tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83035152960005107262024-03-14T03:42:16.678-07:00Hillandale Farm SchoolNittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-87968923291078968422016-03-01T15:50:00.000-08:002016-03-01T15:50:06.692-08:00Wait, What? That's Not Math! Or: Using Algebra in Everyday Life Without Realizing It<div class="p1">
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<span class="s1">Earlier today I was having a discussion about GMO’s on my Facebook wall, and it struck me: sure, we’re chatting about GMO’s. We’re engaging in rhetoric. But we’re also following the basic steps employed in algebra. What does a conversation about GMO’s have to do with algebra?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms) invoke a complex array of social, technical, and legal topics, on which many people continue to disagree. I had posted a link to <a href="http://frankenfoodfacts.blogspot.com/2016/02/vitamins-and-nutrients-from-gmos.html" target="_blank">another blog</a> that looked at just one aspect of the anti-GMO movement— the impact of non-GMO labeling on breakfast cereals and nutrition— dissected, and refuted it, politely, but firmly. One respondent complained that the linked blog (or perhaps my endorsement of it) failed to address additional issues such as Monsanto’s activities, monoculture, gene patents, and other ancillary issues. In my response, I remarked that I believe the issue is so complex that only by breaking it down could we find the real problem and solve it. If the main concern is gene patents as a practice, labeling foods as GMO does not address the real problem. If the main concern is monoculture, only looking at Monsanto is probably not the answer. If one is concerned about health issues related to Bt corn, labeling human insulin as a GMO product does nothing to enlighten the consumer.<br />
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It finally struck me that at the heart of the conversation, we are answering the perennial question . . . “Why do I have to learn algebra?” What we are doing in this conversation is, essentially, exercising the logic of algebra. As students dive deeper into mathematics, they learn to break the problem down, then solve for some variable, x. One of the biggest challenges many students face is identifying what part of the problem is represented by that mysterious x. With practice, students learn to structure a problem so that when everything else is pared away, they are left with x all alone, and what it represents on the other side.<br />
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The GMO debate is like this. Smart people talk at cross-purposes to one another, not because one side is dim and the other is brilliant, or because one side has a complete grasp of all issues and a single answer for all and other lacks it. It is because we have the conversations without first solving for x— what is it that we are trying to figure out? </span></div>
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<span class="s1">In <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-keith-devlin/andrew-hacker-and-the-cas_b_9339554.html" target="_blank">his excellent blog post,</a> Prof Keith Devlin points out that the very first algebra books did not even include any symbols at all beyond the ten needed to express digits; they described the logical development of problem solving. Devlin describes the original algebra text by al-Khwarizmi, written in Baghdad around CE 820, and notes, “The focus was on how to think about problems, and had nothing to do with manipulating symbols. That is algebra. It is exactly the mental toolkit that … is crucially important and should be taught in schools.” (NB Devlin is referring to another work and noting where he and the author differ and agree on how algebra is currently taught in schools).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This process— breaking down the problem, identifying our terms, unraveling the logic of the argument at hand could be considered logic, rhetoric, or debate. Or . . . you just might be exercising those algebraic muscles.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Devlin article 1: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-keith-devlin/andrew-hacker-and-the-cas_b_9339554.html"><span class="s2">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-keith-devlin/andrew-hacker-and-the-cas_b_9339554.html</span></a></span></div>
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<i>Thanks for reading!</i></div>
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--Jen</div>
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NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-37801947621381975062016-01-15T09:00:00.003-08:002016-01-15T09:00:52.532-08:00You Might Be a Homeschooler If . . . <div class="p1">
<span class="s1">You Might Be a Homeschooler If…</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…you catch yourself singing, “Amo, amas, amat, amamus, amati, amant!” in the shower to the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…your kids are in school when it is snowing or insanely hot out, and school is called due to weather when it is exceptionally pleasant.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">...your child has used a knife or shot a gun at school.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…your kids have no idea what grade they’re in.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…lab day is a day when you invite your friends over to dissect brains.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…you love taking those middle of the day appointments with your kids, as there is no waiting room wait and they aren’t missing school.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…your kids eat home-cooked meals for lunch some days, and make their own lunches (at lunch time) fresh for themselves on other days.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…your car breaks down, and you see it as a learning opportunity.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…your kid is lost in a subject, and the teacher says, “That’s okay. We’ll back up and do it again until you understand it, before we have to move on.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…you routinely get to the end of the textbook where the really interesting stuff is hidden.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…you have 50 answers to the question, “So how will they ever be socialized???” and only 2 or 3 of them are socially acceptable.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…during reading time, your kids are moving about the room acting out the book as you read.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…your kids have perfect attendance, because if they’re sick you simply don’t have school that day. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…you can take your child on vacation any time of year, without either lying on an excuse note or pressuring the school to not prosecute you for truancy.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…you can take your kids with you when one parent travels for work, because school on wheels is a thing.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…school happens at midnight because there is a cool comet on the way. And the kids can sleep in a little the next morning and still make it to school on time.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…the math room is on the living room floor, the history room is on the sofa, the reading room is in a comfy chair, with cat assistance, and the science room is in the dining room or the basement.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…you send your kid to the store with money and a list, and think the parents who sit with their kids in cars at the bus stop are negligent (read with common sense. Assumes said stop is not in a crime-infested area).</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…pajama day happens more than once per year.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…you see the educational value in some time on Minecraft.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…your elementary kids watch “Ice Age 2” and point out all the references to the Iliad and the Odyssey.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…you have marched across the living room in “turtle formation,” holding your scutum over your kids’ heads. Then you have marched back the other way in locked phalanx formation.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…you have ever mummified a chicken.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…you geek out over researching new lesson plans.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…you hold parent/teacher conferences with yourself continually.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…you go shopping or to the doctor, and it ends up being a guided tour.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…Longwood Gardens (or whatever your local arboretum may be) is one of your classrooms, sometimes for botany, sometimes for poetry, sometimes for math, and sometimes for art or gym.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…your kids get recess multiple times a day. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…school start and end times, and school year start and end times are a bit fluid.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…you are a little nervous about having to be the college guidance counsellor during high school.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…you read endless debates about whether high school level work completed before the final four years of school should count on a transcript.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…you are not completely certain when your child’s graduation date will be, because you are never really sure what grade they’re in. You have a plan, but plans change.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…if your kids have gone a whole week without complaining about homework.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…your kids have been asked if they have any friends.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…your kids never have to worry about who to sit with at lunch.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…you’ve been asked if you believe in evolution, and you know more about it than the question asker.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">…you’ve ever gotten a sunburn while diagramming sentences.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">…the cat helps with geometry.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<br />
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<span class="s1">…if reading and writing in Greek is not all Greek to you.</span></div>
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<i>Thanks for reading!</i></div>
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<i>--Jen</i></div>
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NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-81050503013232674282016-01-09T19:48:00.000-08:002016-01-09T19:48:29.533-08:00Mid-Year SlumpAh, it is that time of year again. As we get set to resume the formal part of our learning (homeschoolers are always learning, in or out of school, just like kids everywhere) we get set to face my least favorite annual tradition: the mid-year slump.<br />
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We have been schooling year-round, with sprinkled vacations, for five years. For the first time this year, we'll take a longish summer break (though still shorter than the typical bricks and mortar school). We are now at approximately the midpoint of the year, and the looming summer break has if anything enhanced the mid-year slump. <br />
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From the point of view of the kids, their annual subjects-- those that change yearly, such as history era, science focus, any new foreign languages or writing challenges-- are no longer brand new, shiny, and exciting. Yet, in the bleak midwinter, summer vacation seems yet nowhere in sight. Our freaky weather this year is exacerbating the situation. Normally, it is cold, icy, slushy, and yucky outside in early January in the mid-Atlantic region. Lately, it has been sunny, largely pleasant, mild weather with confused plants starting to bloom. So instead of the feeling that studying is better than going out in the cold yuck, the weather feels as if summer is nearly here. Buckling down to week 21 out of 42 seems out of sync.<br />
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From my point of view, the problem is entirely different. This is the time of year when I start gathering resources, vetting books-- text and more casual volumes-- researching experiments and writing assignments, scouting web resources, and jotting down plans that will become syllabi in late spring or early summer. In the process, I get thoroughly excited about what we are setting up to learn next year, so much that I develop a strong impulse to abandon our current studies and launch into next year's stuff NOW. Right.now.<br />
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For example, I received a new telescope for Christmas; it was a complete surprise, but a wonderful one. I have been burying myself in star charts, reading about azimuth, ascension, lunar cycles, composition of comets, light waves, radiation, and more. I am just BURSTING to share this wonderful stuff with the kids, shoving aside the rest of the year of my home field of biology. I can't really do that. We have awesome stuff planned for the second half of the year, from ecology to evolution to comparing plant biology to human senses (thank you to the Coursera course from Tel Aviv University that I took around this time last year, "What A Plant Knows.") It was an exciting part of their courses to plan, so now I have to fight the desire to give it all short shrift and hustle on into astronomy. <br />
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Similarly, my high school freshman will be a sophomore next year and taking the second half of world history. I am going crazy trying to winnow down the list of possible literature to match up with the history course, knowing he can't read everything in one year, no matter how enthusiastic his mother is. We can't start on the list now-- he's done a terrific job wrestling with the literature of the ancients and will now be starting medieval writings. I, of course, want to read it all, revisiting old favorites and discovering writings I have never yet encountered. (By the way, faithful readers-- if any of you have any favorites among non-western writers for next year (renn/early modern/modern) I'm all ears! I'm also up for hearing about readable titles that illuminate international events from a non-USA perspective, to challenge ideas and perspectives for this rhetoric stage kiddo).<br />
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The kids have the job of getting back into the swing of things and focusing on the now, rather than the distant horizon of summer. I have the task of reminding myself why this stuff was so exciting last January, and to also stay in the now, focusing on the wonder before us today rather than what will be next year. We'll get through this midyear slump, as we always do. <br />
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I have some great labs planned, to include some of the kids' buddies, running some DNA fingerprinting, visiting local streams, and more. My freshman is looking forward to reading the Qu'ran and looking for common themes drawn from the surrounding literature, surviving Dante's Inferno, and beginning another semester of current events with a lively online group of teens as well as finishing up a course in symbolic logic. My middle schooler is looking forward to shifting his history focus to medieval times for the second half of the year, doing more biology labs, and diving farther into algebra to find the fascinating problems. I will somehow balance enjoying their discoveries, following through on all the exciting plans I made a year ago, with getting up in the night to go watch the skies and wondering about next year.<br />
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<br />NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-50044388550277594412015-07-21T06:27:00.001-07:002015-07-21T06:27:02.327-07:00School Bus Time Approaches. I No Longer Feel the Same Way I Once Did.Ah, that time of the year again . . . when I constantly bite my tongue when hearing other parents talk about not being able to wait until they can ship their kids back off to school. <br />
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I don't think it's as simple and clear as judging them as not missing their kids enough (I know many schooled parents who DO miss their kids during the day . . . and I also remember having that "can't wait for the schoolbus" feeling when my kids were in school, even though I did miss them). I think there are multiple factors at play.<br />
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When you are accustomed to a routine-- get up, eat, meet the school bus on time, free time for the stay at home parent to do housework, errands, doc appointments, meet the schoolbus, afterschool activities, dinner, homework bed-- your life has a predictable feel to it that gets disrupted in the summer. I think it is normal to feel antsy when your routine is disrupted, and to welcome that routine back, no matter the pitfalls. <br />
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Households with two working parents and young kids also face a dilemma in summer about how to ensure their kids are supervised properly, and that stress is relieved when school resumes.<br />
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Finally, in today's world, the notion of just letting your kids be bored sometimes instead of constantly entertained, in entertainments arranged by adults, is an odd one. Many of today's parents feel pressured to make sure their kids are busy and productive.<br />
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I think when you are accustomed to having your kids cared for by someone else all day most days, you do start to think of taking that on for yourself as being harder than it actually is if doing so is just your normal routine.<br />
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But I admit I still feel sad when I hear it. It comes across as sounding as if the parents really don't like their kids or spending time with them. And I think the kids overhearing it can sometimes hear it that way too-- and kids overhear more than we usually realize. I am happy now that I get to spend my days with my kids (over four years now, not to mention their pre-school days). I am happy that our "routine" includes them being around, so it doesn't feel like a burden. And I do think that parents who make spectacles of themselves at this first school bus pickup are pretty far gone-- that behavior sends a really bad message to the kids.<br />
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We are not better humans because we homeschool. We are not superior to kids-in-school parents. There are good and less-good parents in both camps. But even knowing I once felt the same way, it's hard to hear parents celebrating handing their kids off to strangers, and that they don't know how to interact with their own children for more than a couple of days per week, or not trusting their kids to be okay if not being "organized" by someone. It's just hard. But I know it's complicated, and so I bite my tongue. Then go hug my kids, and thank my lucky stars that homeschooling is an option for us. It has definitely changed my outlook on life and family.<br />
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<i>Thanks for reading!</i><br />
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Jen<br />
<br />NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-27745412987939747922015-04-28T12:57:00.000-07:002015-04-28T17:44:11.557-07:0020 Reasons to Love HomeschoolingThis is a guest blog by my 14 YO, with an introduction and commentary from me.<br />
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A friend of mine who also homeschools posted to Facebook a list of 20 reasons to love homeschooling <a href="https://flourishingbyrestfulfalls.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/20-reasons-why-i-love-homeschooling/" target="_blank">(Read it here)</a>, generated her daughter (I am totally poaching her idea here). I decided that it would actually be good to have my boys reflect on what makes homeschooling enjoyable for them, and below is my 14YO's list. I agree with him on most of them-- though #11 cracks me up, as I doubt he ever had a "several hour long lecture" in public school. That may be how he recalls it, though! As with my friend, I post this with some concern it will make us sound like completely lax homeschoolers, which is not the case at all; this 14YO has finished algebra 2 already and is powering through geometry; is finishing up a 4-year world tour of history from which he remembers quite a bit, has read books on high school and college reading lists, etc etc etc. Somehow, with all that, he still seems to have had no trouble coming up with 20 reasons to love homeschooling. I will also note that he has excellent study habits overall, tending to stick with a task as long as necessary rather than giving up or getting distracted.<br />
