Wet Wednesday... The Rain Has Returned!

I was thrilled last night when I heard raindrops on the roof, and thrilled again when I woke this morning to a sky that looked like this   -------------->

And I am thrilled that it is supposed to rain all the rest of this week!


Of course, the excitement is because of this...

This is Folsom Lake, one of the reservoirs in northern California. Not looking too good, is it? You can see more pictures of what the lack of rain is doing to our state's lakes/reservoirs here. So yes, a week's worth of rain, off and on, is very, very good news.

This has been a jam-packed week so far. On Monday, I took my dad to his doctor's appointment--a follow-up with his cardiologist--and then to the pharmacy, and then The Boy went to fencing.

[Side-note: The Boy was invited, on Monday, by his coach to try the more advanced épée work. He accepted the challenge quite happily (ear-to-ear grin!), and went off for some personal training with one of the assistant coaches, D, a man who works with foil, épée, sabre, and historical fencing weapons. D is a fantastic (assistant) coach, patient, soft-spoken. After about half an hour of intensive work, The Boy fenced his first épée bout... and lost, 2 to 5. Then he talked with D some more, worked a little more, and fenced his second épée bout... and won, 15 to 14. The coaches all agreed, watching him, that he has a gift for épée fencing, it is his fencing weapon. D said he had never trained anyone before that picked it up so quickly. So The Boy is now allowed to work twice a week with the more advanced fencers on this new skill!]

Anyhow, back to the busy week. Then on Tuesday, I took my dad to his tax preparer. We read about rainbows in The Magic of Reality while he was inside.

And today... M has a job interview, and The Boy has fencing. Tomorrow night, I have my class.

Another reason to be thankful for the rain... we fell behind (yesterday) on my goals for this week's homeschooling, so I am glad we will have a Friday afternoon at home to catch up! Of course we'll still have our family movie night, exact title to be determined.

The one day so far that we actually did our schoolwork, Monday in between the pharmacy and fencing, went well. I'm trying this schedule:

Rotational reading (Afternoon Basket): which, on Monday, was a chapter and a half from K12's Human Odyssey, about ancient China and Confucius. Tuesday was science reading (the only thing we actually got done), today will be geography reading, and then we'll work in some literary analysis and math reading Thursday/Friday.

Basics: Math, reading/spelling (The Girl), writing (The Boy)

Literature: More of A Wrinkle in Time

Personal Studies: On Monday, it was some Caddie Woodlawn and animal reading for The Girl; The Boy read about black holes in National Geographic, and read from I, Robot. Then we ran out of time. I am hoping next week to fold in biography reading time, etc.

I think this pattern, this rhythm, will work well for us!

Now that we are midweek, how is your week going?

Monday Musings...

I can't believe the weekend is gone already! And here we go again... fresh week, fresh start.

Outside My Window...
Sunny and beautiful today. The narcissus at work is in full bloom, so I've been keeping a few in an old milk bottle at my desk for the smell, and because they are pretty. We're supposed to be getting a storm later this week (yay!), and so The Boy and I cleaned out all the gutters yesterday, making sure everything is ready to go. M and I also further weatherized the chicken hutch, which somehow involved me hitting my temple really hard on a corner of some plywood. I saw stars! Thankfully there was no real damage... just a bruise.

Around The House...
The Boy has completely taken over doing his own laundry, which is kind of awesome. I have some housework to catch up on this week -- some vacuuming (if the vacuum will work--it is being very temperamental lately), some mopping... the exciting stuff!

In the Garden...
Not much to report here. We've put off pruning due to the fact that new growth takes more water, and with drought conditions still very much looming over us, we weren't sure that was a good idea. And we're trying to learn a little about dry gardening, just in case. Either way, we're hoping to take a trip to the fantastic local organic seed store soon, though we have to be very careful shopping there, as there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of seed choices.

In Our Homeschooling...
I plan to work with The Girl on both reading and spelling this week, to help engage different parts of her brain. The Boy will be rewriting and expanding his very short story this week. I think we'll continue with Greek history, and Black Ships Before Troy.  The Girl will be doing Saxon Math again this week, supplementing it as desired with Life of Fred, and I realized that I don't need to buy the Key to Fractions for The Boy (which I talked about doing here), as I have Math Mammoth Fractions already! Both kids are hoping their independent study books (biographies of Sacagawea and Nikola Tesla... I'll leave you to guess which one is for which child) will be at the library this week, and The Boy is ready for book two of The Hunger Games.

