What We're Doing These Days...

  ...It's a beautiful fall so far... 
lots of rain, followed by the leaves changing, and morning fog...

...We enjoyed Halloween... 
(costume pictures still to come)
We spent the afternoon with friends, then the evening Trick or Treating my mom's neighborhood

This is how you pick pumpkins from the pumpkin bin

The Girl's handiwork

And The Boy's

...We've Been Reading...

 We really enjoyed this book, and it led to so many interesting conversations about human rights versus a seemingly utopian society, memories, emotions, and much, much more. The movie, on the other hand? Ummm, no thanks. We did not care for it.

  But we did move on to the second book in the quartet, and although it seems very different in someways, it is just as gripping so far.

We're delving into Victorian Times after watching Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 

And we're reading about universal matters...

...And There Has Also Been...

Math (going well, but not nearly often enough)

Language arts games here and there, and now we're diving headfirst in to writing projects for both kids

Lazy afternoons either at the park with friends, or watching movies (we watched a lot of pre-Halloween films!)

Many rounds of Clue and Chess

The Boy loves, loves, loves his astronomy class, and is planning on taking sculpture in the spring

And cooking... soups, chili, casseroles, and, courtesy of The Girl, a lovely pear and chocolate upside-down cake...

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!

End of the Week...

This week, we...

...had a meltdown of sorts.

...played You've Been Sentenced (which, by the way, is a great, and fun, way to work with language).

...laughed our way through an episode of Drunk History, learning about scientist Percy Julian; the [teenage] woman behind Rosa Parks—Claudette Colvin; and fighting champion Joe Louis. The first two parts were the best—our sides were aching from laughing!

...did some math. The Boy is doing very well with Teaching Textbooks, and The Girl is plugging away with Math Mammoth. I plan to break out Totally Tut over the weekend for some operations review with both.

...read some more of The Shakespeare Stealer.

...watched the eclipse as the moon rose.

...spent a while gazing at the moon through binoculars the following night, and talking about how the moon influences the tide.

...decided we miss hanging out on the couch reading together. 

...started making a list of October movies to watch, among them The Addams Family (the first one is best), Sleepy Hollow, The Corpse Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Beetlejuice, Arsenic & Old Lace, Edward Scissorhands, and maybe Sweeney Todd. (Do you see the awesome Depp theme running through there? What does that say about us, or him?)

The Boy...

...worked on his 3D art project, which is a pop-up book he is making about...CARS (surprise!)!

...finally got to use some power (and hand) tools in his Machine Tool Technology class.

...worked on some video editing.

...detailed the inside of my car. It hasn't been this clean in years!

The Girl...

...worked on a lovely art project with her dad (I'll post pictures soon), as well as about 5 or 6 other art projects.

...read Smoky Mountain Rose for her Cinderella studies.

...finished her spelling for the week, with 100% on her test. 

...devoured a few episodes of The Life of Mammals, as well as a couple of shows on undersea creatures.

..helped cook a couple of dinners, and made some fantastic black-bean brownies. I'll share the recipe soon!


Linked up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Current Exploits...

Since I stopped actively planning, our summer has very much improved! And we have a lot going on these days...

The Boy is working on a post-apocalyptic short story, and is about to start reading Animal Farm. He's simultaneously reading The Hitchhiker's Guide and The Maze Runner as well.

He's studying pen & ink techniques, such as stippling, with the aid of library books

The Girl is working on a veritable Minecraft universe in between bursts of reading from the last pages of The Time Cat and the beginning pages of Ronia, the Robber's Daughter

Plus a huge stack of library books on sea creatures

And both are helping with a tabletop garden project my sister is putting together for her severely disabled students - the table they are building here is the right height for students in wheelchairs to work...

We've also spent a lot of time at the beach with friends, learning the joy of body boarding! And for The Girl, some surfing too...

We're playing a lot of Garbage (aka Trash) and Apples to Apples Junior these days. I should dig out Scrambled States and Totally Tut while we're in game mode!

We're watching a few movies (tonight's is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, as we've been fairly extensively discussing WWII recently), and lining up documentaries that look good, and we've finally hit season three of Once Upon a Time, after taking a long break.

We identified a newcomer to our backyard, the Gulf Fritillary, which only nests on/lives in/eats passionflower vines. Our vine has expanded rapidly the last couple of years, and we were thrilled to identify the caterpillars we found all over it! We brought three, complete with the vines they were on, into the house, and then into our old butterfly habitat, for further inspection. We'll re-release them when they become butterflies. One's cocooning already!

