I like how things feel, how they're coming together, that I can see us moving forward, together and individually.

Reboot...

The Boy is wrapping up his first semester at the junior college today. It's been a fabulous experience for him, almost effortless in some ways, and full of work in others. He's been elated, exhausted, enthusiastic, overloaded... and he loves it.

We had our end-of-semester check-in yesterday while driving around town on errands, and here's the plan for spring:

At the junior college:
Stellar Astronomy
Intro to Engineering

At home:
Continue with (and pick up the pace!) Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1
Complete The Lively Art of Writing
Listen in on good books, read some good books
Study, somewhat loosely, ancient-modern South Asia, and then Asia

And that's it. That's our plan for the rest of ninth grade. I'm happy with it, he's happy with it. He wants time to get back to fencing at least once a week, and to draw, read, follow some interests...


The Girl and I also had our planning meeting, albeit a shorter one. And here are her plans:

Continue with (and pick up the pace) Math Essentials
Daily spelling practice with a Scholastic book I have and Spelling City activities
Possibly return to Junior English (I think she's ready)
I'm going to have her try Dinosaur Paleobiology through Coursera (might skip unit tests) 
Listen in on good books, read some good books
Study, somewhat loosely, ancient-modern South Asia, and then Asia

We're actually going to be doing math over winter break to help catch up. We've gotten so far behind! And we need to catch up on our literature.

Rabbit Trails...

It seems the show Human Planet is rife with opportunities for rabbit trails. We watched episode two yesterday, on people who inhabit deserts, and this is where is has led/is leading so far...

An exploration of matriarchal societies and women's roles in trading, etc., after learning about the Tubu women crossing the Sahara. While not a strictly matriarchal society, it certainly places the women in a very important role.

This discussion makes me think The Girl might enjoy How High Can We Climb? The Story of Women Explorers.

Water collection from fog leads to experimental ideas... we're talking about/planning to try different approaches to this in our backyard to see what works and what doesn't.

 We talked about the transition between childhood and adulthood, without a "teenage" era, after the segment on the Tubu women, and another on cattle herding in Mali, in which a sixteen year old boy was fully responsible for maintaining his family's cattle herd, even taking them days across the desert to a watering hole. In the segment on the Tubu, the matriarch of the group turned the directions over to her ten year old daughter on the final 20 mile trek through the Sahara, both to test her abilities to guide her camel caravan through the desert, and to ensure that future generations will be able to find the tiny well in the middle of nowhere.

We compared our current water use (58 33 gallons per day per person based on our last water bill) against the rates in Las Vegas, which is 199-208 gallons per day, per person. Of course, the average American usage of water (178 gallons per day), and even our own lower total, still far outstrip Africa's general 5 gallons per capita (Water Facts).

We even had an interesting discussion about whether socially permitted extramarital "affairs" were okay or not, after a segment on the Wodaabe people of Niger. When the rains come, which is not every year, they have fertility dances, and then men, married or not, can be chosen as lovers. They are a polygamist culture overall, so these brief interludes don't seem out of character for their beliefs. And we talked about standards of beauty, and how widely varied they are.

The next episode is on life in the Arctic... I can't wait to see where that one leads us!

Happy Autumn!

My favorite season of the year! Now if only the weather would reflect the season, instead of tricking me by being cool for a day or two, and then jumping right back up into the 90s....

What We've Been Up To...

The Boy has decided he wants to go ahead and try the Big History Project with some added science, so for the time being, his homeschooling consists of math, writing, reading, and Big History/Science. Nice and simple.

So The Girl says if he gets The Big History Project, it's high time we get going with the Big Fairy Tale Project. Math, writing/spelling, reading, and fairy tales. Check. By the way, we are really enjoying The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making! It is a little bizarre, but in an appealing way.

She also really wants to stick with reading through a bunch of the Scientists in the Field series, which are excellent books. For both kids, we're actually going to have a science day once a week for hands-on explorations, using BFSU 2 and 3 as general guidelines.

The Afternoon Basket is therefore being set aside for the time being, which is okay.

The Boy loves his classes at the junior college. He was very proud this week when, after trying for the last two weeks and not quite getting it, he finally got all the measurements correct on a worksheet for Machine Tools Technology. His teacher says they need 100% on everything before they can move on to the next step. He says both his teachers are great—enthusiastic, helpful... just what one wants in a teacher! Here's a link to his art teacher's work, currently on display at the on-campus art gallery.

The Girl is getting quite proficient with dictionary use, which is nice to see. She told me yesterday though, after all the great work she's been doing with time telling worksheets, that she still doesn't really get it. Grrrr. Somewhere I have a practice clock we can try working with, or I'll just pull the clock off the family room wall, as it is one of the few I have seen that marks the minutes in 5 minute increments around the edge of the clock.

We've watched an odd assortment of movies lately, among them Dirty Dancing (enjoyed by all), and Carrie (the remake, which is pretty accurate to the original). M and The Boy watched The Ring—The Boy has definitely inherited his dad's love of horror films—and The Girl and I watched The Craft. She and I plan to watch the new Cinderella movie on the weekend, while is at the local airshow with his best buddy. I'm thinking ahead now to October/Halloween movies!

The Girl built a fairy house out of an abalone shell, shoebox, and various odds and ends. She hand-sewed the mattress and pillow herself!

So all in all, a little beginning of the year tweaking still to be done, but I am sure it will all come together!

How is your year going so far?

Happy Earth Day!

Wishing you all a Happy Earth Day! 

image courtesy of plasticstoday.com

Even my apple tree is celebrating!

...Some ideas for the day...