Reading & Watching...
I somehow, from picking "new fiction" at the library, managed to read two books on World War II, back to back. The first was the story of a girl who became a field nurse to search for her lost brother, and the second of both a Nazi war criminal and a young woman seeking closure. Both were exceptionally good books--they really drew me in, and I found them hard to put down! This week, it's back to assigned and more practical reading. I'm reading Uncle Tom's Cabin for class, and Overcoming Dyslexia to help The Girl and I (thanks for the recommendation, Jessica!) The kids and I are still working our way through Mankind: A Story of Us All, and M and I have been watching American Horror Story, which I am surprised to say I like!

Everything Else...
The kids ride their scooters most days. This week we hope to adjust the gears on The Girl's bike, and fix a cable on The Boy's, so they can enjoy those again. It'll be a busy week--I take my dad to the doctor's this afternoon, and then to his tax lady tomorrow, plus there is fencing, my class, etc. I feel tired already!

Hope you all have a good week, and here is a picture of The Girl's creation to enjoy!

Life is a Seesaw...

A combination of looking ahead, and another week in review...

Up and down, up and down. I posted the other day a link to the idea of Tidal Homeschooling, and I have to say, I think our own is more like a seesaw these days!

I wrote in that post that "I need to remember, especially when all the "planning" comes up, to remember to focus instead on goals, and then on what tools we will use to get there, instead of the other way around."

So we talked, about what they want to do, and where they want to go in the next year, and what I want for them as well. And how we get from where we are now, to there. It was a good, and deep conversation.

The Boy

Math... Now:
He's still working hard on Life of Fred. I asked him if he felt he needed just a little supplementation, specifically on fractions, and he said yes, so I went ahead and ordered the Key to Fractions set, which are very straightforward, well conceived, and inexpensive! When the time comes, I'll get the Key to Decimals and Key to Percents books as well.

Math...Coming Up:
He absolutely fell in love with some samples of the Art of Problem Solving Prealgebra that I showed him the other day. We looked at the placement test, and decided that a combination of Fred and the Keys to... would definitely get him prepared for this text. He wants something that is challenging, but not totally overwhelming. With possible goals of engineering or physics, he realizes that he needs a solid math background. AoPs is supposed to be very strong, and The Boy is intrigued by the discovery method that they use. I like that they have online support and extensions!

Language Arts... Now:
He worked on a couple of exercises from Thinking in Threes this week, and then a Brave Writer free-writing challenge. I told him that next week, he is going to take the [very] short story he wrote, and use it as an outline to expand upon. I want him to brainstorm, add detail, polish it, and make it a longer piece. He agreed! We both feel good right now about using a multitude of resources to hit different angles in writing. I might also pull out the Winston Grammar that has been sitting in my closet, and let him try it out.

In reading, he started The Hunger Games, and is completely hooked. We watched the movie last Friday, after the kids asked me about it, since, along with Dr. Who, it is something that comes up frequently at park day. As soon as the movie was over, The Boy turned to me and asked if there was a book - you should have seen his face when I told him there were three! He also started I, Robot this week, and loves it as well.

Language Arts... Coming Up:
We're going to continue this path. I love the idea of the many writing tools I own as just that, tools in a toolkit, and we can choose whichever one suits our needs at the moment. I want him to be able to write a basic research paper, a very solid essay, and a decent short story by the end of his eighth grade year. Free reading will continue to be just that, free choice, though I plan to continue making suggestions now and then! Maybe some word roots, etc., as well.

The Girl

Math... Now:
She moved into the next Fred book (Goldfish) and then asked if that could just be "extra, fun math", because once again she misses Saxon. I told her that will be just fine, and we'll get back to that this upcoming week. I am also looking at supplemental multiplication resources to help her memorize her times tables more thoroughly.

Math... Coming Up:
I think she'll stick with a combination of Saxon and maybe Life of Fred for fall.

Language Arts... Now:
We worked this week on endings and suffixes this week. I bought a new white board, so we could use different colors to work out words. This approach seems to help! She also read a few passages from Reading Pathways, and then I dictated some of the words she had read to her for spelling. She also wrote I don't know how many short stories, and she started keeping a journal! I am going to check out The Writing Road to Reading from the library to look for useful tips. I am hoping that next week we will get around to rewriting and illustrating one of her many stories, or maybe two of them! And I want her to try reading aloud from an actual book next week. I picked up a couple of Cam Jansen books at the library because they are a) below her current level so they shouldn't be too hard, and b) she likes girl detectives!