And we are looking forward to the new things starting in just another week, when I head back to work, and The Boy heads to the junior college! The Girl is thinking of doing some volunteer work (maybe for this organization if we can get permission due to her age) while The Boy is in class.

A couple of weeks or so after that, we'll get back to regular math and writing. And we'll see where everything else falls into place.

Hope your summer is going as well as ours is!

Language Arts Lineup...

We're getting ready to start a new academic year at the end of the month, and are taking a mishmash approach to language arts. It blends the Brave Writer Lifestyle with some great tools I have compiled, and I think it will work well for us.

So, here's the WRITING plan...


Each day (Monday through Thursday anyway), we'll start with a rotating focus, with both kids and I working together (a lot of this will be oral work, a little more so than written).

Mondays (our short day due to my college schedule) will be for poetry. Now, I have not quite decided yet if I want to use a poetry teaching resource (Rose, Where Did You Get That Red?, or Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry, or ???) OR if I simply want to introduce the kids to poets and go for the full poetry teatime experience. Hmmm. This will be followed by free writing for both (just 10-15 minutes). The Boy will be using Unjournaling for ideas when needed, while The Girl and I are embarking on a year-long adventure (see below).

Tuesdays will have a grammar focus. We're going to try out The Giggly Guide to Grammar, which is described as "Shel Silverstein meets Strunk and White and the results are both hilarious and instructive." Then the kids will split up for other work (see below).

Wednesdays will be all about literary elements, with Figuratively Speaking, again followed by independent work.

And on Thursdays, we'll explore the history of our language, and its oddities, word roots, and more, with The Word Snoop. This will also be another day of more independent work for each, though sometimes I am sure we'll take a break from the "work" of writing to play language games.

As far as independent work, The Boy will be working on more academic writing -- essays and the like. We've decided that he will finish working through Thinking in Threes, which is really thorough for basic essay writing. After that, he'll move into BWL writing projects and written history/science narrations, creative writing, etc.

For The Girl, we (she and I together) decided to really foster creativity and just get her more at ease with writing. So on Mondays and Tuesdays, she'll be working on free writing -- short stories, or longer ones if she chooses. Tuesday evenings, I can correct spelling, etc., and then on Wednesday and Thursday, she can work on copying (copywork!) the story out and illustrating it. Sometimes we may work in other ideas/activities, and leave the "rough drafts" as is. At the end of the year though, the hope is her spelling will improve in context, AND she'll have a whole book of her own illustrated writings!

As fa as the READING plan, The Girl will continue to work through the Reading Horizons program, then I'm hoping she'll move into active reading. After reading my friend Jessica's posts on this series, I think The Girl may enjoy many of the titles. And she's been talking about wanting to read the original Oz series, which we are lucky enough to own in its entirety. And of course, I will continue reading aloud to her -- you can see the list of hopefuls here.

I also plan on actually assigning some reading to The Boy, just one book per "block" of scheduled study. He's interested mainly in dystopian/Steampunk/sci-fi literature right now, so his list of assigned books (bottom of the post) reflects that. I will re-read/skim them alongside him, so we can discuss the books, something we enjoyed doing with The Hunger Games trilogy. I am certain he will continue his fairly heavy load of free reading as well!

Can't wait to see how it all works! And if you have any recommendations on the poetry bit, I would love to hear them!

Weekly Report with Pictures...

It was a busy week, and we're still trying to find our footing, so to speak, what with work, and college, and all that!

We visited the feed store for chicken and guinea pig supplies, which meant, of course, that we had to check out the rabbits, chickens, ducks, etc.

And there was blackberry picking, which resulted in blackberry cobbler, blackberry-apple crisp, and blackberry-strawberry compote. Now that I finally have a working oven again (it's been about 6 months), we'll be making some Blackberry Cornmeal muffins as soon as we get back out to pick more berries!

And the kids have been busy with crafts during their mornings at my mom's house. First up are The Girl's crafts - lots of glue and old Altoids tins involved... she also made me a bracelet and necklace (bead work), which I'll get pictures of later.

And then there is The Boy's work, definitely Steampunk-inspired!

And a close-up...

With the crafts, and errands, and lots of Story Cube play, and fencing, and derby practice (at which The Girl took her first major fall, but got right back up and started skating again), and reading, and watching some favorite TV shows, it has been a jam-packed week!