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My favorites from his list are 2, 4, 9, 14, 16, 17, 18, and 20. I think they nicely sum up some of my favorite things about homeschooling too, and I'm thrilled to see he appreciates these things.<br />
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I do think any of us might benefit from this exercise-- what is it that occupies most of our time? A job, a new baby, a new vocation in training? Sitting down to reflect and generate a list of 20 reasons to love why I do what I do would certainly boost my spirits; perhaps I should do it next!<br />
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So without further ado, here is DS14's (4 1/2 years of homeschooling) list:<br />
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1. Snack whenever<br />
2. Actual challenge<br />
3. Random days off<br />
4. Cats<br />
5. Sit anywhere for work<br />
6. No work after school<br />
7. Break anytime<br />
8. Can do sports<br />
9. Flexible<br />
10. Can sleep in<br />
11. No several-hour-long lectures<br />
12. Can do essays right on the computer<br />
13. Can take days off to play with friends<br />
14. Independence<br />
15. Can finish before 3:00 pm<br />
16. Can learn stuff on my own<br />
17. Not every day is the same<br />
18. Can go to fun places on weekdays<br />
19. I don't have to worry about bullies<br />
20. I can ask for help whenever <u>I</u> need it.<br />
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<i>Thanks for reading!</i><br />
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<i>Jen</i><br />
<i><br /></i>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-39916438173662459932015-04-08T14:42:00.002-07:002015-04-26T18:52:01.160-07:00The Story of Science: A New Book Review Update: the book is shipping early! If you have been waiting to order one, you can go for it! <br />
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I have had the privilege of previewing Susan Wise Bauer's upcoming book, <u>The Story of Science: From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang Theory</u> (Norton, release date May 11, 2015) <br />
over the past several weeks. These have been a few weeks of sheer reading pleasure. This volume belongs in any home library-- homeschooler, interested lay-reader of the sciences, informed voter, or any person who wants more context for today's media reports about new (or "new again") scientific discoveries regarding our health, the environment, and our world. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjoHAhzs1ZDfSaCShckeM4GjFQKEcgTEytEmJYXp62WcmGPk2mtB_BqyCjPBa-g5zSIi-YlmhCMT3kkbkPRGKzN14WxRfyOMy1PWUrmTs0D5_5QtX_Ici_GYA5qiQKUzHohifQUYwn28YC/s1600/StoryofScience.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjoHAhzs1ZDfSaCShckeM4GjFQKEcgTEytEmJYXp62WcmGPk2mtB_BqyCjPBa-g5zSIi-YlmhCMT3kkbkPRGKzN14WxRfyOMy1PWUrmTs0D5_5QtX_Ici_GYA5qiQKUzHohifQUYwn28YC/s1600/StoryofScience.jpeg" height="320" width="210" /></a> The scope of this new book is vast, covering the development of the scientific method itself, as well as developments in scientific thought from ancient through modern times. Other collections or books have attempted the same feat; what sets this effort apart, in addition to Bauer's clear, accessible writing style, is her reliance upon primary sources to tell most of the tale. <br />
Each chapter discusses an important leap in the progress of Western scientific thought, placing the writings of the featured character in the context of their time and place of life as well as of scientific inquiry. Every chapter concludes with a list of recommendations on how to investigate the source material, including helpful commentary on clarity of translations, where to obtain a free copy when available, readability of versions of the text, inclusion of original artwork where relevant, and, where a reading of the entire selection might not be necessary to grasp the essential point, a guide to what to read from the source material. To make life easier for the reader, Ms. Bauer has developed a website with hyperlinks to many of the source materials, not only from the well-known Plato's <i>Timaeus, </i>Aristotle's <i>History of Animals, </i>but the oft-neglected works of Bacon, Hooke, and Wegener. Additionally, there are links to more modern authors such as Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Weinberg, and James Gleick, and their writings which are aimed at more general audiences than technical journal articles. <br />
It is not necessary to read every primary source referenced in Bauer's walk through scientific history in order to get much out of the book. I do recommend reading all of Bauer's chapters, as they reinforce the understanding that each discovery owes something to those that came before it-- whether the new direction in thinking builds on past understandings or overturns them. <br />
This book truly felt like the story of how and why we know what we know. Dogma was developed, and sometimes refined, but many other times overturned entirely. The process of science involves unending questioning of that which we sometimes take for granted, and the biggest leaps have come from those who had the courage to ask, "What if . . . what we know about this is wrong?" This book causes the reader to both appreciate the scientific process and the ability to intelligently question that which we dogmatically hold true-- and to understand how the interfaces among science and society and human nature can sometimes cause confusion and conflict.<br />
Susan Wise Bauer's <u>The Story of Science: From Aristotle to the Big Bang Theory</u> has obvious applications for particularly rhetoric stage (high school age) homeschooled students of any type-- classical, unschooled, eclectic-- but interest in this work should not be limited to homeschooling families. This is a book for all adults who are fascinated by the Great Conversation, that linking of minds that extends back to the ancients. This is a book for anyone who is concerned about making sense out of how the scientists get and evaluate their ideas, whether they are talking about GMO's, global warming, allergies, or signs of life on Mars. This is a book for anybody who would love to have an accessible, understandable guide to reading excerpts or works from some of the greatest scientific thinkers in Western scientific development, a guide that will place each work in context and point out the best places to read original sources.<br />
Of course books such as this leave me wanting more. I'd love to see a second volume, addressing those who had to be left out of this one-- perhaps one addressing mathematics, or non-Western scientific development; the contributions of Indian and Arabic mathematicians are of great importance to our everyday lives, and many modern conveniences we enjoy today were developed not in the West, but in Asia or other parts of the world. The story of how these discoveries arose, impacted, and became intertwined with those in this volume would make for a fascinating read as well. In some respects, it might have to be a different book, as I'm not certain how complete the written records are of all of those achievements, whereas this book focuses on the writings of great scientists, but it would be fascinating nonetheless.<br />
Now I'm off to figure out where this book will fit into our homeschool's high school plans . . . if you decide to get a copy and read it for yourself, please leave your comments here! I'm very interested in hearing whether others were as captured by this book as I was, and how you either plan to use it in your homeschool or in your life.<br />
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<i>Thanks for reading!</i><br />
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Jen<br />
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PS This page contains affiliate links below-- if you click through to buy the book from Amazon (See link at the bottom of the page), you'll help fund my writing of this blog. To buy the book without providing anything to me, simply to go Amazon.com and type the title or author into the search box. I was sent a pre-publication copy of the book to review by Norton, but not provided any actual compensation for writing this review; the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.<br />
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<br />NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-41986947820659530032013-11-18T16:25:00.001-08:002013-11-18T16:25:19.297-08:00Know When to Fold'EmEver have that wonderful feeling that you just found THE ultimate curriculum that will be so completely perfect for your kiddos, will not only facilitate learning the subject material you have targeted to learn this year, but also build up bonus material of life skills or something else on the side? This pile or box or set of plans just has you quivering with anticipation to get started . . . you are SO excited to unleash the excitement for learning that you know will happen when you merge these materials with your teaching skills and your kids . . . and . . . WHAM!!!<div>
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That was the sound of everything hitting a brick wall when the completely over the top perfect, exciting plans you have are a complete, total, abysmal, cataclysmic failure.</div>
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Ever have that happen?</div>
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We have. The vast majority of what we try works pretty well for us. But when we swing and miss, we go big. So what then? Start over. Either look back at something else that worked or start from scratch.</div>
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This year we experienced that brick wall in a big way. Although I still feel it is a terrific program -- for families that are not ours-- our brick wall this year was Exploration Education physics. I was terrifically excited about it from the time I saw it in in a friend's hands. I KNEW it was exactly what I was looking for in physics-- experiment based, mathematical, kid-directed, and it had two levels for my two kids, standard and advanced, that could still work together very nicely, without needing "tweaking" to make them work together; the more advanced mathematical pages were just left out of the standard book, so younger could watch or assist with older's additional labs without being responsible for the extra data recording and analysis. What more could a homeschool Mom ask for? Right? Wrong, in our case (I still think it's a worthy program, for what it's worth, and know another family who is doing really well with it-- this post is NOT a ding against EE itself).</div>
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As an added bonus for us, I liked how the instructions for building projects were written directly to the kids; I really felt one of my DS's could gain some self-confidence from learning he could follow the instructions to put together the projects without me helicoptering over him and make these cool motorized race cars, gliders, sail boats, and more that are involved in this super cool kit.</div>
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The reality turned out differently. I'll spare you the ugly details, but let's just say when you have a kid who has never been interested in building, don't buy him a physics program predicated on building the experiment components required for conducting the experiments. It is one thing to set up the experiment; it is another thing to have to build the car or glider or boat first before you can experiment with it. This is NOT the time to convince a kid he can learn to love building. For a kid who LOVES building already, this will be a great experience. For a kid who has never loved building . . . not so much. Physics time was turning into, "OH, I think I have a headache, Mom, sorry, can't seem to concentrate today!" time. Not cool.</div>
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When homeschooling, we all eventually face this dilemma-- usually more than once. In many cases, it is wise to teach your kid to buck up. We all have to do things that are not inherently fun, but have to be done anyway, and it's a bit of a disservice to teach kids that they can abandon necessary work just because they "don't wanna." Young kids work can generally be crafted to be pleasant by an observant homeschooling parent, but as they enter the upper logic stage and rhetoric stage years (7th--12th grades for non-classical folks) it is time to start training them to do things even when they don't feel like it if you haven't yet. You don't feel like writing this paper/doing this math assignment/finishing this project/cleaning the litterbox? Do it anyway. Life is like that, and you will find it hard to hold down a job or pass in college if you only do the things that appeal to you, kid. However, in this case, the situation had a different feel. When I looked at the situation, I felt that my biggest objective for the kids-- learning about physics-- was being impeded by road blocks in the learning plan that had nothing to do with physics. I had to decide: what was more important this year? Physics, or learning to glue balsa wood together? Different families could really have gone different ways on that for a 12 and 10 year old. There is value in learning to use your hands and create stuff, and follow directions successfully. I, however, chose the physics. I did not want to leave the kids with a bad taste in their mouths regarding science.</div>
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So how, three months into our "year" do we reinvent the wheel? We looked to last year's successful year of biology. I sat down with a set of physics books that I like for their clarity of organization (Prentice Hall Science Explorer) a science encyclopedia, and the Creek Edge Press task cards, and I prioritized a list of concepts and mathematical relationships I wanted the kids to get over the remainder of our year.</div>
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Our first week looked like this: </div>
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Monday: Go research inclined planes and wedges. For each one, draw me a diagram in your science notebook, and label all the parts. Tell me what you find out about effort and force.</div>
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Tuesday: (stack of books on science and physics supplied, at various levels of intensity) Read more about simple machines, focusing on inclined planes and wedges. Make a list of things they are used for in everyday life. Where do you see them around the house? In living things? Have you found mathematical relationships that describe what they do?</div>
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Wednesday: Lab day. We did a whole slew of labs revolving around inclined planes (wedges were harder). We also worked on DS10's K'Nex roller coaster kit. They explored the effects of mass on things going down inclined planes as well. Not really related, but they also started watching a mini-series on the origins of the universe at their request (NOVA). We kept data on white boards, and found averages and medians of different runs.</div>
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Thursday: Go research different classes of levers. Label them, including the fulcrum, effort, and force.</div>
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Friday: Read more about levers. Show me where you find different levers being used around you, and what class each lever is. Have you discovered anywhere that describes the mathematics of levers? What do levers do for you in terms of force and effort?</div>
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DS12 also started reading a high school or college level text on physics-- reading is his preferred mode of learning. I'm no longer forcing him to learn in a mode that is completely against his grain. Everyone is happier, and learning a lot more physics.</div>
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I'm feeling a big difference too. I no longer dread telling the kids it's time for physics, which really ought to be a ton of fun-- it really is, as one of our books is titled, "Physics with Toys!" And Snap Circuits. And a chance to learn stuff on your own and go on treasure hunts. And drop stuff, bang stuff, stretch stuff, throw stuff . . . </div>
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Most of all, I just have a feeling that we made the right call by chucking EE, which was not working for us at all. Sometimes you tell the kids to buck up and get it done. But other times, it is just the right call to quit what isn't working, ask yourself what your priorities are, and find a way to head towards your actual priorities and stop doing what isn't working. Because . . . </div>
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You gotta know when to fold'em. Know when to walk away. Know when to run . . .</div>
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NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-25211382197611806692013-07-25T09:04:00.001-07:002013-07-25T09:34:22.090-07:00The PensieveI recently installed a journaling app on my kids' ipads, and I am now insisting that they use them. I have told them that I will not necessarily read their journals, but I need them to keep journals, and that I will give them assignments for them. <br />
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We purchased the Day One journal from the app store. I like how it is organized; you can move to a specific calendar date, or you can view a running log of entries in a list. It is simple to use, and you can make entries by voice dictation or keyboard input-- making this assignment as painless as possible was an important consideration for getting started, as is any new habit you wish to take hold, whether exercising or journaling or changes to one's diet! There are many good choices, including the tried and true pencil and spiral-bound notebook that fits in a hip pocket-- my husband's PhD advisor, prof. L. Nick Trefethen, FRS is well known for keeping notecards in his pocket at all times for the purpose of jotting down thoughts or things the people around him say that strike him as amusing or profound.<br />
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One assignment my kids have received recently came from the Bravewriter curriculum; inspired by author J.K. Rowling, it consists of jotting down unusual and interesting names and words in a journal entry, for possible later use in writing as people or place names. They can include interesting words they might wish to use in a writing lexicon. As my kids are studying Ancient Greek, Latin, Spanish, and German, and we travel a bit, study geography, and read widely, I expect their personal lexicons should become quite interesting. I am starting my own as well-- who knows when the writing bug might strike, and such a journal section would be quite handy!<br />
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Another section also relates to studying the craft of writing. I have asked them to note down any bit of writing they find particularly thoughtful, well-crafted, or descriptive, so that they can study it at will later to figure out why it works for them. Studying published authors is a time-honored method of learning the craft of writing.<br />
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However, probably one of the more important reasons for journaling, is brought to mind for me by Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve. In fact, the pensieve, that storage place for stray thoughts you wish to sift through at your leisure later, is how I think of my journal. Today my older son, 12, came to me with a question. I thought it was a great question, and I look forward to him really digging into it in detail-- later. He can (and will, knowing him) continue chewing on the problem now; however his skills are not yet ripe for a really well-organized, in-depth, well-argued essay or debate on the topic. Those are strong rhetoric stage skills, and at 12, he is, though in the gifted spectrum, strongly grounded right where he should be, in the logic stage part of his argument building skills, and not yet ready to give his question the full attention it merits. So I told him to absolutely record it in his journal, so that we would know to go back to it for very serious thought in a few years. <br />
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He thought I was crazy. "Mom, I have been thinking about this for a LONG time. I will NEVER forget this question!" Ah, how many times I have said that to myself! How many grand ideas and themes I wish I could call back to my memory now! Write it down or dictate into that journal son, please, do it now, before we forget. I do not doubt that he has been pondering this question, probably for months. We will talk about it now, too; I am not pushing it under the rug. But I think it is a great question, one that will merit revisiting in his high school (rhetoric stage) years. Why risk losing such a great writing and research prompt that he generated himself? He may even find it interesting to do it again four years from now and discover whether his perspective has changed. Maybe even again in college?<br />