Language Arts... Coming Up:
I'd like to tackle grammar with her more next year, and I think she would do best with Grammar-Land: Or Grammar in Fun for the Children of Schoolroomshire. We've read the first and second chapters before, but never got past that! We might also use the free worksheets, as The Girl does seem to thrive on worksheets. I also want her to work on writing narrations, spelling, and writing a solid paragraph. We will continue, of course, to work on reading fluency. As for fre reading, well... let's just say I hope there will be some! (She still says she is just NOT interested in reading, though she knows that she needs to know how)

Everything Else...Now: 

The Boy watched another couple of lectures from How Things Work (Coursera), and read about Archimedes in Breakthroughs in Science. He worked on some soft-body physics/animations on the computer, and rebuilt a scooter. He carefully started turning an old water pistol into a Steampunk work of art, and made a miniature Steampunk double-barrel canon that he and his dad are going to try to actually make work.

The Girl and I read some more about Kaya/Native Americans in Welcome to Kaya's World. We read about seals, and finished up The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo. She spent a lot of time writing! She made a map for The Hunger Games, with the arena, Capitol City, all the districts, and so on (all out of her own imagination, not from any guide or anything). She helped my mom make some more jam -- pear-cardomom and blood-orange marmelade.

Together we watched another episode of Mankind: The Story of Us All. We read about Santa Sophia in The Complete Book of Marvels, and we read another chapter in Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery. We learned about the Mycenaeans, and the battle of Troy in The Ancient Greek World, enjoyed a couple more chapters from Black Ships Before Troy, and several more chapters from A Wrinkle in Time (which had the side effect of causing The Boy to spend maybe half an hour staring off into nothing with a very dazed look on his face. When I asked him what he was doing, he said "I'm trying to cube a cube and then cube that in my head. It's not working though.").

Everything Else...Coming Up:
I also want them to continue following their own interests. Next week, The Boy will start reading a biography of Henry Ford biography of Nikola Tesla, and The Girl and I will be reading about Sacajawea. I think I'll just fall back on a variation of this (my variations shown below the quote) fr history and science...
On each library visit, I had them check out the following books: one science book, one history book, one art or music appreciation book, one practical book (a craft, hobby, or "how-to"), a biography or autobiography, a classic novel (or adaptation suited to age), an imaginative storybook. They were allowed to choose the titles, but I asked them to follow this pattern. And they were also allowed to check out other books on any topic they pleased.

So what I am thinking, if we go this route, is one science book, one history AND/OR biography or autobiography, a classic or just plain-good novel, one practical book per month, and then one-two books of choice (free reading) each with some sort of output at the end (except the free reading). A picture, a narration, an experiment, a craft... We already cover poetry as a family, and music and art appreciation, which is why I am not including those in the list.

And I think, at least at the moment, that we will keep our Afternoon Basket going, though naturally I'll be switching out some books!

So To Wrap It All Up...

I am basically planning on purchasing next-to-nothing for fall at this point. Yes, I will have to buy the AoPs text, and plenty of craft supplies. But, everything else we already have, or we can get from the library. I have a few things to buy in the meantime, and a few books I would like to read over again in preparation, but our path is looking pretty good right now!

It's That Time of Year...

Homeschool forums are humming with posts on "what we'll use next year", and yes, I am guilty of thinking ahead (code for over-planning once again). I am trying to shift away from this frantic, must-have-everything-in-place mentality, and so I am reading new blog posts, and revisiting others, that help me calm down and focus on what really matters, my kids.

First, one that is new to me...

Paradigm shift: Curriculum is not something you buy

A few comments I have read about this particular article slant toward the author advocating ditching school at the drop of a hat. I didn't get that message. Instead I got the idea that there needs to be a balance between academic and non-academic learning, and that the books we buy shouldn't be the master of our homeschooling.

And then a few "oldies but goodies"...

About Those Dreaded Gaps, What You "Should" Know, and Tidal Homeschooling.

I need to remember, especially when all the "planning" comes up, to remember to focus instead on goals, and then on what tools we will use to get there, instead of the other way around.

Officially Irritated... and Confused...

If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you have probably realized that we've has issues with The Girl and reading for ages now. She is still working on reading. She seems to be making good progress (we're using Reading Pathways right now for fluency), but I have noticed something over the past year that really irritates me.

