[Bitter]Sweet Sixteen and Summer Schooling...

From newborn to sixteen

The Boy turned SIXTEEN this month! I am still amazed daily, even after sixteen years, that I get to be his mom. And it is bittersweet because it is going by so quickly. In only two years, he'll be, legally, an adult.

We've had a few homeschooling changes since I last posted, and we decided, together, on summer schooling this year, as life got in the way far too often over the spring. We don't want to fall further behind, so we'll be tackling math, literature, writing, biology, and a survey of world history over the next twelve weeks (we started yesterday). Here's a run-down of our summer plans:

Math:
The Boy is using a combo of the Great Courses Algebra 1 and Jacobs Elementary Algebra

The Girl is using a combination of Prodigy and Basic Math Skills

Literature:
We are reading this beautiful edition of The Hobbit, to be followed by the Lord of the Rings trilogy

Writing:
The Boy is using bits and pieces from Writing with Skill, and he's started a car blog.

The Girl is using Junior English and free-writing.

Biology:
We're using a combination of documentaries (Life, for example); nature observations; and biology experiments. We'll be doing this microbial ecology experiment at last, which we will be using with the lecture series Changing Planet: Past, Present, Future!

World History:
We are keeping it very simple, and are watching Mankind: The Story of All of Us (I might use at least some ideas from this study guide), alongside the Big History episodes, and a few select movies.

In addition:
The kids skate once a week (roller derby is over for the season), and The Boy fences occasionally. We'll be heading to the beach when it's a tad warmer, and we plan to ride bikes a lot. The kids continue to visit the local teen club once or twice each week. We have gardening, decluttering, pets to care for, and so on. Plus, we have a new dog! Her name is Fiona, she's about three, and she's a pitbull-mix.

Hope everyone else is off to a good start to summer!

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!

It Can't Really Be April Already!

I absolutely can't believe it is April already, and that I missed March on this blog entirely.

What We've Been Up To:

The Girl turned 14!!!

The Boy is enjoying the Big History Project. This will take us through the next year as well, since I'm adding in science, and it took us a while to get off the ground with it.

I've decided to apply for a Roots & Shoots mini-grant to help The Girl and I with our front-yard-turned-wildlife-habitat project.

The weather has finally gotten much nicer, so The Boy will be returning to his truck project.

Again, since the rains have (mostly) stopped, we can get a veggie garden going! I decided we would start relatively small this year, and add to it regularly, rather than overwhelming ourselves with another giant project at the moment.

Homeschooling on the whole is good these days! Math is going well for both, we're working on writing projects, we're reading The Golden Compass, and we discuss a lot of politics/political science.

We've also been enjoying sunny park days with friends; the kids go roller skating every week; they also visit a local teen club twice a week (most weeks) for arts, crafts, and more; and The Boy is loving his figure drawing class!

So instead of rambling on and on, here are some pictures from recent days, in no particular order...

The Girl got clay for her birthday, and is making mini sculptures

The cat loves his boy

Minecraft flower mini-sculpture by The Girl

Drawing from The Boy's art class

The view from an uphill walk I try to do at least twice a week

I love seeing hot air balloons when I drive my husband to work in the morning

Another drawing from The Boy's art class

I always see such pretty flowers when I'm out walking!

Have a great weekend and week! I'll try to check back in more regularly!

Making plans...

Backyard Farming Project Plans
 I wrote in this post about my garden planning, and then started research on building beds without going broke. I ended up finding this awesome tutorial on building raised beds with cedar fence boards, as cedar is naturally rot-resistant, rarely "treated", and fence boards are quite inexpensive overall. They still won't be $10 beds...more like $25 apiece, but that's far, far cheaper than getting them pre-made, with prices starting at $46 for something of comparable size. I'm hoping to put in 4-6 beds (leaning toward six...we have the space!), and a couple of potato towers. I know we want to grow tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, cucumbers, squash, beans, peas, lettuces, chard, maybe broccoli, etc., and I just learned about tree collards, so am fascinated with them!