Hope you all had a good week, and that you'll have a good weekend!

Weekly Report: Kicking Myself...

image courtesy of mobilebeat

I've written about language arts, specifically writing, here, here, and probably in a few other places. My original plan was to keep it fun and loose, but at the same time, panic was setting in... would my kids be prepared to actually write well in the future? I bought a secondhand copy of The Complete Writer a while back--on the shelf it went, and on the shelf it stayed, until this week. This week, I pulled it out and started using level 1 with The Girl and level 3 with The Boy.

And now I am kicking myself! The kids are giving me these fantastic narrations/summaries! They love the copywork, and next week I'll be starting dictation with The Boy as well, using the approach recommended in The Writer's Jungle (a little at a time, in other words). I was worried that WWE/WWS would be too repetitive and too restrictive for them, but they are really enjoying language arts right now.

We'll definitely be continuing with this program. I am not sure yet if I will buy the workbook for WWE (The Girl), or if we will use our own sources. My husband really likes the looks of WWS for The Boy in the fall as well.

As to the rest of the week...

Saxon Math is still a big hit. We did take a day off from formal math to play beanbag toss/skip counting/multiplication in the backyard, working through 3's, 4's, 5's... up to 10's. I finally got the tests for Saxon 6/5 so that we can begin jumping The Boy ahead a little, since what he's doing now is not much of a challenge.

Science was all about nature this week. We read about frogs, metal ore, and swallows. We planted our tomatoes and peppers, and some heather in the front yard. I showed the kids how to divide lamb's ear, with which we are making a border along the flower beds that border the small lawn in the front yard. We hunted through the yard to find some of the mantises we released recently, and found quite a number of them! The Girl found 8 or 9 on the lemon balm alone!

In history, we read a few of the You Wouldn't Want to be books (we're using this awesome chronological list of the titles) - always a big hit here! Next week, we'll be finishing up the Egyptians, then on to ancient China and India! Maybe we'll finally watch this whole series.

We read about Iguaza Falls in Richard Halliburton's book; started the story of Perseus in A Wonder Book for Girls & Boys (we're only reading the actual Greek mythology stories in this, not the Tanglewood bits), and decided that once we finish The Road to Oz, we'll start reading through the Harry Potter series at bedtime. We also read the story of Hamlet, which I chose since I am reading the play itself for my Shakespeare class.

photo courtesy of Adrian Limani

I am happy to report that The Girl got past her mental block with Reading Horizons. She's definitely making progress with this program, and I am over the moon excited about that!

She's even starting to make a list of books she wants to read herself. Among them: the Ramona series; the All of a Kind Family series; Diary of a Wimpy Kid; and a few others I can't think of offhand. She has never made a list of books to read before, unless it was a list of books she wanted me to read to her.

Believe me when I say this is a huge breakthrough!!!

So overall, it has been a good week! Next week, we'll continue with Saxon and the Complete Writer. We'll get back to K12's History Odyssey, and BFSU. Yes, back to Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding! What can I say, other than that with all three volumes, it is perhaps the most comprehensive science program for kids I have come across! We'll be starting volume 2 in the fall, with topics like Brownian motion, atomic motion, parallel circuits, and convection currents. This means wrapping up volume 1 at long last! I figure it'll give me a chance to work in some units/chapters from the Prentice Hall Science Explorer texts I bought too.

Hope you all had a good week! Enjoy your weekend too! Ours will be busy with an in-house fencing tournament, and a skate-a-thon.

Wordy Wednesday... The Last Hold Out...

EDITED TO ADD: On further reflection, I don't think I'll be changing much right now! While I daydream about "living math" as being fun, different, and fulfilling, I don't know that I have the time or energy to put it all together! And what we're doing now IS working. The Boy likes Teaching Textbooks, and it is a solid program, while The Girl likes Math Mammoth, another solid program.

In other words, "if it ain't broke, why fix it?" or "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater."

I can add in some games, living books, etc., which I do to some degree now, but could improve upon, without getting rid of what we're doing now!

__________________________________________________________________

Years ago, when I started homeschooling, we used a lot of pre-made curriculum. You know, the kind that comes with lesson plans and a teacher's guide, all set and ready to go. Over the years between then and now, I've managed to drop nearly all of the pre-planned items. I use a living books approach for much of what we do, though there are a few exceptions, those being spelling, phonics, and math.