She can read. And she says she can't. What I mean is that she'll tell me what something says without really thinking about it, and then she'll say "I was just guessing." It is like she wants to deny being able to read. And I am not the only one that has noticed this. Even The Boy has commented on it ("Mom, do you think she really looked at that paragraph, and picked out the word bicycle by guessing it?"). She also searches for things on my sister's iPad, indicating that she's spelling out words she claims she cannot read. And she'll sit for an hour looking intently at a book, tell me what it is about (which indicates comprehension, right?), and then say "I was just looking at the pictures."

WHY is she telling everyone she can't do it if she can? Nerves maybe? (And no, I do not have money for more testing, or tutors right now).

Thanks for letting me vent! I'm just going to keep going on the path we're on until she does read, or at least until she admits she can. And I think I'll maybe give her the Sonlight reading test and add in readers just below whatever level she scores at as well. Or maybe it is just time to get back into Reading Horizons.

On a brighter note, she's moving up from junior-junior roller derby practices to regular junior roller derby practices! Instead of skating with 7-10 year olds, no contact, she'll be doing full contact with 10-17 year olds! And she is super excited! We don't expect her to make the team roster (they try to rotate) any time soon, since our schedule limits us to one practice a week at this time, but at least she'll be raising her skill level, and she won't be bored at practice any more!

And On the Agenda...
The Girl will finish Life of Fred Farming today, and then go into Goldfish, although she's been talking about Saxon again. I think I should probably give her the placement test for that first and see where she really is now. And she decided she needs to learn cursive writing, right now, so I wrote out all the letters for her, and she's been working on it ever since!

The Boy has his first struggle with a Bridge (i.e. test) in Life of Fred, but did well enough on the second attempt to pass. I may have him do a third Bridge though, because I really don't want him moving ahead if he's not getting it. And he's trying out some writing work with Thinking in Threes this week. I have come to the conclusion that as good as Writing With Skill and Writing With Ease are,  that being the curriculum-tweaker I am, I prefer to use them as tools, not necessarily as written.

We watched some more of Mankind: The History of Us All yesterday, and read from Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery, as well as Black Ships Before Troy. I'm going to read to The Girl from A Child's Story of the Animal World about salamanders and millipedes, both of which she found in the backyard this week. The Boy has some more physics videos to watch, and some studying for the National Mythology Exam.

I'd like to work in some nature studies again, but we'll just see how the week plays out!

Fine, I Give Up...

I have had one too many complaints that with all the studying we do together, the kids are missing out on following their own interests, which is unfortunately true. So we're back to this, plus a simplified-again Afternoon Basket.


Lest you should think that it is not demanding enough, here's a brief run-down of what they are up to!

The Girl

Learning about early American (and Native American) history with The History of US, volume one, and the American Girl books on Kaya, and documentaries (and a movie or two if I can find a good one!). And we're still reading Caddie Woodlawn (partly because it was misplaced for a while), so she is learning about interrelations between settlers and Native Americans.

Continued animal and zoology studies with Scientists in the Field, The Amateur Zoologist, and documentaries.

Cultural studies with Faces Magazine, cooking projects, and again documentaries.

The Boy

Conceptual physics with a Coursera class and Stop Faking It! Forces and Motion, along with a BIG stack of intro to physics books he brought home from the library.

He's starting, this week, to read through A Little History of Science The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way. I'll read it too, on my own time, so we can have conversations about it.

Still studying for the National Mythology Exam, with the Daulaires' books on Greek and Norse myths.

Still working on animation and soft-body physics with Blender.

And then together...

We have the Afternoon Basket reading to enjoy.

And we're loving Mankind: The Story of Us All. Which has given me the idea to sneak in more history through excellent documentaries AND well-made films... and the occasional really good piece of literature.

Almost forgot, we have a bunch of Valentines cards to get ready for our annual Park Day Valentine's Exchange. And, in honor of historical events, we're going to cover Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech.

So what are you up to this week in homeschooling?

Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head...

It hasn't really stopped raining in a couple of days now. Not that I am complaining, mind you! I am actually thrilled that the world is wet and gray at the moment!

It has been a good week. With the exception of Monday, which I spent taking my dad on errands, we have "hit the books" each day, and we may do a "make up" day today, as I assume there will be no park day.

The Boy had some tough work this week in Life of Fred, converting Roman numerals to Arabic, doing division, and then converting the results back to Roman numerals. He did struggle a little with this, so I think I'll look for some (free) printables on this number system. He nailed the rest of his Fred work though, and continued in Writing With Skill quite happily. I found a copy of the student workbook for him at a discounted price, and ordered it as we're sticking with this program! He finished a set of lectures in his online physics course, and started reading from Stop Faking It! Force & Motion. A funny side note... he was watching one of the lectures, and stopped about halfway through to ask me if it was okay for him to start the lecture over and take notes. As if I would say no to that! Besides all that, there was plenty of free reading, a fair amount of drawing, and of course, fencing. His coaches told me this week that he is making good progress!