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This is why we journal. Because we are human, and we forget, and some things are worth writing down in our pensieves. In today's world, we have so many options to make this easy-- we can use an inexpensive app on an ipad, we can blog, we can video record ourselves on our computers, or we can still scribble it down on notecards or in a spiral notebook. But we should get our thoughts and questions down somewhere where we can look over them again, and maybe connect the dots between today's thoughts and next week's thoughts and questions.<br />
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His question today? <br />
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Was Gandhi really a good person, or did his devotion to pacifism blind him to other good that really needed to be done? His refusal to engage in any kind of violence meant he refused to participate in WWII, even though he knew Hitler was horrifying and needed to be stopped, so he basically said that he knew Hitler had to be stopped, but it would be somebody else's problem to stop him so that he could go on being a pacifist. Or would his pacifist resistance have ever worked if everyone had signed on? Which is it? Can you be so stuck on one path, that you fail to see that you are letting great evil happen around you just so you can stick to what you said, or does that make it more important that you stick to your principals? How do you know to that degree that you are right?<br />
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Big stuff for a 12YO. He just told me he did put it into his journal, so I know it will be there to look back on and remember the question later, and I know him well enough to know that he will want to wrestle with it again later. <br />
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I look forward to an amazing essay from him in a few years.<br />
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I encourage anyone, of any age, to grab a journal of some type and just start jotting stuff down-- names of places, unusual names, vocabulary words, funny stuff people say, news events of the weird, and yes, these questions that pop into your head. It may take as little as 30 seconds a day. Put them into your pensieve, and you may be surprised at what could pop out years or decades later. It may not net you a few billion pounds, but it may help you sleep at night, because your thoughts have been safely stored for later.<br />
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<i>Thanks for reading!</i><br />
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--Jen<br />
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PS I included a link to Prof Trefethen's collection of index card thoughts below!<br />
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<br />NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-55706947126496467482013-07-08T08:39:00.004-07:002013-07-08T08:45:00.450-07:00Jen's First Law of Homeschooling<br /><div>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The more I have planned for the boys in a given day, the higher the likelihood that at least one will sleep in late.</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">corollary one:</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The boy for whom I had planned the most one-on-one work will be the one who sleeps in.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">corollary two:</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The more non-school-related stuff I planned to do for myself after school is done for the day, the later the child will sleep in.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">corollary three:</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> As pertains to Jen's First Law, it turns out that resistance is NOT futile.</span><br />
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<br />NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-10531739238801312402013-06-02T14:56:00.000-07:002013-06-02T15:36:36.684-07:00Plans for 2013-2014<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s that time of year again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether homeschoolers are following a
traditional school calendar or schooling year round, many do turn thoughts
around this time of year to what they will be teaching in the coming year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Those of us who do go all year round tend to not wrap up all
of our subjects at once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We finish our
subjects at different times; we finish one math book, and start the next when
the last one was completed, not on a specific calendar date.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next “year” of math might begin in April,
and the next “year” of history might begin in October, while the next grammar
year might begin in July.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For us this
makes sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We recall a certain
frustration from our public school days—I always wanted to FINISH that history
book, certain that the most interesting material were those chapters in the
back of the book that we never got to discuss or read!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And why did we never finish a math book,
ever?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What knowledge was being withheld?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes I took schoolbooks home and
finished them on my own time, my own weird form of rebellion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So in homeschooling, we do away with those
arbitrary time cutoffs, and explore those dark, forgotten corners of our
textbooks, and put them away only when we are ready.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t set aside algebra when our students
are still only showing 75% mastery, and then wonder why they struggle in
algebra II; we back up, try again, maybe pull out a different algebra book or
consult another homeschooler or math tutor, and get that confidence up until
the student has mastered the material before we move on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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However, the planning stages are still helpful, and I am
among those who will plan a “school year” as if it will all take place
beginning and ending at once, so that when that math or history or grammar is
completed,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the next thing is already
ordered, present, and ready to go, and any prep needed on my part has already
been done in advance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want to be
caught in “Gosh, I dunno!” land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Truth
be told,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a basic outline in place
of roughly what my kids will probably study from here until graduation already
in place, though there is room to tweak it as they grow and change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the basics of a plan are in place so that
I won’t have to improvise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now, the
specifics for the coming year are in place, so that as we continue to finish up
“last year’s” material, the next thing in line is here, ready, and
waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m excited—this looks like a
fantastic year of discovery for the boys!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Did I mention that this summer my youngest will hit double
digits???<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t have any babies left
in the house, and my older will be rapidly approaching true teen-dom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(Sorry about the weird outline format-- Word did that automatically-- I would have used a capital letter as my first indented level, really!)</span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -.25in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>I.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Language Arts<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Grammar<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>i.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12:
Diagramming and Practice Voyage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have
put in two very intensive years of grammar, so this year we will forgo formal
grammar instruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will spend a
small amount of review time, practicing our sentence diagramming and using a
practice text as review for a few moments a day, but that’s it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>ii.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS10:
Diagramming and Practice Island.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ditto
for DS10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did a year of Rod and Staff
3 and a year of Michael Clay Thompson’s Town level, and like DS12 will do the
practice book from one year back in grammar to stay fresh before returning to
grammar next year.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Writing<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>i.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12:
Continue IEW Medieval, Start Bravewriter and Kilgallon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He enjoys the assignments in IEW, and I like
the structured approach to building a writer’s toolbox.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After looking at the program for a year or
more, I am taking a plunge into Bravewriter, for a chance to let him to more
freeform writing, and to spend more time looking at good published writing in
detail as we did in Writing With Ease.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Kilgallon will also help us pick up the details.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our alternating every two weeks schedule will
allow us to schedule these three programs without it becoming overwhelming,
even though there is a fair amount of writing in his history program as
well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This focus on writing is one
reason why we are cooling off on grammar a bit this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Naturally, grammar will also be reinforced
during the editing phase of writing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>ii.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS10:
IEW SWI-A will be continued, and like big brother, he will be joining us in
Bravewriter and Kilgallon as described above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He adores Andrew Pudewa on the DVD lessons, one of the very few I allow
in our homeschool, and his writing is improving dramatically in this
program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Vocabulary and Spelling<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>i.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12
has been working through Michael Clay Thompson’s Word Within the Word, which
will continue, as well as Saddler Oxford’s Vocabulary Workshop, on alternating
weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This pairing will continue.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>ii.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS10
has been alternating Spelling Workout with Michael Clay Thompson’s Caesar’s
English.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This pairing will also
continue.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">d.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Literature<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>i.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Reading
together: As a family, we read out loud together on a daily basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also have a few audio books loaded into
Audible on our phones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These vary from
fun to challenging.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>ii.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Individual
reading:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This kids have some ambitious
reading lists ahead of them for individual reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of these selections are tied to their
history programs, some are not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some are
more challenging than others. Some are fun or silly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But one thing is certain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will read read read daily.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -.25in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>II.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Foreign Language<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Latin<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>i.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12:
Continue Lively Latin 2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This program
has proven its legs for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not
actually sure where we will go from here, but we are really happy we found this
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DS12: prefers to work his on paper,
and I just made all of our lives much easier—I printed each group of four
chapters double-sided and bound them with my comb-binder (I have a list that
tells me what pages to print in what order, so all the lessons come out together,
then all the exercises come out together, all the history pages come out
together, and I put tabs to mark each section, and in the front I place a
syllabus so he knows what order to do the assignments in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easy-peasy!).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>ii.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS10:
Continue Lively Latin 1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DS10 prefers to
work on his ipad, and port each lesson into Notability, which allows him to
write on the worksheets directly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
comb-bound his workbooks anyway, just in case, and sometimes he elects to work
there too.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->German<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>i.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12
is working his way through Usborne’s Easy German, but has let me know he wants
to get back to Rosetta Stone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want him
to stick with UEG for a little bit, because I like the explicit grammar
instruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe we’ll alternate
between the two.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>ii.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS9
is doing really well with Usborne Easy German while we take a short break from
Rosetta Stone, and he says he will enjoy going back to Rosetta Stone in a bit
now that he understands a bit more about the grammar and has more confidence in
some of the vocabulary and ideas after having a chance to discuss them with
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also likes practicing the
dialogues with me—they are longer than RS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Both boys actually do like RS and have been doing well with it, but I like
to break things up when sticking with one program for so long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked at many German texts, and decided I
liked UEG the best for now.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Spanish<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>i.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12
will be picking up a new language this year along with his brother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They went back and forth between ancient
Greek, Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish, and finally chose Spanish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have no background in this language beyond
Sesame Street, but I was happy all the same because of the abundant resources
available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We settled on a really neat
looking package called Breaking the Barrier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It starts with 10 initial steps, which are ten questions and answers
common to most languages, so the kids will start out speaking and writing in
complete sentences right away, and in these lessons, it explains just a bit
about the sounds of Spanish (with a word about different groups of Spanish speakers,
such as different treatments of the ll consonant group).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After those ten steps, the first chapter
begins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I note that there are three
books in the series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We received a
worktext, teacher/answer guide, audio CD with native speakers, and a quick reference
chart of common phrases.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>ii.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS9
will use the same program, but he prefers the ipad app version instead of his
worktext.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has the same material, and
the audio CD is embedded in the text throughout, and he can click in the
margins to check his work, click a box to erase his page and try again to
practice more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I note there is also a
French version of this app, which must be used through iBooks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -.25in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>III.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Math<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12 will work on a monstered together math
program this year, both geometry (AoPS) and algebra II (Life of Fred) at the
same time, in alternating weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just
for fun, he’ll continue using the online Elements of Mathematics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’ll stick with Life of Fred for algebra II,
though we will periodically do a chapter test from Tobey and Slater for the
chance to see problems presented from a different point of view; just as in
German, in math I fear for students who stick with one series for too long and
get stuck with a single presentation of problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Geometry, I am curious to see how he does
in AoPS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We tried AoPS in PreAlgebra,
and he hated it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>disliked it as well, finding a pretty simple
(and generally unnecessary) year of math presented in an overblown fashion, but
I have higher hopes for the geometry text.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’ll see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS10 has been zipping through both Life of Fred
Elementary and Singapore Primary Mathematics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Over the summer he’ll take a break from Singapore and focus on Penrose
the Mathematical Cat and begin Life of Fred: Fractions and begin to move
through that series independently, and in the fall, he will resume the
Singapore series, with Singapore 7 DM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Looking through the scope and sequence for 7DM, I am very excited for
him, as he enjoys being challenged in math, and I think he will be very pleased
to leave simple arithmetic behind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His favorite
sections of the PM series have always been the geometry sections and
encountering new ideas such as ratios.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’ll see if we have finally reached a level where he feels challenged.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -.25in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>IV.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Physics<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12 will embark on only the second DVD program
I have ever permitted in our homeschool, Exploration Education, Intermediate
Advanced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is designed for students up
through the tenth grade, according to the label but looking through the
material, I suspect that is commensurate with mathematical ability rather than
difficulty level, and he should be on par with that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It come with a building kit and most of the
material is presented in context with projects the students must build and
learn the principals from, including taking measurements and recording them in a
lab book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also have the Thames and
Kosmos Physics Workshop, and a number of Science Wiz kits, including the
fascinating looking Inventions kit, which will have them building a working
telegraph system with a relay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also
have the book, “Physics with Toys,” which looks like fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This year of science should be filled with
hands-on fun, math, and adventure and silliness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad has a degree in physics, so there should
be some great dinner table conversation this year, too.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS10 will be mirroring much of what DS12 is
doing, only he will be using the standard version of Exploration Education