Today's focus... MATH. Over the years, though I have toyed with moving away from a math curriculum, and we've dabbled in unschooling, I always end up coming back to a regular math program. Why? I think much of it is a lack of confidence. If we don't follow x program, how will I make sure my kids learn x?

I'm challenging myself to step out side that box. I spend a lot of time (too much perhaps!) reading over at Living Math. And in doing so, I have come up with some resources I would like to further explore:

Books by Marilyn Burns
Kitchen Table Math Book 2 and Book 3
The Art of Problem Solving
Zaccaro's Math books
Patty Paper Geometry
Hands-On Equations
And of course, there is Life of Fred, Family Math, etc.

Then there are individual books and resources that are/look really good as well!

With all these resources available, why do I feel so locked into a math program? Something to think about anyhow.

So what am I actually thinking about doing? I'm considering making a list of math topics/areas for each of my kids that I would like them to accomplish prior to algebra. Then I can gather resources for each area of study.

For example, The Girl is not great at telling time. So we could do a unit on clock reading. Start with This Book is About Time, add in hands-on activities with our Judy Clock, practice telling time with various clocks, etc., maybe add in a book for The Boy like On Time: From Seasons to Split Seconds (and let him build a sundial!), OR I could give her worksheets. The first process might be more time-intensive (no pun intended), and frankly I don't know which she would really benefit more from in the long run.

Lots to research and think about.

Is my head in the sand?

Seriously, with all the research I have done on various homeschooling methods, how did I not know about Math Journaling? A few links in case you are unfamiliar with it as well...

Why Math Journals?
Math Journals & Other Math Ideas for Primary Teachers
Blog, She Wrote's fantastic math journal posts
Math Notebooking

Okay, you probably get the idea by this time.

We've been using Teaching Textbooks, and yes, it works. And, until recently, both kids liked it. I have been having some trouble getting Cricket to sit down for it, but I just chalk that up to her being Cricket. Then, last week, we didn't do any TT. And yesterday, I got Life of Fred Apples and Fractions in the mail. It was as if TT didn't even exist! Cricket sat down with me, and we went through the first two chapters of LOF Apples. Then she spent half an hour making up additional problems for herself, telling me "Look Mommy, I am good at math!", while Bug and I got through the first chapter in LOF Fractions. It was marvelous! There were giggles galore, and lots of problem solving. Once they were in bed, and I had my hot cup of tea ready, I snuggled down in my bed and flipped through Family Math, which I have owned for years and never made use of (ducking head in shame). So many cool math ideas!

So now I am thinking... math journaling! Math journals, using LOF, Family Math, and other fun living math books as jumping off points. It is definitely worth a try. We don't use any other textbooks - math has been our last sticking point, and I would like to encourage real-life, applicable, hands-on, creative mathematical thinking! I'd highly suggest reading through Blog, She Wrote's wonderful math journal posts to see living math in action. I love too that she is able to make similar math activities work across a range of ages. I'll hold onto TT in the meantime just in case, but truthfully, it was getting that I kind of resented the program for taking away that time with my kids... And as a backup for more problem sets, I do own the entire Math Mammoth Blue series (topical downloads).

Weekly report, 11/7-11/11: And the rain is coming down...

And down and down. It is pouring here, of course, because Fridays are generally Park Days. So much for that! Instead, our plans involve finishing Dinotopia at long last, with a big bowl of popcorn. And then Bug is off to his first ever sleepover, and Cricket and I will go see Puss in Boots.

It has been an unschooly kind of week. We are 10 weeks into our school year (eeek!) and still making adjustments. But then, I am not so sure adjusting ever ends in homeschooling. Next week we'll be back up to speed in math and language arts, etc.

What We Have Done...

Math
The kids played Sum Swamp, and Payday. We read Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday, and Bug double checked the math. We read Pigs in the Pantry, and Cricket compared quantities of ingredients while Bug figured out how many cups of beans there were in the cans used, and how much excess the father pig had compared to the recipe. Cricket also helped with actual measuring this week as she helped me cook dinner every night.

Language Arts
Bug is writing a story on the computer, working on it right now as a matter of fact. I just taught him how to use the spell checker, and he noticed that he has a tendency to spell the same words, or similar ones, wrong over and over, usually more simple ones! He also continued re-reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Cricket read two Nora Gaydos Now I'm Reading books to me this week, and read the words she could in a Frog and Toad story. She sounded out the word "wonderful", which was indeed wonderful! We spent a lot of time reading this week.