I also really need to rebuild for the chickens. We want to relocate the chicken run, to free up our mini orchard space, and so I want to take my time to do it properly. Our chickens are sadly down to two in number, and have aged out of laying entirely, so I am seriously considering investing in 6-8 lovely ladies in the spring. I've been perusing Backyard Chickens for ideas in the process of designing my own new coop and run, which will all be made from reclaimed lumber, chicken wire, etc., much the way this blogger built one.

Cooking Project Plans
I've decided I need to learn how to can things. My mom does it all the time, so next time she has a canning project planned, I'll be watching and helping! I'd also like to try making cheese -- I understand both ricotta and mozzarella are pretty easy, so I think I would tackle those first. I also want a dehydrator at some point....

Household Project Plans
More decluttering really. I find more and more that we need far less stuff than we have. I'd also like to sew new curtains later this winter, as curtains are an easy way to really change up a room's appearance. So everyone will need to choose curtain fabrics for their rooms, and then I get to choose for the main rooms! Another deep cleaning is needed soon too. We have other plans for next summer, including a roof overhaul (just the addition, thankfully), and a shower wall and plumbing overhaul. I'm just glad those jobs are a ways off!

Finishing Grad School Plans
This one will take a while. I need to get the required foreign language out of the way (yes, a foreign language for an MA in English). I also need to take my GRE and write my thesis. So this is a 1.8 year plan (I'd say two, but this semester is almost over). I will continue with the jobs I have now if given the opportunity in the 2017-2018 academic year, and then graduate in summer, 2018. To keep me busy in the meantime, I have essays to assign and grade, and a 15-20 page seminar paper of my own to write by mid December.

Homeschooling Plans
We're doing much better with math these days, and have kept up nicely with history (Victorian times) and literature. Getting writing done though has been like pulling teeth, so that is the next area to tackle. I think both kids will be taking sculpture at the junior college in the spring, and I'd really love to incorporate a thorough study of biology into our next semester.

And there you have it... my current plans! Plenty to keep me busy!

The Value of Projects, and Why We Don't Have "Grade Levels" Anymore...

We tend to be a fairly project oriented family as it is, but as part of their "secondary level" learning, I want the kids to each complete a long-term project. A quick search on the web says this about project-based learning:

The core idea of project-based learning is that real-world problems capture students' interest and provoke serious thinking as the students acquire and apply new knowledge in a problem-solving context. The teacher plays the role of facilitator, working with students to frame worthwhile questions, structuring meaningful tasks, coaching both knowledge development and social skills, and carefully assessing what students have learned from the experience. Advocates assert that project-based learning helps prepare students for the thinking and collaboration skills required in the workplace.
 
I think it also teaches follow-through, and allows varying methods of approaching varying topics. For my kids at least, hands-on learning is as important as book-based learning, and their projects will/do reflect that.

The Boy is already at work on his... the restoration of a 1940 Ford step-side pickup. He is essentially an apprentice: working under the tutelage of someone with vastly more experience; learning each part of what it takes to entirely rebuild an older vehicle from the smallest to the largest parts. It feeds his greatest passion as well, working with automobiles, and he knows it will provide him with valuable skills for his future. His plans for the immediate future, outlined further below, reflect his knowledge that this is what he wants to do.

As for The Girl, it seems likely, at the moment, that turning our yards, back and front, into a wildlife habitat will be her project (with my assistance/mentorship). But, she doesn't have to decide right this moment, as she has a few years left ahead of her as far as really homeschooling goes.

So...grade levels. I've pretty much abolished them as I think they are unnecessary for us. Instead, I'm coming up with a checklist of what each kid needs to complete to graduate, since as a private school, we set our own graduation requirements. Mine are as follows, though they are still a work in progress:

Language Arts: Be able to write effectively, and communicate orally with ease. This means they can write strong essays with different approaches, communicate properly with mail and email, and enjoy a discussion of literature, along with discussing other topics. My goal is to get them into an upper entry level English class at the junior college without trouble or remediation.

Math: They need to work up through Algebra 2, mostly if not all at home, and then do a semester of personal finance (or in The Boy's case, for his certificate program/associate's degree, Business Math). Each will also take an upper math class at the junior college, toward transfer credit (The Girl), or an associate's degree (The Boy).