rather than the advanced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He will be
additionally using the Science Detective from the Critical Thinking Company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also has a supply of Snap Circuits.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -.25in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>V.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Logic<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Computer Programming<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>i.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12
is working on programming in Python with his Dad, who as a mathematician,
programs for a living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DH leaves 99% of
the homeschooling to me, but this is awesome DS/Daddy time for the two of them,
particularly as DS is closing in on those teen years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>ii.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS9
will continue working through the absolutely fantastic book, Super Scratch
Programming Adventure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We love how he is
writing a program in every lesson, and the book moves from using the language
to actually discussing what these functions do, are called, and how they apply
more generally in programming in different places in the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We started out with me showing DS10 how to
write his programs, step by step as they are laid out in the book, but now we
have improved to the point where I can ask him, “Okay, you want your program to
do <this> next; can you figure out how to make your program do
that?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is clearly starting to learn
how the logic of it all works, though this inside-out approach will have to be
carefully managed to get all the way back to the beginning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Brain Teasers: we work on these together to
start off the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have a variety
of books from The Critical Thinking Company, including Balance Benders, Red
herring Mysteries, Mind Benders, Think-A-Minutes, and more.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Logic<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>i.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12
will finish up Art of Argument and Discovery of Deduction, and then will move
into formal Logic with the James Madison Critical Thinking course from the Critical Thinking Company.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>ii.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS10
will begin his study of logic with Building Thinking Skills from the Critical
Thinking Company, and work his way through Fallacy Detective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As if this kid needs training in how to
argue.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -.25in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>VI.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->History and Geography<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS12 will stick with History Odyssey by Pandia
Press, at his request, and will move into Level 2 Early Modern History.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has finished reading K12’s Human Odyssey
volume 2, and will begin reading Volume 3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is working his way through CTC’s History Detective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For fun, he continues to watch videos from
Horrible Histories and reads Learning Through History Magazine and investigates
primary sources as we come across interesting ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will continue to incorporate related
literature into our history studies. At some point, I am hoping our classical cooperative will also work together on the "You Decide" constitutional law/critical thinking course, which is quite a lot of fun in a group setting, one of the few true coops I would consider.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->DS10 has is completing his first survey of world
history, from ancients through modern history, and is ready to begin again, and
a slower, deeper pace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He too enjoys
Pandia Press’s History Odyssey, and will begin Ancients Level 2 along with
related literature.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -.25in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>VII.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Art and Music<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Meet the Masters: we have been enjoying this
fantastic art program together this year and will continue it into next year,
learning about the lives, contemporaries, important works, and favored
techniques of famous artists, one at a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We listen to the music they listened to, find out who they hung out
with, and practice some of their techniques, before completing a project inspired
by that artist’s style or technique.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Composer and genre studies will continue to take
place from a variety of sources we have on hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll learn about some famous opera story
lines this year, as well as the lives of more classical composers, and a few
contemporary musicians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Instrumental lessons will continue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DS12 is doing well on his piano, and DS10 is
making beautiful music on his recorder, though consideration of a new
instrument is on the horizon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -.25in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">VIII.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Phys Ed Gym class will continue in the fall at
the Hockessin Athletic club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are
in the area, we encourage you to sign up, because this class has a fantastic
instructor!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also try to ride bikes,
run laps, and play catch or soccer daily when weather allows, or ping pong or
something if it doesn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we’re out
an about in other classes, DS12 is working toward his brown belt in karate and
is enjoying fencing lessons, though he’ll take a summer hiatus to allow for
more free play time with friends, and DS9 enjoys gymnastics and swimming
lessons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, summer will enjoy a
hiatus to allow more free time to enjoy the pool and friends.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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We are really excited about this upcoming year!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have a lot of really cool things on deck
here!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our heaviest foci for the year
will be writing, literature, history, math, Logic, and Physics, followed by
Foreign language with the addition of Spanish to their studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grammar, vocabulary, and spelling will play
supporting roles to writing and literature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Art and music also support history and literature as well as
mathematics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Phys Ed supports all!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will add links as I have time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-13811647903750915582013-05-24T17:41:00.000-07:002013-05-24T17:41:20.076-07:00Social HomeschoolersWhat about socialization?<br />
<br />
I was writing a long discussion about why homeschoolers and their non-homeschooling acquaintances can't seem to have a non-snarky conversation about this topic, but it got to be too long, so I shelved it. Instead, let me share what the elder of my two homeschoolers has been doing over the past couple of weeks. <br />
<br />
Son#1 is currently 12. On Sundays, he goes to youth group with our church, with a mixed group of junior and senior high youth. They spend part of the time just hanging out and part of the time dealing with the evening's topic. I say "mixed group" because most of the kids are young Methodists or kids of Methodists (if they have not yet chosen to join the church on their own); however others are atheist or kids of other faiths who just enjoy hanging out with the group. Sometimes they also just go bowling, play frisbee golf, or have pizza. He has also just completed his confirmation class series with a small subgroup of the kids. <br />
<br />
One night of the week, he goes to fencing with a group of kids he has known for two years now. They are serious about fencing, but they also have a blast, as it should be when you are 12. Two afternoons a week, he goes to karate; he is soon to get his brown belt. Often, he will hang out with the kids in his karate class before or afterward to play for a while before heading home. He has known that crew for closing on four years now. <br />
<br />
One afternoon a week he takes a gym class with a mixed group of kids ranging in age from 7 to 15, male and female. Oftentimes those kids will hang out afterwards and play in the gym or in the pool and goof off together. Sometimes there are park days together as well, or birthday parties. These guys have had gym together for going on three years; it's a tight knit group. This same group also takes a science class together every other week at a local museum.<br />
<br />
In yet another homeschool group, the kids (a cluster of them happen to be 9-12 years old boys) get together at different houses on a regular basis and take field trips together. Sometimes, they get into trouble together. Mostly, they get along really well together. Sometimes, they get on each others' nerves a bit. We moms stay out of it for the most part and make them work it out amongst themselves. They get along pretty well together and do manage to talk and work out their differences and get along again. <br />
<br />
He also runs his own Minecraft server, where he has had to learn the ins and outs of leadership-- when to give a friend a time-out, or even the boot-- and how to redirect somebody before they cross the line in the first place. Things were rough going at first, but his leadership skills in this area have grown tremendously. Again, we avoid interfering directly, allowing him to run his server, though we may consult later and talk him through the ups and downs of different leadership scenarios we have overheard developing (his group Skype conference calls while they play, so we can hear everything that is going on and who is playing from the other room). <br />
<br />
On weekends, holidays, and occasional "surprise" days, he still gets to see his old school friends as well. <br />
<br />
We also have had our random opportunities through homeschooling-- a Friday spent volunteering at the Food Bank, packing lunches for school kids who don't have enough food at home to make it through the weekend, providing a church service to the needy elderly who don't get visitors, a trip to the butcher shop to chat with the butcher, and watch him break down a chicken, carve a steak from side of beef and trim off the fat, going with Mom to the doctor's office and learning quite a bit from the different charts, equipment, and staff there, and sharing our schoolwork with everyone from the hairdresser to the auto mechanic.<br />
<br />
Now, most of that would be what I would call "socializing" rather than "socialization," though there is definitely some element of the latter present in any social interaction. In the mixed age groups he is learning compassion toward the younger kids, and the fun balance between self confidence and deference to the older ones. On field trips he has to learn how to balance his wishes with the wishes of the group he is hanging out with, and in the church group attended by people from different backgrounds, he is learning some sensitivity towards different perspectives.<br />
<br />
What is socialization? My kids know how to answer a telephone properly. They know how to stand in line because they get that it's polite, not because somebody bigger than they are screams at them if they don't. They know to take care of library books even better than their own and return them on time because somebody else might want to read them next. They know to show up for appointments on time because the doctor or hairdresser has a schedule, and so does the next person after us with an appointment as well; they aren't on time because somebody will give them a detention if they are late. They know this from going places with me and seeing what happens when people are late (or when we are late). They know the power of a sincere apology, and the difference between a real one and a muttered one, though of course, as humans, that will remain a work in progress. My kids are starting to learn that learning is important to them, and not just to their teacher <koff>. They are learning that if they act like jerks, it's hard to get a brother to cooperate (another work in progress). <br />
<br />
In short, socializing is awesome. In our homeschool world, like most other homeschoolers we know, there is an abundance of social opportunity. Socialization is different from mere socializing. Socialization is not just the experimentation on your friends; it is behavior both modeled and explicitly taught by your parents and other adults around you, such as coaches and teachers and pastors. As homeschoolers, we have many more contact hours with our kids in which to provide that socialization-- how to behave properly in society. We also provide coaches and access to other appropriate adults who interact with the kids out in society, which is where socialization happens.<br />
<br />
We do not "hand pick" all of our kids' friends. Our kids have friends from all social, religious, ethnic, educational, and economic backgrounds. They definitely see and try out some behaviors from their friends from time to time, and this influence will become increasingly important as they grow older. However, they try these things out on us first at this age, and we are available, almost 24/7, to let them know which of their new habits are okay and which ones are not going to fly. They are not spending half their waking hours, five days per week, away from us where we can't help them sort things out, during these critical, younger years.<br />
<br />
For homeschoolers, this is socialization.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Thanks for reading!</i><br />
<br />
--Jen<br />
<br />
<br />NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-17462384028321101052012-12-07T08:54:00.001-08:002012-12-07T09:02:53.611-08:00I Had My 7 . . . Will My Kids?/Farewell Miss Schmidt<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">Through my entire public school career, K-12, I can count 7 truly outstanding teachers, who had a major influence on me (and I went to what is considered by many to be one of the top districts in PA, or at least it was at the time, back in the day).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><br style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;" /></span>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">So today, I have two issues, one of which can't actually be resolved, just dealt with. The other, maybe my fellow homeschoolers can help me put back into perspective once the shock of the first has resolved a bit.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><br style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;" /></span>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">So the first is sad: One of "my seven" has passed away. A truly influential teacher, though she taught in my middle school years (6th--8th here) she had a significant impact on my later school and career choices and success. Dealing with an interesting and challenging age group in a school setting, she was quick with a smile, had a memorable (and frequent) laugh that could be heard all down the hallway, and was one of the first to reach out to and encourage new students migrating into the school during their middle school years and help them find a way to become involved in some type of group or find a group of friends in a pretty clique-ish school. She was the cheerleading squad coach-- and was, according to my friends who were on that team, much beloved by the squad. She had the energy and stamina to take this age group camping, hiking, to the beach, to NYC, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Gettysburg, and other locales that would terrify many a teacher of the newly adolescent set, and we had a great balance of supervision and freedom-- I have no memories of "line up and shut up." She co-ran a dissecting club, placing scalpels in our hands every week with cheery aplomb. She dealt with messy girl issues, boy-girl issues, hormonal issues, and educational issues all with professionalism and kindness. I don't believe I ever took a multiple choice exam in her classroom. Her funeral is today, and unfortunately, with a sick kid at home, it is just a tad too far away for me to make it there to pay my last respects to her and her family for all her years of tremendously hard work and dedication. I know at least one of my other "seven" will be in attendance, and it would have been wonderful to see her.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><br style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;" /></span>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">That is my first issue-- I'm truly sad about the loss of a wonderful human being.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><br style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;" /></span>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">That brings up the second issue. My overall feeling about homeschooling is pretty unequivocal-- our only regret 99% of the time is, "Why didn't we do this sooner?" However. Though I know it seems like an argument in itself to say, "Well . . . out of 40+ teachers in your K12 career, only 7 were good . . . what does that say about the rest of your time???" The reality is that my life would absolutely have been poorer had it not been for these 7 people. And it isn't quite true that only 7 were good; there were 7 who I personally felt were outstanding for me. Other students had other teachers who reached them in our district. Some teachers who didn't connect so well with me, connected fabulously with other students. One teacher who was definitely on my "could live without seeing him again" list is a favorite of some friends of mine. Life is like that. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><br style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;" /></span>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">So, on this day, I worry just a bit about what my kids may miss out on by homeschooling. Who might their "7" have been? What influence in their lives are they missing that I am not replacing, necessarily? Am I robbing them of some type of transformative experience they might have had, had I chucked them at the local public school? When interviewed about one of the books he has published, my husband noted that our high school English teacher was absolutely a key influence on his ability to write (she is also one of my "7"). </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><span style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">I do realize that I am replacing the "school" experience with other experiences that they would not get if they were in school. There are other mentors, other teachers, other classes we only do as homeschoolers-- we do not simply sit at home all day long. But it is a less random situation than school. Had my parents hand-picked my teachers, a few of my "7" would never have crossed my path, for certain.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><span style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">I get nervous when I talk to homeschoolers who think that there is only one choice for schooling, that schools are 100% evil, that homeschooling is the only possible choice. Whether we as parents choose to use homeschooling, public schooling, charter, schools, or private schools, we are tossing a dart in the dark about the experiences and influences our kids are going to have in their lives. We are making choices that will have profound downstream influences. Today, I feel a tremendous loss, from the loss of a human being who was a great educator. I had that opportunity thanks to the public education that my parents selected for me (and select it they did; we moved out of the district where my Dad taught so that my siblings and I would not have to have him as a teacher, and my parents had their pick of districts to live in). I would be foolish not to wonder what choices I am making for my children, via my choices, and to hope that one day they can feel the profound impact that some of these choices have had on their lives. I hope I am making good choices for them, as my parents did for me.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><span style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;">Will they, through homeschooling, also find "a 7?"