World Cultures & Mythology
We started our study of world cultures this week, with Hungary. Cricket and I enjoyed reading A Song for Lena, A Family in Hungary, and a couple of stories from an Eastern European book of fairy tales. Cricket made, with very little help, a delicious Hungarian Goulash for dinner last night, which she served with mashed potatoes and a super yummy cucumber salad. Next week we're off to Russia!

Bug started reading about Greek mythology this week. He picked up a copy of the D'Aulaires' Greek Myths at the library. I am going to have him make a Main Lesson Book on mythology starting next week. I'm also ordering the study packets from the American Classical League.

Sciences
Cassiaricket has been assisting her dad daily in the greenhouse where he keeps his bonsai collection. She helped transplant one little tree, and trim a couple of others, as well as watering, etc. She is learning a lot about plants and seems to have a real affinity for gardening. This is great because we are in the midst of planning out a real vegetable garden , raised beds and all, for next spring. I placed on hold at the library a few books on gardening - some for me, and a couple for the kids. Oh, and I ordered this catalog.

We also brought home a caterpillar from the farm where we get our milk. Cricket and Bug made it a habitat in a jar, and this week it cocooned itself! So cool! We think it will hatch into a tiger moth.

The kids watched another episode of Walking With Dinosaurs and have been comparing what they actually know about dinosaurs to the movie Dinotopia.

Literature
We continued reading from the Nurse Matilda stories this week. Cricket and I also started Understood Betsy, which I think she will really enjoy. I decided they need more poetry, so I am going to have them each memorize a poem. Cricket's will be The Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti in honor of our caterpillar, Bug will learn something from A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein, and I have decided to memorize The Morns Are Getting Meeker Than They Were by Emily Dickinson.

Other, and Spiral Scouts
In regards to my post on incorporating more Waldorf, I think I have figured out how. I plan to continue with American history, using Time Travelers and lapbooking, along with good books, but then for mythology, cultural studies, and gardening/botany, we'll use main lesson books. We're going to set up a nature table, and during our Charlotte Mason-inspired nature walks, we can collect things for the table. may felt a few fairies and the like for it.

We also decided on our Spiral Scouts projects for the time being! Both kids will work on their Gold Stars and Super Me (both more or less required), and then they will both do Cooking and Gardening badges. Additionally, Bug will be working on Art and Mythology badges, and Cricket will work on Fiber Arts. We can also log hiking and camping times to our Hiking and Camping badges. There are literally over a hundred choices in badges, so I am glad they will be at this level - Spiral Scouts - until they are 14, when they can go up a level, to PathFinders. I'm sure we'll add in more badges here and there as their interests broaden, but I think this is plenty to work on now. We're aiming to get the required ones out of the way by Yule, then start the others in all earnestness after the winter holidays. The badges actually require a lot of learning and work, as you can see from the Gardening Badge sample here.

And there's our week! Hope you had a good one too.

Relaxing a bit...

We're taking a week off from "formal" math and writing, I think, but I do have plans! Basically the idea is to switch things up a bit and try different approaches.

Ideas for Bug:

• Going through Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday and checking the math as he goes
• Some work from Math Appeal
• Playing Totally Tut (which unfortunately I don't think Cricket is quite ready to play)
• Various math puzzles and pictograms from all the "Dollar Days" eBooks I bought from Scholastic
• Mad Libs
• I put his spelling words on Spelling City so he could play games
• Writing and illustrating his own fable since we're reading Squids Will Be Squids - yes, he'll have to do a rough draft and then a final draft after I help him correct spelling and punctuation
• We're going to start The Sentence Family, and learn about Mr. Declarative

And for Cricket:

• We'll read Pigs in the Pantry and then I'll have her double a recipe since she loves cooking
• Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland (which Bug will probably listen to as well)
• Tangrams (good geometry practice!)
• Probably some Scholastic printables as well
• A word family grab bag and matching game (homemade)
• Spelling City with word families and/or words from Explode the Code
• Various interactive phonics games

For both:

• Sum Swamp Addition & Subtraction Game
• Pizza Fractions
• Payday

I think it will be a good week. Gives us a break from the general Teaching Textbooks/Primary & Intermediate Language Lessons thing. We also will be studying dinosaurs and Explorers this week, with good books and some nice hands-on. I did go ahead and order Life of Fred Fractions for Bug, and Apples for Cricket... can't wait until they get here!