History and Science: Historical and scientific literacy is my goal here. We delve more deeply when needed, and skim other topics as desired. They don't need to know everything about every field of science, or every point in history, but need to be familiar with how things work, and how they fit together.

Project-Based Learning: They will each complete a major project (see above).

Volunteer Work: Each will complete a minimum of 100 hours community service, which is actually pretty easy to do, since they already have numerous hours with food banks, puppy petting, and bicycle repair.

As I said, this is a work in progress, so we'll see what I come up with!

The Boy is in a period of transition. While he will continue some learning at home, he is getting ready to shift toward more junior college classes, moving forward toward an associate's degree in automotive technology. He'll be sixteen in the spring, and is, I think, mature enough to handle this challenge and period of change.

On the flip side, The Girl says she will not be ready to start at the junior college until she is about sixteen, which is fine. She'll be (as far as we know) doing her undergrad work there, before transferring to the local university for biology/wildlife studies.

I have come to really feel comfortable with this hybrid approach as they get older. They are no longer dependent on only my instruction, which is definitely a transition, but a good one.

Sanctuary...

image courtesy of NWF

One of our summer goals is to be able to certify our yard (front and back) as a National Wildlife Habitat. We became inspired to do this when The Girl and I were walking around our neighborhood, and saw someone down the block with a small sign that designated them as such. So I've been doing research into this as a family project, and found that we need the following elements in order to obtain certification:

• Food (at least three sources, can include feeders, plants, etc.)
• Water (bird baths, seasonal water sources, and so on all count)
• Cover (we could put in a roost, or grow some dense bushes... two sources needed)
• Places to raise young (2 sources again... we're thinking nesting boxes and host plants)
• Sustainable practices (2 practices... we already grow drought tolerant plants, and native ones)

This doesn't seem that it will be too difficult! I'm researching native/host plants, and then as a family we will choose some to install in our yard(s). One host plant I know I want would be Dutch Pipe, or pipevine, good for swallowtail butterflies...

In the meantime, I've been planting some flowers, many of which attract a variety of bees. I love getting my hands covered in dirt, whether through planting or weeding. As M works for a wholesale nursery, we get discards (plants that are beyond their prime for sales), and we get a 20% discount on wholesale prices for other plants! Yesterday, we planted marigolds and lobelia; in the recent past, we've added a number of foxgloves to the garden. Lilies from a friend that I transplanted in have bloomed too, so here are a few pictures from my garden to enjoy!

We also have hummingbirds zipping in and out all day, as well as finches, crows, a mockingbird that sings for us every morning, Towhees, a few Black Phoebes, the occasional Western Bluebird, swallows, and more. One crow has taken to snacking from our dog-food bowls, and often hangs out on our back patio's overhang! That reminds me... I think I'll hand The Girl this book to read over the summer!

We always grow some veggies (mostly tomatoes, peppers, and herbs), so this will be a nice change from that. We're learning about the micro-climates in our yard (influenced by trees and more), and hopefully, we'll learn to identify many of the species of bird and insect that we attract. We'll also be amending our terrible soil (very dense), removing some invasive plants (the bindweed battles continue!), trimming up trees a little, and more! A dear friend of mine has been working on similar gardening goals, and she serves as a font of inspiration.

I'm looking forward to our summer of gardening!

Monday Musings...

...Outside My Window...

Clear and sunny again after last week's rain, though on the cooler side again. I'm back to wearing a sweater most, if not all, of the day. We'll get some rain again late next week, I think.

...In My House & Kitchen...

I was definitely more organized over the last week, as far as cooking goes. For example, I had today's crockpot meal (yellow chicken-chickpea-veg curry) prepped and stored in the fridge last night, so I could just throw it in this morning. And I'm planning a bit better! We're using leftovers more, and more creatively, and meals seem to be pretty well balanced overall. As far as housework, I am currently reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. We'll see how it goes! Glancing through it though, I think both the clothing donation bins and the local library may well be getting some more donations from us soon.

...In Our Homeschooling...