</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.454545021057129px; line-height: 21.81818199157715px;"><br /></span>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-90168044507315907702012-12-02T20:19:00.000-08:002012-12-02T20:19:14.747-08:00Checking in on the Science Front<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I figured I would give an update on how our experiment with the science format is going. In a phrase: beyond my best expectations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have been using the Prentice Hall Science Explorer series as an organizing spine, and for occasional inspiration to add to our labs and hands-on illustrations of concepts, and I am very pleased with these books as a spine for my logic and upper elementary stage sons. As outlined in my prior blog post, we are organizing our science classes, held daily for 1-2 hours every other week, as follows: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Monday</b>: Mom-led discussion/lecture</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Tuesday</b>: Assiged reading with outlining/notetaking</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Wednesday</b>: lab day. May include additional videos or internet resources, depending on time</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Thursday</b>: Additional reading</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Friday</b>: Student chosen projects-- each kid choses one idea or topic that caught their interest during the week, researches it or does an additional experiment, makes a presentation to teach the family about what they learn by the end of the day.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was not really sure how well this plan would work out, or how well I would feel we had covered biology as a discipline-- it is my former professional field, so I feel passionate about it-- but thanks to our rotating math/science history/language focus schedule, we only get 20-21 weeks to spend on it, and this plan allows us to only really cover about 16-18 topics, with the expectation that a few topics will require more than one week, but most will only get one week. I could easily spend all year on any given topic. My hope was that the Friday projects would catch some of what we have to leave out-- permitting the kids time to explore some of the bunny trails that catch their eyes and building in time for them to go explore. But really-- only 16-18 topics? That really makes me nervous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are now a few months into this experiment, and here is a glimpse into how our week worked:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Monday: I prepared a discussion based on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/SCIENCE-EXPLORER-ANIMALS-Prentice-Explorer/dp/0130540617/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1354506083&sr=8-3&keywords=prentice+hall+science+explorer+animals" target="_blank">Science Explorer text</a> on the topic of mollusks, echinoderms, and arthropods. We discussed the increasing complexity of body plans that we were encountering (previous weeks were devoted to worms, cnidarians, sponges, protistae, bacteria, etc). We are adding more complex kidneys, starting to develop hearts, the segments of the body are starting to specialize, we are encountering organisms such as the squid that have some intelligence. We experienced life without jointed appendages by casting our arms in cardboard and attempting to write, scratch our tummies, and punch our brothers. We got out great-grandma's collection of real starfish, conch shells, seahorses, and other preserved sea life, and discussed exoskeletons vs endoskeletons, and chitin made of polymer chains vs calcium based endoskeletons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tuesday: Lots of additional reading happened. DS9 read selections from Lab of Mr.Q, Real Science Odyssey, Basher Biology, and Holt textbook. He noted facts about each phylum and filled in body plan diagrams, noting the differences between arachnids and insects, and labeled snails and starfish. DS11 read and outlined selections from Usborne that led him to think about past lessons as well as this week's lesson, reading about different types of feeding, locomotion, and appendages. He also had additional things to read, and kept up with his daily assignments from our trial run with Plato Life Sciences. The goal for him, as a logic stage student, is to draw more connections between our lessons and see the bigger picture on one hand, but also to dig into more details and be more specific about what he is learning. He also labeled diagrams of the different organisms, with a focus on the defining characteristics of each group.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wednesday: Lab Day! We grabbed the dissection kit for the first time, and finally ready to really wrap our heads around a discussion of body plan comparisons, we carefully worked our way through an earthworm, clam, grasshopper, crayfish, perch, and frog. We finished just before lunchtime. DS9 was ready to eat. DS11 waited a little bit first. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thursday: Extra reading day! This day has proven to be pretty fun. We watch videos on Discovery Education Streaming, and have extra reading. This week, because of the variety of organisms we discussed, we opened up a National Geographic book on migrations. DS9 read about monarch butterflies (insects are part of phylum arthropoda) jellyfish (a past topic) red crabs, army ants, and other creatures that migrate long distances. DS11 had his own additional reading about the guys we've been discussing all week in our reference books that we stock in the house and the extras I had picked up from the library. Both boys picked a topic to research for their independent topics on Friday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Friday: This week was really special. Both boys have been really good at finding their topics to research each week, and that has been really exciting to see. DS9 has always needed a bit of hand-holding, which is neither surprising nor inappropriate. DS11 has been pretty independent about his projects, and picked a nice variety of topics. This week, however, the boys just rocked it. DS11 became interested in starfish digestion-- a cool example of finding a detailed item to dig into. DS9, however, held our big surprise for the week. He chose his topic--the red crab-- read our books on hand about it (starting with the migrations book) then went to the computer, where he figured out how to google his topic and filter out the appropriate links. He made his way to two or three different articles about the red crab, read them and actually took notes on paper. He then made his oral presentation, using only keyword notes from his paper, giving great details about the migration, feeding, reproduction, and nesting habits of the red crab. I was thrilled. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This far into the year, I am pleased with how the year is going. No, we will not cover every topic I can think of-- we could study nothing but biology until they get married and still not manage that. The two of them read different things, and they end up discussing their readings with each other, something I never schedule and they just do spontaneously, increasing the material covered, and the depth. The Friday projects are giving them time to dig up more information, and better yet, related the lessons to things that they find interesting (can you imagine your school life, if one day per week was dedicated to letting you go explore topics that interested you as they related to your lessons?). DS11 still thinks dissection is unbelievably icky. That's okay. He survived doing it (poor kid- wait until later this year when we cover anatomy and deal with the sheep's brain and heart, and the cow's eyeball . . .). He's also learning there is a lot of other cool stuff to biology, so the course is not the nightmare he thought it would be, and he's actually enjoying himself (when we're not dissecting anything).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Best of all, I can see evidence before me that they are truly learning how to learn. They are not merely passively accepting what I dump into their brains. They are figuring out how to go find information, organize it, digest it, and give it to others, independently. If we can keep that skill going all year, this year of biology will be a huge success, no matter what topics we exclude. We simply cannot teach them everything, but if we help them figure out how to go learn and evaluate information for themselves, while still building a strong foundation, and help them develop a strong curiosity about the world, they will be well set.</span></div>
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<br />NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-44876152694753098702012-09-12T18:52:00.000-07:002012-09-13T06:07:39.635-07:00Biology: Fostering Exploration in a Classical Model<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">Last year was our first full year of homeschooling, and we had a pretty successful year of science, studying chemistry and having a blast with a host of great experiments. We primarily followed the formal laid out for us by <a href="http://www.noeoscience.com/chemI.html" target="_blank">NOEO Science levels 1 and 2</a>, heavily padded with supplemental material that was not strictly needed, but a whole lot of fun. However, for biology this year, I could not find any one pre-fabricated curriculum that entirely satisfied me. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">A former bench scientist (research assistant to an MD/PhD at a children's hospital) I was really looking forward to teaching biology to my kids this year, but every package I looked over either lacked something, didn't suit our <a href="http://hillandalefarmschool.blogspot.com/2012/02/schedule-scramble-listening-to-kids.html" target="_blank">highly custom schedule</a>, didn't emphasize some area I felt was important, or was too superficial. Finding curricula that sufficiently address evolution can be a challenge. And, with a new 9YO and an 11 1/2 YO, I had a kid in grammar stage and a kid in logic stage, so I wanted something that I could both teach together, yet provide differentiated instruction easily. Even some pretty good programs (such as <a href="http://www.noeoscience.com/bio1.html" target="_blank">NOEO</a> and a few others) have differentiated levels, but the topics don't match up.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">I finally realized I had to go with the obvious solution: make it up myself. I'll spare you the tale of all the angst this decision caused. Suffice it to say that teaching something you feel you know particularly well is not necessarily an easy thing to plan the first time you do it. The temptation to want to teach everything you know in a limited amount of time is a battle that must be won before you can begin.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">If someone reminds me, we can do an update/reveal on the comprehensive list of topics at the end of the year. The most important bit of planning that occurred has been the structure of the course, and this is has both me and the kids the most excited. Homeschooling should be an opportunity to explore interests and follow up on bunny trails, yet our particular brand of homeschooling is more of a classical model than and unschooling model. I was looking to find a way of studying science this year that was a bit less rigid, yet preserved our overall philosophy of education. Also in consideration is our unusual schedule; we only study science every other week, alternating an intensive study of science and math with a week focused intensively on language and history. In a typical (for us) 42 week school year, this leaves only 20-21 weeks of biology, compared to the typical 36 week school year, though we may put in upwards of 10-12 hours in each of those weeks just for biology, per kid.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">With two weeks of the new biology under our belts, the new model is working really well. The kids, including Son#1, who has been dreading "the icky science" of Biology for a year now, has responded enthusiastically. This is how it goes, with last week's lesson filled in as an example:</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">Monday: group discussion/mom led lecture</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Introduction to cells: cell walls, cell membranes, cytoplasm, nuclear membranes, nucleus. Small amount of biochemistry of cell membranes, homeostasis (tie in from prior week-- definition of life). Discussion that not all of these elements are present in all cells. Introduce main topic for the week, classification systems. Why classify? (response of bacteria to different antibiotic classes, identification of new species, seeing relationships, organizing information, kids' ideas). Present classification systems, overview.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">Tuesday: individually assigned readings and outlining</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DS9: <a href="http://www.eequalsmcq.com/classicsciinfo.htm" target="_blank">Mr.Q Science</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencelearningspace.com/members/go.php?r=11136&i=l38" target="_blank">SuperCharged Science</a>. Keyword Outline reading from <a href="http://www.sciencelearningspace.com/members/go.php?r=11136&i=l38" target="_blank">Supercharged Science</a> on classification. Do Activity from <a href="http://www.sciencelearningspace.com/members/go.php?r=11136&i=l38" target="_blank">SCS</a> on choosing 5 animals, then using web link to research classification and information to see how related they are. Try to pick animals he thinks are related and see how well he can do. Look at Usborne <a href="http://www.pandiapress.com/?page_id=82" target="_blank">RSO</a> info.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DS11: Read <a href="http://www.ellenjmchenrydownloads.com/Cells_c17.htm" target="_blank">Ellen McHenry</a> info on cell membranes. Outline classification scheme from Usborne. Do unit from Plato Science.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Start labs on cells, fungi, and bacteria. Set wet bread crumbs in warm place and in fridge, check on every day to see if they have different results. Play with Yeast. In shot glasses, add yeast to: warm water and sugar, cold water and sugar, warm water and no sugar, cold water and no sugar. What happens? Mix warm water, yeast, and sugar in a test tube, shake up. Put balloon over top of test tube. What happens? Why? **Make sure we have chicken broth, agar, petri dishes, abx for labs for next time.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">Thursday: additional reading (no outlining; notes/pictures encouraged)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Normally, additional reading material is assigned here on the topic. We had an unplanned day off from school though. Life happens.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">Friday: Each child picks one idea or fact they learned during the week to find out more about. They may use our myriad in-house resources, the Internet, or our Friday library time. It does not need to be on the main topic. They make an outline, take notes, draw a picture, make a PowerPoint, do a project or start an additional experiment, and orally present their new information and why it was exciting to the rest of us.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DS9: DS9 was very excited about poison dart frogs that he read about during his exercise on Tuesday on the web site. This was fair game, so he went ahead and read more about them in books we had around the house and on the internet. He drew a picture and wrote a keyword outline, then taught us about them. He was very excited to get to pick something that HE was interested in to learn all about for science class! He even included the classification information, and showed what poison dart frogs had in common-- and how they were different from-- different animals we were more familiar with, such as having a backbone.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DS11: From the first day's lecture, DS11 was very interested in knowing more about this "cytoplasm" stuff, and did not wait until Friday to start researching it on the internet. By Friday, he was ready to give a short presentation on Cytoplasm, and was pleased to tell us what he had learned so far.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am hoping that over the course of a year, we will see their research skills grow and become more refined. At this point, I am happy that they are excited about finding information-- at 9 and 11, I don't expect a 20-page dissertation from either of them. I am happy enough to see them using more than one source of information, writing down where they found the information, and enthusiastic about learning more about something they have read about or heard me say.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am pretty pumped about this format for science for the year. Other books we have on hand range from the Prentice-Hall Science Explorer series, to various iterations of the Holt Biology texts, to more fun titles such as "Have a Nice DNA!" and "Enjoy Your Cells!" We have books on Wilderness Survival, First Aid for Kids, Animal poop and tracks, Genetics, Gregor Mendel, Animal Migration, Habitats, Tree Identification, Sex, Reproduction, and more. We have a sheep's heart to dissect, a sheep's brain, a cow's eyeball, a worm, a fish, a frog, a starfish, owl pellets, and more; we have a good microscope and ponds nearby, single celled critters to grow, agar and petri dishes. We have celery and food dye (can anyone escape childhood without doing THAT experiment?? I think not). We have water and soil test kits, pH indicators, lab coats and goggles. We have instructions for dissecting a chicken wing to see how different muscles make the wing extend and retract (muscles only pull; they never push). We have models of teeth, x-rays of the entire human body, and models to create of how lungs work.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think we'll get the basic facts down that educated kids need to obtain in these years through the discussion sections, reading, and note taking. The labs should introduce basic skills and generate interest, and reinforce learning. Additional reading should hopefully generate interest and assist with longer term memory of what we cover, and the personal projects each week should give them a chance to explore topics we don't have time to cover in 20 weeks of intensive study, and give them a sense of control in studying some of what they wish to study just because it interests them. And hopefully having that emotional investment in the learning process will also help aid retention of the information. Getting to present their personal projects also provides a forum in which to wrap up the week and set an example of discussion of academic topics.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just one month ago, I was kind of overwhelmed by the thought of teaching a year of biology to my kids-- what if I took the subject I love most and really, really messed it up??? Now that we have this model down, I'm just pumped. I think science will be really exciting this year, for all three of us.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>--Thanks for reading!</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;" /></span></span>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-87889043016732629972012-09-03T15:16:00.000-07:002012-09-03T15:16:51.966-07:00Homeschooling and Supervision: a Sticky Debate<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Raise your hand if you are a homeschooler, and have fielded a question along the lines of: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, the state supervises your homeschooling, right?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So who approves your curriculum?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You have to submit a portfolio and test scores, right?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You have to have a teaching license, right?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How can you teach if you don't know how?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You have to have mandatory testing and submit test scores to your local school, right?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How does your state make sure you are really doing your job? I would think a lot of homeschoolers could fail to get an education!</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Raise your hand if you are not a homeschooler, but have ever had a question along those lines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I bet there are a LOT of hands up in the air.