Oh, we're also starting up a gentle study of other countries/cultures. Our first country is Hungary. I have Fairy Tales of Eastern Europe on hand, A Family in Hungary from the library, and a good recipe for Hungarian goulash. The following week we're "going" to Poland, and then off to Russia!

Hope the upcoming week is a good one for you all!

First Week of Vacation Wrap-up...

We basically had a lazy week, not a lot going on in the world of learning, but that doesn't mean we didn't do anything at all!

We read more in Peter & the Starcatchers. The book is well written, and right now, very suspenseful. I really enjoy reading this one!

We watched some more Meerkat Manor and Journey Into Amazing Caves.

We also watched an old classic, which spawned a lot of interesting discussion, H.G. Wells' Time Machine. I've seen the remake, and frankly prefer the original.


Other than that, we've played Crayon Physics and Sorry, as well as Uno. Cyrus had another piano lesson, and we are working on his practicing more regularly. And he started working on composing music with a program called Note Flight.We baked cookies, worked in the garden (when it wasn't raining), cleaned more of the house, watched a family friend change the oil in the car (always interesting for the kids), and started listening to Your Story Hour. We listened to the episode about Thomas Alva Edison. The kids really liked the radio-story format, and are eager to listen to the next one.

ETA: I forgot painting! Cyrus worked on some modern art in acrylics....


And Cassia did a landscape in watercolors... the black dots along the hill top are sheep, by the way, and there are white ones too if you look closely enough...


Next week, we'll start up our light summer session. And perhaps I will finish agonizing over choices for next year. Part of the problem is that there is a dichotomy - part of me wants the freedom of a very loose plan (mostly the basics) and part of me thinks I would make life easier for myself if I had something to follow. We'll just have to wait and see which part of me wins!

Summer "school" plans...

Since we're going to go ahead and finalize our "year" in three weeks, I am planning our summer schooling. Yes, we school through the summer, but it is, for the main part, games, living books, field trips, and fun! Cyrus will be continuing piano lessons, at least until his teacher has her baby, and I believe the monthly Eating Around the World potlucks will continue through the summer, plus we'll be getting started as Spiral Scouts.

Mathematical Formulas
I want Cyrus to continue division and multiplication, Cassia to work on addition and subtraction, and both kids to work on fractions and measuring. I plan to use a mix of online games, regular games, living books, and Khan Academy. I'll post about our favorite web sites, books, and more as we go, but I know we'll be playing dice games, Uno, Head Full of Numbers, tangrams, and loads of other ideas from Ordinary Life Magic, and I think Fraction City looks like a great idea too!

Literary Terms
Cassia and I are going to concentrate on reading over the summer, getting her ready for McRuffy Phonics & Reading in the fall. I thought we would try the I See Sam series, since Cassia is somewhere between a whole language and phonics type. I'm not sure how quickly we'll move through them, but hopefully we'll finish before the end of summer. Instead of I See Sam, after a talk with Cassia, she's returning to using ClickNKids Phonics, starting Wednesday.

Cyrus... well, Cyrus loves to read. I'm hoping he'll get through Indian in the Cupboard, and the sequel, and I know he wants to read about Native American mythology. I do want to work on his spelling a bit - he spells very phonetically, which can be interesting. Maybe Scrabble?

For shared reading, I'd like to actually read all of The Phantom Tollbooth to them, and Swallows and Amazons (at least the first book). Beside those, we'll see where our interests take us!

Scientifically Speaking
Lots of outdoor time and nature study, plain and simple.

Historical Explorations
I figure I'll take advantage of my kids' interests in Native Americans. We'll read stories, do some crafts, visit local museums, take in a Living History Day... there are also summertime Living History Days for the Russian fur trade period that flourished briefly here in California, and the Civil War, and so forth. I'd like to visit as many of these as we can! Maybe throw in a trip to a cheese factory, various nature preserves, a bakery, etc.

We might read about California history too, using some of the books from this list.

So yes, we have summer school, but at a much more relaxed pace. Even the adults will be doing some learning... I want to get my typing skills back up to the point that I can take a typing test for a better job, and M has decided he needs to finally get a driver's license, so he is studying the driver's handbook. Basically, you can't get a job in landscaping anymore without a license!