I asked The Boy to set 4 days a week for math, and so he chose Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Now I just need to get him to work through a whole lesson at a time! He's easing into TabletClass Algebra 1, so I've been letting him do problem sets A & B one day, C & D the next, but honestly, I think he could handle A-D in one day. The Girl is doing well with Life of Fred Fractions—she even handled long division fairly easily yesterday. I'm hoping to work in some extra math this week for her, though I haven't decided if it will be Math Essentials, Math Mammoth, or Key to Fractions, all of which I have handy (probably either the first or the last choice). She's also working on spelling this week, and I have some writing work set up for her. The Boy will be  working through lesson 3  oops... finishing up lesson 2 in The Lively Art of Writing.

And history is going well! As for science, well... at least they're reading things (see Reading & Watching below).


...Pondering...

Since I backed off on science, interest has ramped up. I don't think I'll be adding anything much more to our homeschooling load in the near future. Instead, I hope to allow time for exploration, and then soaking in what they have explored.

...Reading & Watching...

The kids are both reading for science at the moment: The Boy is reading Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, & Black Holes, and he and I are talking about reading Death By Black Hole: and Other Cosmic Quandaries together. The Girl has books on animals, the ocean, butterflies, and of course, diseases (history and science!). He's still reading Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard, book 1, and she's still reading Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. I'm reading the book mentioned under House & Kitchen above, and I am hoping to start Wickett's Remeday: A Novel this week. We're making good progress together on the Romanovs book, and A Wrinkle in Time.

We finished watching Lost together on Saturday. I have to say that the series certainly led to a lot of interesting discussions about time, nature, human nature, alternate universes, etc.! We're watching a few episodes of Downton Abbey this week (season 2), and will be watching World War 1: Cause & Effect, and we will try the first episode of WW1: The People's Story. 

...Crafting/Arts/Doing...

The Boy is teaching himself wildlife illustration from a library book, trying to expand his repertoire past simply automotive drawings. The Girl is working on acrylic painting, alongside her sculpture work. The Boy will be getting some more hours logged on his automotive internship this week too, and The Girl got to pet new puppies!

...On the Agenda...

Fencing tonight for The Boy, derby on Thursday for The Girl. Birthday planning for The Girl. M had a job interview Saturday for a job he really, really wants—unfortunately, he won't know about it until the 25th to 29th. No doctors appointments, or things of that nature this week.. just home life, work, and college!

Exercise: I am doing well with this these days. I've been strength training, and getting in good cardio (jogging, walking, biking). Definitely on the agenda!

On that note, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from last night's bicycle ride, just M and I, as the kids spent the night at my mom's house...

Have a good week!

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.

Using What I Have...

A while back, I sent for a bunch of free dvds from HHMI... excellent resource, by the way! However, we never really got around to using them, and they are just gathering dust. Then today, I remembered seeing a free downloadable science project somewhere that looked really, really good ... did a lot of digging, and found it. It turns out that it is from HHMI, and goes with a dvd we already have!

The activity is focused on microbial ecology, and takes 6-8 weeks. There are student and teacher handouts, and it looks relatively easy to set up. Record keeping includes taking notes/making observations, comparing experimental columns to a control column, photographing changes, and sketching changes.

It goes with the lecture series Changing Planet: Past, Present, Future.

They've got a plethora of other videos, and lots of activities (some do look better than others).

I think we're going to give this one a try!

Politically Aware...

Yesterday, my kids and I happily participated in the March Against Monsanto. They made their own signs, and off we went!

We ran into a few different friends, listened to a couple of short speeches, and some great music by the the Hubbub Club kept the energy up!

When we got home, we downloaded a suggested app, Buycott, and The Girl tested various products in our house. We were pleased to see that much of what we buy supports a sustainable future, or at the very least does not support Monsanto/etc... in fact, the only foods that came up a big fat NO were the cans of stuff left behind by BIL when he moved out!

It's really got the kids thinking abut what we're putting on our plates. I'm writing up this week's menu and grocery list shortly, and they asked me to "please be careful about what you buy". I wonder if they're ready for Food Inc.? It's been a while since I watched it honestly, so maybe I should screen it again first - The Girl, especially but The Boy to a degree too, tends to have issues with some factory farming images.

I think too I may have them start watching CNN Student News - of course I would watch it with them - but at 10 and 12, I think they should maybe have some familiarity with what's going on in the world.