The Girl breezed through most of her work this week. In Life of Fred, she worked on the idea of functions, with domains and co-domains, as well as addition and subtraction review, and some multiplication work. She'll wrap up Farming very shortly, so I am glad I bought Goldfish already! I also bought Writing With Ease level 2, which I think she (and I) will like better than Intermediate Language Lessons. The work she has been doing with Reading Pathways, to boost her fluency, seems to be really paying off - the last two days she has read aloud beautifully! And she's been doing a lot of free writing this week, including passing me funny little notes while we were all playing a Wii game together. Like her brother, she spells quite phonetically, which does not bother me at this point--I am just glad to see her continuing to develop her reading/writing skills. And she's decided to try going back to roller derby this weekend! Additionally, we have nearly wrapped up The Quest for the Tree Kangaroos, and she set several pit traps around the yard for insects, a project from The Amateur Zoologist.

We read this week, in The Ancient Greek World, about the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures, and we read about most of the major gods/goddesses in The D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. We read about the sun in The Magic of Reality, and double checked the calculations in The Man Who Counted. I am setting aside The Complete Book of Marvels for the moment, so that we can read another book by the same author (Richard Halliburton), The Glorious Adventure: Through the Mediterranean in the Wake of Odysseus. It seemed appropriate given our current historical studies! We also read from A Wrinkle in Time and Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban, went hiking at Spring Lake, played some Wii golf, and watched some Dr. Who! I am thinking about watching either Jason & the Argonauts or Clash of the Titans with the kids this weekend, or maybe on this rainy afternoon.

Have a good weekend!

Art This Week...

As we just read about the Minoans in The Ancient Greek World (from the wonderful Oxford University Press' World in Ancient Times), I thought some Minoan frescoes were in order...

These are up on the fridge door, so the kids can peruse them at their leisure. I think next week, we'll move into Greek sculpture and architecture, or maybe vases, etc.

Monday Musings...

Outside My Window...
We had rain at last! It was so much anticipated and wanted that we went for a very damp and muddy walk. If you haven't heard, California is facing the worst drought it has had in 500 years, so the rain we had was very, very welcome. And though today is clear and cold, we have more rain on the schedule for later in the week!




Around the Garden...
We finally got around to a lot of deadheading. And we're planning our veggie garden! I downloaded a very handy chart for planting times, and am now working on the diagrams for new raised beds. The chickens lay off and on... the weather must be confusing, as it is warm and dry for weeks, then we get a wet day, then quite cold again. I still have some dormant pruning to finish off, hopefully over the next weekend.

Around the House...
I've been reading The Fresh 20, which is a great tool for meal planning! It is a very simple approach, and though I am not using the meal plans/menus/recipes as written, it has given me some ideas! I'm also working this week on teaching the kids how to properly wash a load of dishes (no, we do not have a dishwasher). Last week, I taught them how to do a load of laundry. I think practical skills are very important, so I am aiming for one every week or so.

In Our Homeschooling...
Last week, we babysat my mom's/sister's dog, which totally disrupted everything. I swear, it was like having a toddler, or two, in the house! So my goal this week is to get back in the flow. I'm working on a reading list for the week (I'm adding back in a few titles from A Picture Perfect Childhood), The Boy has some catch-up work to do with his physics course, and we need to start some zoology projects with The Girl.

What I'm Working On...
Besides more effective meal planning, I am reading for my American Lit class, and trying, really hard, to finish off The Girl's scarf and my own. I think I want to try making a hat next! I have a gift certificate to a lovely yarn store, and really should go use it.

What We're Watching...
The kids, thanks to park day friends, have discovered Dr. Who. We watched the movie Holes this weekend, which was enjoyed by all. I am trying really hard to not rush through season 4 of Downton Abbey, since Amazon sent me all 4 remaining episodes last week. I'd like to get back to watching Eureka and Once Upon a Time, as we have neglected those for a while, but with The Boy at fencing two evenings a week, there has been less screen time (not a bad thing)!

What We're Up to This Week...
We need to start working on making valentines for our annual park day Valentines exchange. And the kids will each need to make a "mail box" for this event as well. Fencing two nights, I have my evening class, and we will be picking another movie for our family movie night! Any suggestions?

Have a wonderful week!