Go for a walk out in nature

Collect some wildflowers for pressing

Make a nesting mobile

Plant something

Read a good [picture] book -- some of our old favorites include:

The Lorax

The Great Kapok Tree

The Giving Tree

The Curious Garden

The Tree Lady

On Meadowview Street

Miss Rumphius

And, not a picture book, but a handy one all the same: The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth

Make some pine cone bird feeders

Write a letter to your representatives about an environmental issue that concerns you

Have a picnic at the park, or by candlelight at home

Ride a bike instead of driving

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!

Wordy Wednesday...Review!

Quite a while back, I shared my first review of Reading Horizons, on Orton-Gillingham based intensive phonics program, especially for kids that struggle with reading. This program came highly recommended by a friend I absolutely trust with such things. So I had to check it out, as The Girl was really struggling with reading.

While I have never officially had her tested, showed nearly every sign of dyslexia in every online assessment I could find. Seriously. Of course, it took me ages to get around to figuring out that this might be the issue. Until that time, we had tried the "normal" processes of learning to read, the ones that worked with her older brother. We worked on the alphabet, half of which she forgot again nearly every day after "learning" it. We worked on letter sounds, with little progress. I tried Explode the Code, Reading Pathways, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, The Reading Lesson, Reading Eggs... you name it, it probably found its way into our home at some point.

And still, she wasn't reading beyond cvc words, and a few sight words, with very little fluency.

Then Jessica found Reading Horizons, and told me about it. Actually, she told me about it a few times before I gave in and tried it out, all the while thinking in the back of my mind, "Oh geez, another program that won't work." So I talked (via email) to the people at Reading Horizons, and first, I will say they were very helpful, friendly, and not pushy. I appreciate that! I was given a trial of the interactive software program (for ages 10 and up) for The Girl to work through, and as you read in my first review of Reading Horizons, I saw progress almost right away, though "At first, truthfully, The Girl was a little reluctant to use it. She thought the first few lessons were "just dumb. I know what a bag is!", but, we persevered (at my insistence), and she soon changed her tune as the lessons ramped up."

She went on to finish most of the program (I'd love to have her finish it someday). And what do I think now? I think that this program gave my daughter the confidence and skills she needed to finally decode words. Put it this way, she went from Bob Books being a pain, to currently reading The Hunger Games. I know, its not "fine" literature, but she's reading, and enjoying it!

How does it work?

Each lesson both introduces new sounds/reading skills, while at the same time reviewing and building on those previously covered. The instructions are all verbal, which was fantastic for my struggling reader -- she liked that she could do the lessons herself. This alone gave her a sense of accomplishment she had been lacking before. The program also constantly reviewed high frequency words...you know, those that we see a lot in text, such as the, you, not, that, of, if, and so forth. Each lesson also includes vocabulary practice, which further builds on the skills introduced in the lesson. Having to mark words actually made her slow down, and think about what sounds each letter makes, which definitely helped with her decoding. And, when students make enough progress, the library is unlocked, and they can work on reading a variety of passages based on their current reading level! And each passage also has an introductory page, with "challenge" words that appear in the reading. If they struggle with any of these words, they can click on them to hear them read aloud. Along the way, grammar and punctuation, as well as keyboarding skills, are all part of the lessons.

Parents can set the threshold at which the student passes, and so I set it at 85%... anything below that and she had to repeat that section of the lesson. There's also a dashboard which shows clearly how many attempts were made at various skills/lesson sections, and how much time was spent on the lesson. This helped me see exactly where she was struggling, so I could help her through it.

We did take a long break in there from using it, as she began to develop her reading skills and wanted to try them out "in the real world". Long enough really that when we went back to use the program, because we were both anxious to see more skills developed, my subscription had expired. But, that turned out to not be a problem, as the folks at Reading Horizons quickly set me up with the Elevate program, for kids (and adults!) 10 and up.

I am delighted, and amazed, at how much this program helped my daughter. She was at an age where she was starting to feel ashamed of not being able to read well, when she could see that all her friends were fine with it. Some days, she's told me, she just felt stupid, which is never how I would want my kids to feel! So, thank you!!!! By the way, she also reads all the common, day-to-day things, like movie descriptions, labels on packages at the store, street signs, and so on, and so on, plus she's writing short stories, all of which she did not do before.

Books, Books, Books...

I am so glad I live in a family that values books, and almost always, real printed ones over anything digital (sorry, my Kindle, but while you are useful, we like real pages that can be turned, and real illustrations to admire).

I just thought I would share some of our recent finds!

For the family...
I found these vintage (1971 reprints of an older set) at the library, and immediately fell in love with the varied stories, poems, etc., all written very well.

 This volume, which The Girl and I are enjoying (though sometimes The Boy listens in) is chock full of fairy tales from around the world, as well as poetry, and stories of geographical intrigue. 

I got this volume, from the library, primarily for The Boy, though The Girl listens in a fair bit. It has classic stories such as The Adventures of General Tom Thumb, Gulliver's Travels, etc., as well as poetry, and historical sketches.

The Boy's latest treasure was given to us by a lady who lives in the same assisted living facility as my dad. It has been rebound once, but the book itself, printed in 1859, is in excellent condition, with print so small The Boy uses a magnifying glass to read it! He was commenting last night on the beauty of the writing style.

 The image here shows the original binding (his is plain, red cloth hardcover), and the marbling that is present on all sides of the pages. Its full title is A Classical Dictionary of Biography, Mythology, and Geography Based on the Larger Dictionaries, and at over 1,000 pages, it should keep The Boy occupied for a while!

Then there are the books I am reading...

Out of the two, I prefer the writing style of the food book over the other, which seems a little holier-than-thou at some points, though I love the premise of the book! I think (as I sit here using it) that there is too much technology in our lives.

Anyhow, those are just some books we have found recently, and I thought I'd share! What are you reading these days?