Anyhow, for their first march/political protest, I am satisfied that it was a good choice. It is something they feel strongly about, and the atmosphere was largely calm and upbeat, not quite like the anti-war protests I marched in back in 1991!

Are your kids politically aware/active? Do they have pet causes?

The First Cut is the Deepest...

Okay, not really, but we dissected worms at last! And the first cut is pretty shallow...

They had a lot of fun doing this, and managed to find all the important parts: the ganglia, the crop, the pharyx, etc. And they made labeled drawings which I'll scan in later! We sure know a lot more about worms now!

It's Been a Wee While...

Since I last posted, that is.

What are we up to, you may ask?

Well, together we've been continuing to enjoy our journey through ancient history, with K12's Human Odyssey. We're getting ready to wrap up our time in Sumer this week, or perhaps next week, reading through the Gilgamesh trilogy by Ludmila Zemen, and finishing up The Golden Bull.

Scientifically speaking, we haven't been doing a whole lot, though the kids did watch a couple of episodes of Life (thank you, Netflix!), including "Reptiles & Amphibians", and "Mammals". It is really a beautifully made documentary, although I think the kids would have enjoyed it even more if we had been able to get hold of the David Attenborough (i.e. British) version, rather than the Oprah Winfrey version, but even so, it is very good! We're going to play around this week with something a little different...

This book, one of the GEMS teacher guides from the Lawrence Hall of Science looks fantastic. It blends chemistry, some math, and physics, all hands-on, all wrapped up in the world of bubbles. If we have fun with this one, I may look into getting more of the teacher guides! We've (obviously) dropped biology as our main focus at the moment. My problems were that 1. we've already covered a lot of biology over the years; 2. we wanted more hands-on; and 3. The Boy really wants some physics! So I am relaxing our approach again, and going back to hands-on, interest-led science, heavy on documentaries and good books. I realized that we don't NEED to follow a specific path in science yet... at this stage, it is all about exposure. The Boy is well aware that I intend him to do more rigorous science courses in high school, but that is still a couple of years off. We are going to do some work from The [New] Way Things Work, in deference to his physics requests, and this idea, but we'll follow tangents as we desire.

We're still enjoying Richard Halliburton's world travels in the Complete Book of Marvels. I realized though, that my kids are not good at identifying countries, or even continents and oceans (blushing with embarrassment here), so my plan is to work in some [fun] printouts from National Geographic, who, by the way, has a fantastic teacher resource section for map work!

And, instead of jumping around in art and music, I've decided to use the Core Knowledge sequence for those topics, as kind of units or blocks of study. In art, we're learning about color, continuing the theme of our project from a few weeks back, and in music we'll be learning about the elements of music--harmony, pitch, rhythm, and more--as well as the orchestra itself.

Other than that, The Boy is on a major Star Wars kick. We re-watched A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. We're waiting on the others from Netflix (which strangely has a "long wait" for The Phantom Menace, but not the others?) He has been digging through his dad's vast Star Wars book collection, built a model of a pod racer out of Legos (I'll post a pic later), played a zillion hours of Star Wars Lego on the Wii, and so on, and so forth. He's still reading through A Series of Unfortunate Events as well, and is studying for the National Mythology Exam, as we did indeed get notice that he is officially registered!

The Girl is loving Dancing Shoes, and Samantha (American Girls) these days. She spends a lot of time lately doing intricate pen-and-ink artwork, and taking care of her new guinea pig, Emily, bought to replace the mouse Emily that unfortunately passed on. I've never been around guinea pigs much, and we all get a kick out of her funny noises, and cuddling capacity.

The semester is off to a good start for me. My writing professor approved my project for the semester--a series of personal essays/memoirs--and called my writing sample "exquisite". My Shakespeare class is all I hoped it would be. The professor is very enthusiastic about his subject matter, and the once-weekly, four-hour classes fly by!