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I recently read an article about homeschooling (and responded to a comment, something I rarely do, since most people in that situation are generally just airing their views rather than looking to have a conversation) and it made me think once again about the thorny question about homeschooling and curriculum/results regulation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The overwhelming majority of the homeschoolers with whom I am acquainted do an amazing job of educating their children-- to the point where state standards are completely irrelevant, because their children vastly outpace them. Virtually 100% of us have had our friends and family question our ability to homeschool, and fielded concerned questions about whether we have someone peeking over our shoulders to make sure we are doing a good job, on the assumption that we are probably failing in some regard, because we are not "professionals," or that we are too emotionally attached to our kids to be objective, or don't have the knowledge base to teach them, or because schools test, and therefore it must be a good idea, etc etc etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The problem that arises for me is this. I am so glad that I home educate in a state that is virtually free of state oversight. Our schools were doing my children a vast disservice (see my earlier posts, "Journey toward Homeschooling, 1 & 2). In a nutshell, my younger son was in a remedial math program due to his dysgraphia, which was not being addressed at all, and his giftedness (including in mathematics) was being ignored. I was told he would never read with much comprehension-- he just devoured Orson Scott Card's <u>Ender's Game</u>, at the wise old age of 8. He routinely compares different variations of literature that he has read, carrying out compare/contrast studies of Arthurian legends and Homeric translations, not to mention starting to read and write both Latin and German, and beginning to learn some vocabulary in Spanish. He is devouring complex area and perimeter problems, solving mixed number fraction problems in his head, and doing basic algebra. I am glad that the people who had him in remedial second grade math and pegged as a non-reader just over a year ago are not in charge of telling me what to do with him. I don't want those people anywhere near my kids' education. I want to plan history and science according to my own schedule, teach health on my own timetable and in my own way, which will undoubtedly be far superior to anything taught in the schools, and without question be taught in a way that makes more sense. We start languages and instrumental music earlier as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know there are people out there who are not doing a fantastic job with their kids. I think it is a societal problem when kids are not receiving an adequate education. It is unfair to the kids, too; who can look out for their interests if Mom and Dad fail them? Wouldn't some kind of state accountability protect them somehow?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But would it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I look to the public schools for an answer there, and that is where things would become rather unfair for homeschoolers; it would subject them to a standard that even the public schools do not meet. In our state, the public schools are failing our kids at horrific rates. Overall graduation rates are shockingly low. Graduation rates for special education students are at or below 60%, less for non-whites. Students who meet proficiency standards in the tenth grade in both reading and math are rare. Why should homeschoolers stand out as a group that needs monitoring and needs to meet certain standards, when our public schools do not do so themselves? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Further, I posit that the student whose parents are neglecting his home education just might fall into that same low category if placed in the public school. Our public schools are staffed with teachers who often care and do a fine job with the tools they are given. One tool teachers are not given, and is not within their control, is support from home. If you take a child away from home education and plunk him into a public school, but he still lacks support for school attendance, assignment completion, educational expectations for high achievement, and parent/teacher communication, that student's chances of success remain infinitesimally small. You do not change the environment or the parents by simply changing the student's study location. Students fail in public schools every single day-- millions of them across the country.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Given the vast benefits of educational and curricular freedom, I cannot find a compelling case for educational oversight of homeschooling at this time. </b> The public schools have a tough enough time taking care of the students they already enroll. In some states, oversight is provided by teachers, many of whom are already overburdened, though they may benefit from getting some great ideas from homeschoolers; that could well be a symbiotic relationship. However, given the time drain for both the parent teacher and the public teacher, one that is more trouble than positive over the long haul-- consider the time spent assembling, presenting, discussing, and reviewing portfolios, not to mention driving to meetings, that could have been spent actually teaching new material or planning. In some cases, the oversight involves maintaining state standards that are irrelevant to homeschoolers, who have already exceeded those standards in many cases.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If it were the case that public school children were all receiving a stellar education, and home schooled children were singularly at risk for receiving a sub-par education, I would concede the need for some regulation. However the statistics on public education reveal that to not be the case. There is clearly no magic in attending public school; some are fantastic, many are not. There are great teachers, okay teachers, and terrible teachers. Sending a kid back to public school is simply no promise that he will receive a stellar education. <b>Home educating is similarly no guarantee of a superior education, but neither is it any riskier than the alternative, and therefore it does not need special supervision by those who may have failed the child being home educated in the first place.</b></span></div>
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NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-9399249662689104062012-08-29T14:29:00.002-07:002012-08-29T14:30:22.760-07:00I Would Have had a Middle School Kid as of Monday, and I'm Okay With That . . . I Think . . . Back to school time has arrived in our county, and pretty much everyone we know of Facebook posted smiling kid pictures, children posing in new clothes, new haircuts, smiling faces, with new backpacks, new shoes, and new hopes for the coming school year. I wished them all well, and thought, "Aaaaah . . . we still get to sleep in most mornings! No school bus scramble!"<br />
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Well, I mostly thought that. There was one, small pang. Many posts from my contemporaries noted that they had a son or daughter making a major step forward in life: a first day of either middle or high school. I looked at those photos, and marveled at these strange, grown-up looking kids, ready to head off to lockers, changing classes, and new adventures, and had to admit that I felt a small loss.<br />
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My older son, had he remained in public school, would have set off for his first day of sixth grade this past Monday, and begun that rite of passage known as middle school. This is a rite of passage he will never experience. Many homeschoolers turn their noses up at this notion, but I am not among them; my middle school experiences were not the muddle of horror that many describe. Our school was not so bad; most of our teachers cared, and a few were even pretty good. My former 7th grade math teacher is now the principal. One of my former school mates is now a math teacher there. We still live not all that far from that school, and could theoretically move there if we wanted to do so. Middle school would not necessarily have to be a horror. But my son will not experience it, at least in a school building. We have elected to opt out of that experience, in exchange for what we view to be the benefits of homeschooling.<br />
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I was a little startled when I showed my husband a photo of a friend's daughter, celebrating her first day of high school, and remembering when we took a group trip to Washington, DC about nine years ago, and all the kids were so small; my oldest was a mere toddler, and this beautiful, mature-looking ninth-grader would have been about five or six years old. He made the comment that echoed my feelings: that there was a small sense of loss that we don't have a picture to commemorate our son's entrance into middle school, because he is not doing so.<br />
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In a few days, this too shall pass. We have continued with school throughout the summer, so we are not experiencing a transition for back to school time; we are merely experiencing a transition of our friends not being around when the kids are finished with their school work during the day or when we take the occasional day off (something we can afford to do, as we completed 42 full weeks of school last year after all days off were accounted for). We enjoy having the pool to ourselves, having our choice of seating in the theater, enjoying Longwood Gardens during the day without crowds, and other perqs. However, I would be lying if I pretended that we had not noticed the passing of this missed milestone for us. <br />
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For everything you gain, there are often things that you do give up along the way.<br />
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NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-40183801636945550722012-05-21T19:32:00.000-07:002012-05-21T19:48:40.852-07:00Math by the Seat of Your PantsI often hear from people and see message board posts from others who get frustrated about how to teach young kids math, and although I understand why-- many, many people do not have happy memories of math from their own childhoods-- I have to say, math is a source of a lot of fun for my grammar stage (generally K--4) Son#2. Why? The concepts at this stage are so readily presented in a concrete, almost game-based form, and discussing the math in this format before getting down to the text/workbook lesson is just so much fun. I don't have some magic resource for our games and ideas (other than a few that came from the Life of Fred Elementary series, a very fun way of approaching math during these years). Mostly I look at the textbook-- for us that is Singapore Math, US Edition-- and let it inspire me. I often do not have a plan before we sit down; I just let stuff happen. It seems to work pretty well.<br />
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One new inspiration happened today. We were reviewing factoring, and the textbook had arrays of pictures to illustrate various numbers. We happened to have a set of several pipe cleaners on the table, so I grabbed them, and challenged DS2 to use them to illustrate different ways to factor the various arrays. He illustrated the factors of different numbers several different ways, and despite a week's vacation from the previous lesson, he had the concept down pat in about two minutes (but kept playing with the idea for several more just for fun).<br />
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I have collected here some prior ideas that I have posted in various message boards; they're easier to locate here than buried as post#20 in thread#403,455,786,778 :). These are all real activities that "just happened" for us at one time or another:<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<li>One day we were reviewing, and I opened up the fraction stacks and c-rods (Cuisinaire Rods-- in our case, unmarked wooden rods cut to different unit-lengths and each length colored a particular color; Fraction Stacks are marked and sectioned, and stack, connecting to one another) and told DS8 to just play for a bit. Then I asked him to find the sum of 1/4 and 1/2 using the stacks. He messed around, then swapped out the 1/2 block for 2 - 1/4 blocks and came up with 3/4. We got tougher and added 2/12 plus 1/3 plus 1/4 and he did the same thing eventually, swapping out all blocks for the correct number of twelfths blocks, and then figuring out how to simplify 9/12 to 3/4 by swapping them back out with the quarter blocks.</li>
<li>We did similar things with compare the fractions exercises-- what is bigger-- 2/8 or 1/6? Make a prediction, then compare. Can we simplify 2/8? Oh yeah, 2/8 = 1/4! Of course 1/4 is bigger than 1/6! It means one whole was only cut into four pieces!</li>
<li>We have used C-Rods to imitate the bar diagrams Singapore uses to solve its word problems.</li>
<li>Place a long stick (Tinker Toys work well!) across a plastic clock face to demonstrate quarters, halves, or thirds, and relate it to telling time. Cut out matching fraction shapes from paper plates to cover parts of the clock face to illustrate further if needed.</li>
<li>Measures are easier still... Grab measuring cups and rulers, and pour spill and measure and compare everything in your house. Do it before opening the book.</li>
<li>Area... Get those blocks back out (on a smaller scale, you can use the c-rods again). Use the square blocks as a unit block to figure out the area of different composite and rectangular shapes you create, and to measure their perimeter. Measure them with a ruler. Can you find a rule?</li>
<li>Adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing-- put a giant stack of crayons or colored pencils or pennies or Legos or Playmobil guys or M&M's to great use. Take a page out of Life of Fred: Apples. If you have a pile of 7 (or any other smallish number), how many ways can you divide them up to add up to 7? How about cool numbers like 12 or 24? Can you find all the factors? Can you find common factors?</li>
<li>Collect stacks of coins or other differentiated counters, or make your own. Model Singapore's picture models-- ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc, and do calculations with them to understand why there is no "Borrowing," but instead "Redistributing" or as we like to call it, "Busting open" or "Tying back up." It will never be more clear why 5 ones and 5 ones make 10 ones, or one ten.</li>
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Singapore says upfront it starts with concrete. You have to provide the concrete as the flesh and blood teacher. If you find coming up with ideas to be a challenge, there are Home Instructor Guides available to provide those ideas. Let your child explore the idea first, then provide some guidance. Let him explore some more, the let him answer some questions and gain confidence in the idea with the manipulatives. When the lightbulb goes on, then it's time to get out the book. <br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /></span>You can always leave the toys out for them to explore on their own later. You may be pleasantly surprised at what creative ideas they come up with on their own. Or, your child may simply build a house out of the C-Rods, and that's okay too :)<br />
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<i>--Thanks for Reading!<br /><br />Jen</i><span style="background-color: #f5f5ff; font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><br />
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<i><br /></i>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-76413303426421179112012-05-21T18:08:00.000-07:002012-05-21T18:08:38.873-07:00Shakespeare, on Homeschooling<br />
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Just for fun</div>
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<b>Prospero:</b></div>
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Here in this island we arriv'd, and here</div>
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Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit</div>
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Than other princess' can, that have more time</div>
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For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.</div>
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<b>Miranda:</b></div>
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"Heavens thank you for't!"</div>
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(Prospero, stranded on an island with his daughter for twelve years at this point with his daughter Miranda and the monster Caliban, reflects upon the benefits of homeschooling)</div>
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--<i>The Tempest</i>, Act I, scene ii</div>
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Thank you to L. Nick Trefethen and the wonderful Kate for the reference!</div>
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<br /></div>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-76652045860196963112012-03-06T17:05:00.001-08:002012-03-06T17:05:48.549-08:00The Homeschooler's Handbag<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
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I am quite sure I would never have predicted that I would choose to blog the contents of my purse. Maybe once, long ago when my kids were babies or toddlers, but that would have been a(n all too brief) passing fancy. You see, I don't really even think of myself as a "purse" kinda gal much of the time; if I can fit what I need for a shopping trip into my pockets, off I go unencumbered, no worries about leaving that dang thing that always falls off of my shoulder anyway behind somewhere.</div>
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However, with homeschooling, we often have a bit more than I can jam into my jeans pockets or even a coat pocket, and the purse has been coming along, if I can get away with less than a backpack. My Mom gave me a nice Stone Mountain bag, and it's a nice intermediate step without being a shoulder suitcase. Today we headed out for an afternoon at the rec center for swimming, karate, and gymnastics and a little change of scenery work zone, and as I started pulling out some work for Son#2, I looked again at my bag and realized its contents probably did not match up well with the handbags of the other moms sitting nearby.</div>
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So, keeping in mind that this is not a large bag, but is owned by a person whose family used to pack 2 adults, 3 children, a tank of goldfish, and a very large dog, and everything we needed for a 3 month summer on the family farm into a Plymouth Valiant, here is what is packed into one Stone Mountain handbag on a random day for an afternoon outing:</div>
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<li> Today's newspaper, for discussing current events</li>
<li>Learning Latin Through Mythology, for a fun supplemental exercise for today</li>
<li>Pages from Lively Latin 1, because Son#1 didn't finish that yet today (history/language focus week)</li>
<li>Notebooking paper in case we need to write anything down that we talk about or someone wants to journal</li>
<li>Workbook for R&S Grammar 3, because Son#2 didn't finish that yet today</li>
<li>Coolidge's <u>Caesar's Gallic War</u>, in case Son#1 wants to read</li>
<li> Polland's <u>Beorn the Proud</u>, in case Son#2 wants to read</li>
<li>Nook, in case I want to read</li>
<li>Wipes, in case we stop and picnic somewhere or just have a mess to clean up.</li>
<li>Roger Lancelyn Green's <u>The Adventures of Robin Hood</u>, so we can finish our Group Reading</li>
<li>Tissues</li>
<li>Photo album (just found this! It's been in there for years!)</li>
<li>ipod touch, ipad, checkbook (wrote 3 checks last year! Woot!)</li>
<li>3 mechanical pencils and 2 pens.</li>
<li>1 small legal notebook for my notes in case batteries go out on electronics</li>
<li> Plastic baggies for random samples during walks and excursions (rocks, flowers, bugs . . . )</li>
<li>Dental floss. Usual uses, plus more--- you'd be surprised. </li>
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Next week I am sure it will change (heck, it will probably change tomorrow) as next week is science and math focus week, so you're more likely to find a Singapore workbook and something related to chemistry or a copy of Usborne's<u> Easy German</u> in there, depending upon the day of the week or the time of day. </div>
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So now I ask the question: What ends up in your purse that marks you as a homeschooler, either routinely, or when you're just "going mobile?"</div>
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<i>--Thanks for Reading!</i></div>
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PS: I have not forgotten to write my "Race to Nowhere" post. It's coming, I promise!</div>
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PPS: No, I will not weigh this handbag on a scale. Anyone reporting this post to my physical therapist will be set Latin declinations and sentence diagrams in three languages before they can say, "traction."</div>
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</div>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-82634083766679141312012-02-11T20:41:00.000-08:002012-02-11T21:07:13.390-08:00Fake-Cation<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
My friend Natalie and I have been planning a screening for the documentary film <a href="http://www.racetonowhere.com/">Race to Nowhere</a> for some time now. Funny that the one we chose to attend happened to fall during this week.</div>