I haven't posted much lately for a few reasons. One, we've been busy. Two, it looked like we might change directions a little on some things, but then we didn't, so I've been obsessing over my Winter/Spring 2013 page instead, and three, we didn't do a lot of "school" work last week, or the week before, in the midst of my curriculum angst. I just didn't feel that I had a lot to "report" or share, other than my wishy-washiness! We're sliding back into the groove now, so maybe I'll have more to share. I did make one bigger change, besides science, and that is that we've dropped Sundays, splitting the subjects up among Monday through Thursday. I need Sunday afternoons to get ready for the upcoming work week, and was feeling really hurried and somewhat overwrought by Sunday evenings each week. M supported this idea, and suggested we add in Nature Studies on Saturdays, which can be totally informal... the kids approved this idea--it means gardening, hiking, collecting insects and leaves, and all that. I'll be perusing the Outdoor Hour Challenges newsletters for more ideas!

I hope everyone out there is doing well too! Have a good week!

Has It Really Been That Long?

Seventeen years already! And some people said it would never last (we married less than 3 months after we met)! So a Happy Anniversary to my sweetie, and here's to many more years!

It was a good weekend. I made homemade playdough, scented this time with pine oil, and that kept the kids occupied during downpours. We also made bubble soap for between downpours. We discovered Vi Hart's Math Doodles, which both kids, especially The Boy, found quite inspirational. We ate a delicious, and very easy, chicken dish that the whole family begged me to add to our regular repertoire.We played several rounds of Apples to Apples Junior, which is always a blast!

In homeschooling yesterday, we:
~ Read about homo habilis and tool making
~ Visited the Mayan temples of Chichen Itza with Richard Halliburton
~ Completed 2 chapters in Life of Fred Apples (The Girl), and one in Life of Fred Fractions (The Boy)
~ Completed some copywork in Primary Language Lessons (The Girl) and a brief story paragraph in Intermediate Language Lessons (The Boy)
~ Both kids took spelling tests, and aced them!
~ The Girl read a long vowel story from Reading Pathways aloud
~ We read two chapters of Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone
~ There was painting, playdough sculpting, and math doodles all mixed in there too! My kids love to work on crafts, etc. while I read
~ And at bedtime, we read another chapter of Dorothy & the Wizard In Oz, with our old friend the Wizard just arriving on the scene.

Today will be another relaxed day of learning. I have science, language arts, math, a couple of books from A Picture Perfect Childhood, and literature on the agenda, and we'll see how that goes. I am trying to be more flexible these days in my approach, mainly setting general goals for the week, such as 4 math lessons each, coverage of a topic from Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, a chapter or two in history, and so forth. Then, when and how we get to it is determined by how our days are going! I find too that logging what we have done works much better for me than writing up a plan each week, as I get very frustrated when we don't follow said plan!

Then maybe a nice dinner, and a family movie. The Girl has agreed to miss roller derby training tonight so we can enjoy our anniversary evening at home.



We also changed up our Thanksgiving plans. I'm taking the kids to my mom's house on Wednesday, then on Thursday, it will be this:






and, weather permitting, this.




Something a little different this year! So no cooking for me, except a apple-quince-mince pie for my mom's house, and a pumpkin pie at home, at The Girl's particular request.

Hope you are all off to a good start with your week!

Tuesday Tidbits...

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

What IS Working...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 4... Field Trips Galore!

It was a week of field trips: living history, hands-on science, and so much fun!

Sunday

We headed out to a local, smallish Renaissance Faire. You can see the pictures here. The Girl loved all the costuming; The Boy the swords and armor; both loved the games and activities. It renewed The Boy's interest in fencing. We've been having some issues with cross-country, so I have a feeling he may be switching sports!

Anyhow, back to the Faire. We met up with some friends, ran into other friends, and enjoyed the whole atmosphere. That was our history for the week!

Monday

We hit the basics: math, phonics (The Girl), spelling/word roots (The Boy), and some reading from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book, Ozma of Oz, and something else I can't remember right now! It was an uneventful day, though I did write a short paper for my college class. Oh, and I graded papers while The Girl enjoyed her roller derby practice!

Tuesday

Experiential science day! We headed out to the California Academy of Sciences for homeschooler's day, and had a blast! You can see/read more about it here. Basically, it was a day of fossils, skeletons, taxidermied animals from Africa, ostrich eggs, volcanoes, earthquakes, a rainforest, manta rays, starfish, and plenty more! A great way to do science for the week!