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Looking ahead to our schedule, I checked the calendar, and noticed it looked . . . a tad packed. Some things couldn't really be helped. There were five (count'em!) doc appointments that couldn't really be put off. Son#2, our resident artist, had a one-off 90-minute art class for homeschoolers at <a href="http://www.longwoodgardens.org/HomeSchoolDays.html">Longwood Gardens</a>. I could have canceled that commitment, but didn't really wish to do so. We had gym class, swimming, gymnastics, karate, and fencing all at our regular times, plus our weekly library trip. I had my ironic trip to see <u>Race to Nowhere</u> Wednesday night. We had other commitments lined up as well.</div>
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If you read <a href="http://hillandalefarmschool.blogspot.com/2012/02/schedule-scramble-listening-to-kids.html">last week's blog</a>, you'll notice we are not casual homeschoolers; people who think homeschoolers "do school" in 90 minutes a day or less are not thinking about our family. Occasionally we bend to get around an appointment here or there, but this week was looking a bit extraordinary. Four thoughts occurred to me. </div>
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<li>If we attempted to put in a regular school week, I would stress myself out</li>
<li>If we attempted to put in a regular school week, I would stress the kids out</li>
<li>If we attempted to put in a regular school week, I would stress my husband out</li>
<li>If we attempted to put in a regular school week, I would be setting everyone up to fail.</li>
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Number four above felt particularly unacceptable. </div>
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What's a homeschool Mom to do? Just a few weeks out from a pretty generous Christmas break (2 1/2 weeks? 3?) it was too early for a full-on vacation, and if I tried to call this kind of a week a "vacation," the kids would cry foul-- there was too much running around. But getting in a half-hearted attempt at school didn't work for me. Enter the "Fake-Cation!"</div>
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Analyzing the schedule, I noticed everything was clustered on Tuesday and Thursday, or Monday and Wednesday evenings. Monday morning, the kids woke up, expecting a regular school week, and instead found this note on the kitchen table:</div>
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<i>Welcome to Fake-cation</i></div>
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<i>1. You may read or play what you wish until Mommy is finished with her shower and breakfast.</i></div>
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<i>2. No regular school books this week. You may leave them put away.</i></div>
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<i>3. This week we will spend:</i></div>
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<li><i>some time on "special projects"</i></li>
<li><i>some time cleaning up the house together</i></li>
<li><i>some time at doc appointments, classes, and errands</i></li>
<li><i>the rest of your time is free play time. This time may be academic-related or not-- it's you're choice.</i></li>
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And then the fun began!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgowZ0b9hL7uuEjlQOldJCBmnyE7CpCni6hXyXihpZX6mcOQcg5B5RA_iI9QS_Hq-FEDtQQoHjVbVU7DKtLq-QayFhrG0rBmdrv502KLQ4ef9mo04t36QE6EiIq5SkpcXl7P-2uL_ccLBDj/s1600/DSC01834.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgowZ0b9hL7uuEjlQOldJCBmnyE7CpCni6hXyXihpZX6mcOQcg5B5RA_iI9QS_Hq-FEDtQQoHjVbVU7DKtLq-QayFhrG0rBmdrv502KLQ4ef9mo04t36QE6EiIq5SkpcXl7P-2uL_ccLBDj/s320/DSC01834.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Son#2 watches Son#1 make the first cuts in their 3-hole miniature golf course, under construction.</div>
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Son#1 files down his work while Son#2 creates pilot holes for drilling.</div>
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Son#2's turn to man the drill. There are still many steps to go here, but you get the idea. So much for my constant indignant insistence that homeschoolers never lock their kids away in the basement <grin>.<br />
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Longwood Gardens' meadow is beautiful in winter, too. Son#1 and I had 90 rare minutes to ourselves while Son#2 took an art class for homeschoolers. I guess we do get out of that basement.</div>
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Proving we let Son#1 out of the basement once in a while. He's enjoying being 11, outdoors at Longwood with Mom!<br />
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Okay, back home, time for fun science. Hint number one: it floats in water . . . </div>
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Hint number two: It turns into a fluffy souffle in the microwave! Why does this famous soap behave like this? (Look! Kitchen, not basement!)</div>
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Son#2 built a circuit, and now turns a hand crank to start charging his rechargeable battery, verifying with the LED light that he's cranking fast enough, and checking the battery's voltage using the Volt/Amp meter. (Dining room now. Still no basement).*</div>
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Not pictured, is cute video of Sons 1 & 2 attempting to blow up a 10' long balloon made from Diaper Genie refill tied off at one end . . . and Mom proving she can do it in ONE breath (thank you Steve Spangler Science) and wonderful jumping cups (thank you to Rob Krampf's Happy Scientist and a great discussion of the scientific process, rather than the usual demonstration masquerading as a lab). We worked in Brain Pop videos, which were a first for us, the coin-toss flash card game, reading as usual, and our usual karate, gymnastics, homeschool gym class, fencing, library time, chores, and game/play time, on top of our usual dose of Minecraft, and still had time to dote on a very welcome visitor from across the country. </div>
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Oh, right! Son#1 brought his camera along to Longwood too. He's never owned a camera before, so these are among his first-ever pictures. I only gave him minimal coaching, and told him to take pictures that show how he views the world as an 11-year-old:</div>
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There you have it. Son#1's first ever photo display. You can say you knew him when.</div>
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Watching the Race to Nowhere (upcoming Blog: A Homeschooler's Response to R2N) in the midst of all of this was an interesting experience, and it absolutely validated my choice to back off and have some fun with the kids this week. Particularly given that we homeschool year round, we had the time to spare from formal studies. It's roughly six weeks until my husband's spring break, so the timing is right for a mini-break, but only a few weeks in from Christmas, we weren't quite ready for a complete vacation. And although my kids do enjoy learning our traditional way, this week reminded them that we can keep on learning even when we're really having fun.</div>
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I think everything we did this week was actually important, and an important part of their growing up. I'm glad we had this week. I'm glad Son#1 gets to be there for Son#2's neurology appointments; it helps to make him a better big brother and bonds them more closely together, as well as helping him understand his little brother's challenges, smaller though they are becoming, that much better. I'm glad we can take a week to focus on woodworking, circuitry, "fun" science that wasn't necessarily planned to the teeth, and just being outdoors. I'm glad Son#1, who thinks of himself as completely non-artistic (and are we partly at fault for that? Do we word things around the house that way sometimes? Perhaps?) got to experiment with a new expressive medium. Everyone needs one, whether it be through words, pictures, dance, or whatever. </div>
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This week was in its own way, just as big a part of their education as the usual weeks filled with Latin and grammar and chemistry. All of that NEEDS to be balanced with play. That was a major point of Race to Nowhere-- it's important for children to not lose themselves, their sense of who they really are-- in some quest to become whatever it is they think their parents want them to become. More on that next time.</div>
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--<i>Thanks for Reading!</i></div>
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*For those of you lost about why I keep on with the in the basement/not in the basement references, I recently had yet another run-in with a well-meaning but clueless individual who was "concerned about socialization" of my homeschoolers. I didn't have time to answer them very thoroughly, sadly. We were too busy running off to activities with other children, of mixed ages, genders, and backgrounds to spend time justifying ourselves . . . if I thought the person was actually open-minded enough to really listen rather than just wanting to expound their own point of view, I might have invited them for a ride-along to meet some actual real-life homeschoolers and see what a day is like . . . </div>
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<br /></div>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-26557644773154152712012-02-03T17:57:00.000-08:002012-02-04T14:34:58.678-08:00Schedule Scramble: Listening to the Kids<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
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Some time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the kids
approached me with an idea: break up our subjects into different blocks of time
instead of studying “everything” each week.
I was skeptical. This is not
exactly a new idea, and other home schoolers do exactly this type of plan quite
successfully, of course. But . . . was
it right for MY kids? Could it really
work, or would it just feel too fragmented?
I didn’t really think it was a great idea. I let the idea percolate.</div>
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I thought about what the kids were saying. I looked at our schedule. We are studying a lot of stuff, for ages 8
and 10. A lot. My expectations are quite high. Trying to cram all of it into
every.single.week. might be a lot to ask at ages 8 and 10. So instead of their suggestion, did I need to
take stock of the overall curriculum?
What should we drop? Well . . . looking
it over . . . nothing. I liked our
plan. Most of the “optional” stuff was
stuff we were only doing once or twice a week, and was stuff they really
enjoyed (ie computer programming, mind bender puzzles). Hmmmm.</div>
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I continued to mull
it over through the Christmas holidays, and came back around to the suggestion
the kids had made. What would be the
effects of it? 5 day per week subjects
might move more slowly. Two day per week
subjects might move more quickly. With
fewer things to focus on in each week, we could go into more depth in each
thing, tie them together better, and spend more time, or opt for shorter days
on some days, as circumstances required.
Hmmm. The kids idea might have
some merit. We could always go back to
the old schedule if the continuity issue resulted in problems. And they would feel more invested in their
school process. Okay, let’s give this a
shot. So . . . what does the new
schedule look like, and how does it feel, a month into the rotation?</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Science and Math Focus Week</span></b></div>
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DS (now 11) works on: </div>
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<i><b><u>chemistry</u> </b></i>(primarily <a href="http://noeoscience.com/chemII.html">NOEO level2</a>, plus the texts from <a href="http://store.gravitaspublications.com/level-1-grades-5-8/middle-school-chemistry-student-textbook.html">RS4K</a>, <a href="http://store.gravitaspublications.com/level-1-grades-5-8/middle-school-chemistry-kog-bundle.html">KOGS from RS4K</a>, <a href="http://thehappyscientist.com/">Happy Scientist videos</a>, <a href="http://sciencewiz.com/">ScienceWiz</a> kits, Some <a href="http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/">Ellen McHenry</a> Units, Some information from <a href="http://www.pressforlearning.com/">BFSU</a>, <a href="http://eequalsmcq.com/">Lab of Mr. Q</a>,
and some others, all as I can weave them into the NOEO spine to keep the coherent
order to things) </div>
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<i><b><u>math</u> </b></i>(primarily <a href="http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html">Life of Fred</a> <a href="http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/11catofbooks.html">PreAlgebra</a>, with some
work in <a href="http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/">Art of Problem Solving</a> as a light supplement—LoF is definitely our
spine in math though—with some <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/exercisedashboard">Khan Academy</a> and living books tossed into the
mix as well)</div>
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<i><b><u>logic</u> </b></i>(<a href="http://www.homeschoolprogramming.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1">KidCoder</a>
computer programming,<a href="http://www.criticalthinking.com/index.jsp"> Mind Benders and Critical Thinking </a>pages from The
Critical Thinking Co)</div>
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<i><b><u>Music and Art</u></b></i> (Trumpet practice, <a href="http://www.draw3d.com/OnlineVideo.html">Mark KistlerArt</a>, <a href="http://www.classicsforkids.com/">Classics for Kids Podcasts</a>, Art KOGS, and other activities) </div>
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<i><b><u>writing</u>
</b></i>(<a href="http://www.prufrock.com/Unjournaling-P788.aspx">Unjournaling</a> on Friday, typing practice with <a href="http://ttl4.sunburst.com/">TypetoLearn4</a>)</div>
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<i><b><u>German</u>
</b></i>(<a href="http://www.rosettastone.com/sehslp1?pc=bogo50&cid=hs-gg#">Rosetta Stone</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/German-Usborne-Internet-Linked-Languages-English/dp/0794501311/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328391885&sr=8-1">Usborne Easy German</a>, Pokemon Videos, Other activities. Not trying to be stereotyped here, just
separating the two languages in different weeks)</div>
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<i><b><u>Reading</u> </b></i>(min 45 minutes self-reading
per day, plus group read-aloud of literature per day above and beyond his
self-choice reading time) </div>
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<i><b><u>Geography</u>
</b></i>(ongoing project to learn to map each continent by heart; review world map on
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**All subjects are daily,
except for writing (typing is twice per week,
Unjournaling only on Friday), Logic (Mind Benders are a Monday wake-up),
Music and Art (different activities except trumpet practice are spread through the
week).</div>
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DS8 works on the same subjects, but in different,
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He focuses on
<a href="http://www.singaporemath.com/Mathematics_s/1.htm">Singapore</a> <i><b><u>math </u></b></i>(US Edition) as is his spine, with <a href="http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/11catofbooks.html">Life of Fred Elementary</a> as a fun
supplement (though we are pretty pleasantly surprised at just how MUCH math is
packed into those books! If you skim
them or read them fast, you’ll miss it; if you take your time, there is pretty
advanced stuff in there!) as well as <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/">Khan Academy</a> and some other fun
stuff. </div>
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He also does <a href="http://noeoscience.com/chemI.html">NOEO <i><b>Chemistry</b></i>, but at level 1</a>, with the same chem supplements as his older brother, minus the KOGS. There is nothing wrong with NOEO; we’re just
a little science crazy in our house! </div>
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For
<i><b><u>Logic </u></b></i>skills, he hasn’t starting programming quite yet, but loves the Mind
Benders, Ken-Ken, Sudoku, and other types of puzzles. </div>
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His musical instrument is the recorder, but the otherwise does the same <i><b><u>music and art</u></b></i> activities as his brother.</div>
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He also does <a href="http://www.prufrock.com/Unjournaling-P788.aspx">Unjournaling</a> and <a href="http://ttl4.sunburst.com/">typing </a>for <u><i><b>writing</b></i> </u>this week. </div>
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He works at <a href="http://www.rosettastone.com/sehslp1?pc=bogo50&cid=hs-gg#">Rosetta Stone</a> for <i><b><u>German </u></b></i>quite
successfully; I love how easily they pick up the grammar and spelling from that
program! At 8 years old, though he does
work through it at a slower pace and goes back and repeats some lessons, and I
sit with him and guide him through the worksheets. </div>
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His
self-<i><b><u>reading </u></b></i>time is supposed to be 30 minutes, but he often sneaks in much
more, and has to be told to put the book down and work on some of his other
work, and naturally group reading time includes him as well.</div>
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He practices mapping the same way as DS11 for <i><b><u>geography</u></b></i>.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">History and Language Focus Week</span></b></div>
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For H&L week, DS11 works on </div>
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<i><b><u>history</u> </b></i>(<a href="http://www.pandiapress.com/?page_id=103#level2">HistoryOdyssey Ancients 2</a>, plus much extra reading (he makes great use of the library
and his new <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/nook-simple-touch-barnes-noble/1102344735">Nook Simple Touch</a>!) and any extra activities, trips, or movies I can
dream up, plus the mapping project) </div>
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<i><b><u>Latin</u>
</b></i>(<a href="http://www.livelylatin.com/site/aboutbigbook.htm">Big Book of Lively Latin I</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Latin-Crossword-Puzzles-Wallace-Robinett/dp/0844284467">Latin Crossword Puzzles</a>, <a href="http://www.visuallatin.com/">Visual Latin</a>, and a
variety of activities); </div>
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<i><b><u>vocabulary</u> </b></i>(<a href="http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/vocabulary/vocabularyworkshop.cfm">Vocabulary Workshop</a>) </div>
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<i><b><u>music and art</u></b></i> (same as in Science and
Math Week) </div>
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<i><b><u>Writing </u></b></i>(<a href="http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/language-arts/writing.html">Writing With Ease</a>,
plus writing from history program, and typing)</div>
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<i><b><u>grammar</u> </b></i>(was <a href="http://www.growingwithgrammar.com/">GrowingWith Grammar</a>, now <a href="http://www.grammarlogues.com/">Grammarlogues</a>) </div>
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<i><b><u>reading</u>
</b></i>(same as Science and Math Week)</div>
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<i><b><u>math</u> </b></i>(A lighter schedule than during
Science and Math week, with <a href="http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html">LoF</a> on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/exercisedashboard">Khan Academy</a>
on Tuesday, and <a href="http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Alcumus/Introduction.php">Alcumus</a> on Thursday).</div>
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DS8 again follows a similar plan, but in an age and skill
appropriate manner. </div>
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I decided to hit
Ancients and Medieval <i><b><u>history</u> </b></i>with him this year, so he has finished
<a href="http://www.pandiapress.com/?page_id=105#level1">History Odyssey Ancients 1</a> and is now in <a href="http://www.pandiapress.com/?page_id=105#level1">History Odyssey Middle Ages 1</a>. It’s a good thing he loves to read, because there
is a lot of fun stuff for him to read now!
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He is nearly finished with <a href="http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/prima.htm">Prima Latina</a>, and will soon begin <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_848680056"> </a><a href="http://www.livelylatin.com/site/aboutbigbook.htm"><u>The Big Book of Lively</u></a><i><b><a href="http://www.livelylatin.com/site/aboutbigbook.htm"><u> Latin</u></a> </b></i>like big brother.