Wednesday

Another day of basics, though we spent a little time learning about Lucy as well. I also started both kids on the Couch Potato to 5K program, which we may do at a slightly slower pace than the program recommends. The Girl is reading more smoothly lately, and seems to at last have a vested interest in learning - frankly, I think she's embarrassed slightly at Park Days when the other kids play card and other games that involve reading, and she can't. We finished up the evening watching a few old episodes of Gilligan's Island, and of course some more Oz reading. We're really enjoying this series together! My dad recently gave me a number of lovely hardbound, illustrated volumes of the original Oz series - I have many fond memories of hours spent reading the books, and admiring the artwork, so I am thrilled to be sharing these with the kids!

Thursday

More basics! I do have The Boy considering dropping Teaching Textbooks, completing a couple of multiplication & division units in Math Mammoth, and then moving directly into Life of Fred Fractions. I think LOF would be more challenging for him, appeal to his odd sense of humor more, and make him think more than Teaching Textbooks does. He's going to take the weekend to think about it.

We also went for a long, family walk, since they put actual sidewalks on the street next to the new elementary school. We found another trail leading off along a creek, where there will eventually be a park!

Friday

Friday was in some ways a very bad day, and in others, an opportunity to grow. M finally got a call back from his boss regarding his job status now that he's not "disabled" any longer from his arm injury. It was not a good call. Basically, his job was filled while he was out, and so he no longer has a job. Unfortunately, in California, when you're on state disability, your employer does not have to keep the position open, especially if it would cause hardship for the company. If M had been on Worker's Comp, it would have been a different matter entirely.

He did get a severance package that will help for a bit, and he will get unemployment. Truthfully, he didn't love his job anyhow, and often came home angry or upset. I personally think it will be good for him to find something new, something more along the lines of his interests, away from all the negativity that job had to offer.

He's looking at getting back into landscape maintenance, perhaps at a local college. We are trying our best to look at this as an opportunity, rather than something terrible, but I admit that with the economy the way it is, I am worried.

We did really enjoy watching the first half of the director's cut of Fellowship of the Rings last night though! We are all very much looking forward to The Hobbit this December, right in time for my fortieth birthday! We plan to watch the second half of Fellowship tonight, and then next weekend, we can work on the second movie. We're also thinking about reading The Hobbit before the film comes out, which of course might lead the reading The Lord of the Rings. I wouldn't have any problem with that!

Next Week

We're going to try a two-fold approach to history this week: Sunday will be world history with readings from Builders of the Old World, The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way, and some Book of Centuries work. On Wednesday, we'll read from The Rainbow Book of American History, and do more work in the Book of Centuries.

Science will be focusing on energy and matter, with a combo of a couple of lessons from BFSU, then a chapter from The World in a Drop of Water. We need to get out and collect some pond water samples for this, so I think we'll be visiting the local wetlands area - a nature walk and specimen collection all in one!

I'm also taking a break on regular math lessons to give each kid an "end-of-year" test from Math Mammoth, so that I can pinpoint their weak areas, and target those. The tests are multiple pages long, so I will be spreading them out over the course of the week.

And finally, we're trying to decide between reading The Dragon in the Cliff, The Swiss Family Robinson, and The Hobbit! Which would you choose?

Friday Follow-up... Science This Week...

Pictures from our recent trip to the California Academy of Sciences! 

 We always think of Night at the Museum when we see this guy!

Waiting for the 3D dinosaur film

I think manta rays are one of absolute most fascinating creatures ever!

And yes, I have a thing for giraffes.

A traditional tule reed boat, made in the Coast Miwok style

Intrigued by a pitcher plant display

The Girl fondly remembers the stink flower from last time!

Cool little creatures hiding under a rock

And of course we always love penguins!

The biggest egg here is from the now extinct elephant bird (see skeleton below)

A happy girl!

Cool fossils and skulls abounded

And a happy boy!

Wish this one had opened up - the other side of the wings were a vibrant blue

We also...
felt the tremors in a hands-on earthquake exhibit
watched a movie on earthquakes in the Planetarium
watched the penguins have lunch
checked out a lot of fish, sea creatures, fossils, and more!