There will be a small amount of repetition, but at his age, that is a
good thing. </div>
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He studies <i><b><u>spelling</u>
</b></i>with <a href="http://rainbowresource.com/product/sku/023945/">Spelling Workout</a> rather than vocabulary, at this age, concentrating on
natural vocabulary development. </div>
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Like
DS11, <i><b><u>music and art</u></b></i> are unchanged from science and math week. <u> </u></div>
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<i><b><u>Writing</u> </b></i>consists of <a href="http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/language-arts/writing.html">Writing With Ease</a>
and <a href="http://ttl4.sunburst.com/">typing</a> lessons, as well as anything he needs to write to summarize history
lessons. I still help him by scribing a
lot of history, but we stop and discuss sentence structure, using specific
words instead of general words (names instead of “those guys,” for example),
and other details. Typing is also done
twice per week. </div>
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<i><b><u>Grammar</u> </b></i>continues
our experiment with the definitely non-secular but very solid <a href="http://www.rodandstaffbooks.com/item/1-123--/?list=Building_Christian_English_Series">Rod & Staff</a>. </div>
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As with DS11, <i><b><u>reading </u></b></i>is the same as the
prior week, with the minimum self-reading time set at 30 minutes for an 8YO,
though he frequently exceeds it. For
History and language focus week, <a href="http://www.singaporemath.com/Mathematics_s/1.htm">Singapore </a><i><b><u>math</u> </b></i>is only completed on
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; on Tuesday, he does some type of playful math,
and on Thursday he works on <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/exercisedashboard">Khan Academy</a>.
He works in <a href="http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html">Life of Fred</a> (elementary series) whenever he has time, just
because he’s a fan of Fred J. By the end of this year, he will have
completed 2 years of Singapore math, a year of <a href="http://www.mathmammoth.com/">Math Mammoth</a>, many topics in
Khan, and learned a tremendous amount from Fred, so dialing math back every
other week doesn’t particularly bother me.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>So, how’s that working for you?</b></span></div>
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First of all, the kids have been highly gratified that I
took their suggestion seriously and really listened. They understand that trying this schedule out
does not mean we will keep it, but they appreciate being heard. That said, I think they are really on to
something here.</div>
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A month into this experiment, I think we are all less stressed
out, are exploring each subject more deeply, feeling less rushed and more
flexible about our daily schedule, and more able to explore any side trails
that pop up and become interesting. I
have had buckets of additional “extras” that I have been wanting to add in to
their studies to either make them more interesting or more memorable, and I
feel more able to just add things in now, because we are cramming less into
each day, and each day flows more naturally into the next than it did when we
tried to do Chemistry on M-W-F and History on T-R. I found a great book of English to Latin
Crossword puzzles on Amazon, and we try one of those out each week. We have time.
I found some Pokemon movies in German, and we have time to sit and watch
them together . . . what a difference to
watch something in the language you are studying, instead of just conversing
about who is eating rice or wearing the green shirt or riding the large
horse! I feel free to schedule a day to
just sit and read extra folk tales from the period of history we are studying,
or to put the brakes on somebody who is moving ahead too fast for comprehension
to sink in, and say, “Nope, let’s not move ahead yet; let’s master this first!” It doesn’t break the flow to do so. </div>
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Next week is supposed to be science and math week. I have decided, looking at our schedule of various
appointments, that we will take a Fakation instead. That’s half days of educational activities
not using our usual materials and curricula, followed by half days “off” for
the kids, when we aren’t at some kind of appointment. The week after that will be Science and Math
Focus Week, business as usual, nothing missed, and we’ll then roll onward until
my husband’s spring break, nearly 2 months.</div>
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Kids have good ideas.
Even though we are in charge, and responsible for the decision and
outcomes, it’s still a good idea to listen and take them seriously. </div>
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So, let me know: What different kinds of schedules have you tried, and how have they worked out? I am sure that as we grow, gain experience, and evolve, different option will continue to present themselves with varying degrees of success-- I'd love to hear some of your experiences with scheduling trials and tribulations, and success stories!</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">--Thanks for reading!</i></div>
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PS: Okay, I got the links up. In many cases, I tried to make them more useful by linking directly to a specific book or portion of the curriculum to which I was referring. However, this increases the likelihood of broken links as various publishers revise their web pages. If a link breaks, just let me know, and I'll hunt down the new one and fix it! --NJ</div>
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<br /></div>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-4234925224464922532012-01-24T19:51:00.000-08:002012-01-24T19:51:48.059-08:00Patience and Persistence Caught up in the day-to-day business of homeschooling, enjoying the little victories and successes large and small, it is easy to sometimes lose the big picture in the overwhelming jangle of incremental changes. Such loss can sometimes breed insecurity for the home educating parent, who does not necessarily have an objective backup, or outside evaluation of how the kids are faring. It is easy to stride confidently forth in areas where you know your little geniuses naturally excel, but what about those areas where they are just average or (gasp) perhaps even struggling? What then?<br />
<br />
We began our homeschooling journey just under a year ago (mid-February for DS2, end of February for DS1) with some areas of strength, but also some areas where I had serious concern for each boy, and I wasn't really sure what I was going to do about it. For DS2 in particular, I had concerns in the area of writing. Far above grade level in every subject area, writing, for some reason I could not fathom, was far below. A voracious reader, he possessed an outstanding vocabulary, grasp of grammar, and facility for spelling. A sensitive and creative mind seemed capable of spinning endless stories and tales at the dinner table, synthesizing stories and novels and themes and turning them on their heads in ways that left us wondering. Yet when asked to put pencil to paper or even to dictate his thoughts to be transcribed, he suddenly descended down to the level of Dick and Jane.<br />
<br />
We began with one recommended program, <u>Writing Strands</u>, that seemed to make a lot of sense to me. It still does. It broke the process of writing down into pieces, then built it back up, in a very logical way. I started him back a couple of grade levels, figuring we could accelerate appropriately as his skill level dictated. I still think it is a good program; it just didn't work for DS1. He would insist he had NO ideas, even given the very leading prompts in the book. Time to ditch, after just a few weeks. I kept the books though, in case they came in handy later.<br />
<br />
So now, what to do? Back to the drawing board. All the way back. I grabbed a program that focused on zero original productivity at first. Zero. The theory seems to be that it makes no sense to ask kids to write original material until after they have been taught to write, and spent a significant amount of time being exposed very closely to high quality writing, examining that writing, working up the connections between forming a sentence in their heads and holding it there long enough for it to emerge from their pencils onto the paper (using a prefab sentence) and then looking at a longer piece of writing, being taught to understand the difference between the details and the important stuff, and how to summarize the important stuff and write it down (at first, by dictating it to an adult who writes it down; writing it down themselves comes much, much later). Addressing severally and sequentially examples of excellent writing intentionally, the neurology of writing, the physical mechanics of writing (kids sometimes have a problem because hands get tired) and the mental organization of writing (getting several ideas organized at once, then writing) makes sense to me. I decided to give Susan Wise Bauer's <u>Writing With Ease</u> a try, and as my super-bright ten-year-old was struggling so much with writing, I went ahead and started him in . . . level One. As in, the level many people use for their six, seven, or eight year olds. Now, we did work at an accelerated pace. In <i>WWE</i>, each lesson is broken up across four days, with one day "off" each week in a typical usage pattern. We did one "week" of work each day, completing a lesson per day, four days per week, and in just over half a year, moved through books one and two, and have begun book three just recently.<br />
<br />
Okay, say that again? I started my kid, whom in public school we were seriously considering bumping him up a grade so that right now, he would actually be a sixth grader, in the <i>first grade book???</i> Yes, I did. He needed it. But, here's the problem. On a daily basis, we were copying sentences from great books. I was giving him dictation from great books (and adding some terrific books to our future reading list). He was getting better at summarizing the main points of a story, leaving out trivial details, and at responding to questions in complete sentences comfortably. BUT <b><i>was his writing improving measurably? Without asking him to do any really meaningful writing, how could I even tell? </i></b>On a daily basis in our history program, the simple fact was: I could not tell. For all I knew, he enjoyed the program because it wasn't stressing him out too much. However, having already jumped ship from one writing program, and having thought through and bought into the ideas behind this writing program, I was willing to give it a full year; I strongly feel much damage can be done by 'curriculum hopping' about too frequently and not giving something a real chance.<br />
<br />
Along came our history program. Primarily an outline of assignments, it provides guidance and suggestions for a year of studying ancient history. Over the course of the year, the student is asked to complete four library trip/research assignments, designed to help him become familiar with using the research section of the library, learn to read multiple sources for information, learn how to use an outline to organize his thoughts, and to write a very short paper of a couple of paragraphs about the topic. Over the course of a four-year cycle, these assignments transform into full-fledged research papers with appropriate citations, footnoting, and length.<br />
<br />
We arrived at his first research paper. He diligently read several books on the topic. He even took notes, and following my instructions, organized them by topic on different pages in his notebook. When it came time to actually write the paper, he managed to stretch out the assignment from a four-day affair into nearly six weeks. He was really terribly dreading the writing portion of the assignment. He then discarded his notebook and wrote the paper off the top of his head, in a style intended to mimic his favorite fiction author, one who has a slightly irreverent tone. The average sentence length was about 5 workds. The effort gave me pause about our entire homeschooling enterprise, and certainly about my choice of writing program.<br />
<br />
However, for the time being, I held off on being overly critical. It was the single longest piece of writing he had produced, ever. He has written it on the computer, and even edited it several times. He had really, really tried. We hole-punched it and filed it into his history notebook. I tried not to despair, and I thought hard about how to provide better guidance for the next paper without putting undue pressure on him, while still raising the bar. I also pondered exactly what his lack of confidence (in the form of his uncharacteristic delaying of the assignment) was trying to tell me that he needed.<br />
<br />
A couple of months went by. We continued with copying, dictating, and summarizing, plus typing lessons. Every other month we do have a quick, fun assignment from a book called <u>Unjournaling</u>, but it is mostly fun and creative, not strenuous writing. During this time period, I questioned my choice of writing program many, many times, and wondered whether I should jump ship and take a more aggressive tack, and run to something with much more explicit instruction and pegged at "his grade level."<br />
<br />
Recently, we arrived at the second research paper. I let him know that the deadline on this one was firm. I limited the scope of the assignment in his mind, by reminding him of the maximum length I expected; this was not to be a ten-page paper by any means, but a couple of well-written paragraphs, and written by DS1, not DS1 pretending to be someone else, please. Just as we did with the prior paper, we had specific days for research, reorganizing notes, rough draft, and final draft writing, and again reminders that this time the deadlines were set in stone. This time, I sat with him and had more discussion after the rough draft, and discussed ideas about how to generate a topic sentence and a conclusion. We discussed how the body of the paper works, and what supporting details were hinted at, but missing in the paper, and he went and researched that information and added it. I noted with pleasure (to him!) that he had done a phenomenal job of using paragraph structure that led neatly from one paragraph into the next, even while changing topics-- a light-year jump ahead from his prior paper. The whining factor also dropped by a bucketful. I let him head back to the computer to rework his rough draft. He emerged from the office and announced, "No more drafts. The paper is complete. I am confident in it just the way it is."<br />
<br />
I let his paper sit in the printer where he had left it until he went to bed, letting him know I too had confidence in him. Guess what? That gap in time between the first and second history papers is exactly what he and I both needed. Yes, there is still room to grow. However, in just a couple of short months, he has already grown by light-years. Roughly two months time has been enough to erase my worries and doubts that time spent copying sentences, taking dictation, and summarizing passages of literature and so forth has not been time wasted. Nor was it time wasted to start at the beginning and walk through all of the lessons, even if we accelerated the pace.<br />
<br />
Patience and persistence have begun to pay off. I could not see it at the beginning. I could not see it in the middle of the year, at the time of the first research paper. I really doubted my sanity many times. There were times when DS1 noted the level number on some of the printed out stories and asked, incredulously, if he was doing "little kid" work. If he continues to improve at this rate, he should be caught up to grade level or close to it by late spring, and after that, with some writing-specific tutoring that I already have in mind for him, I predict that he should have no trouble writing at (or who knows; possibly slightly above, but at is fine, too) grade level after that. Best of all, I think I saw his confidence level rising with the success of the second paper, and I am hopeful that that trend will continue as his facility with writing improves. And with each increasing success of his, of course, my confidence that we're heading the right direction improves as well.<br />
<br />
After close to a year in the homeschooling game, two things bubble to the top in difficulty to deal with. First of course, is not popping off smart-alecky retorts to people who are not homeschooling and have never tried it, or who tried and failed, who try to tell you all about it and why it's bad for you (if I hear from one.more.person. about "socialization," who does not actually seem to understand what the word means . . . ). Second is dealing with the areas of asynchrony in my kids. Everyone is asynchronous in some fashion. We're all good at one thing, and stink at another. Homeschooling is great at dealing with asynchrony in one sense: we aren't pegged to grade levels (I don't even refer to my kids as being in a grade any more; it just doesn't make sense to me). You simply work in each subject at whatever skill level provides a challenge. In another sense, homeschooling can be lonely and frustrating and a challenge to one's self-confidence when dealing with a long-term skill deficit. Dealing with these issues is most often not a quick fix, but a long-term commitment, requiring patience and persistence, and above all, faith that you have picked some method that will return results over the long haul. <br />
<br />
I'll be biting my nails just a little until he's encountered history essay #4. Please wish us luck on our journey of patience and persistence. And I will do my best to not force you to be quite as patient and update a little more often in the future :).<br />
<br />
<i>--Thanks for reading!</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Jen</i><br />
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<br />NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-69077297414752690362011-08-08T22:07:00.000-07:002011-08-08T22:12:54.339-07:00The 12 Month School Year<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>What’s that? 12 months of the school year? Didn’t You mean to type 9??</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well, no, I didn’t. You see, we didn’t take a summer break this year, our first summer of home schooling. We took several summer vacations. We celebrated the accomplishing of all of our academic goals for the end of our inaugural partial year of home education with a mini-break. We celebrated the end of the district’s end of school year by taking off their first full day of summer vacation, so the kids could play all day with an ecstatic neighbor child. We took a couple of random days off when the brutally hot weather—too hot to enjoy the swimming pool or beach, let alone hang out much outdoors—broke here and there, and just hung out at the pool and the beach, or I turned them loose to play with the neighborhood kids when it was cool enough to play outdoors. We traveled to with my husband to a math conference, an event that was both fun AND educational, and we spent a week at our family farm, gathering with our extended family and hiking in the mountains and swimming in a mountain lake. We’ll take my DS7’s birthday off of course—when you homeschool, your birthday is an official day off from school—and head to an amusement park, which is his preference to a bunch of presents. In his words, “Mommy, I have enough things. I’d rather have a really cool day with you guys.” Done! Okay, he’ll get a couple of presents. And in between, when it was brutally hot, it was back to the books, experiments, reading, and everything else we do.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>So what is business as usual in the Hillandale Farm School in summer? I mean, isn’t it just cruel to do school all summer?</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, for their “What did I do over the summer” essay, my kids could easily write about heading to Vancouver, or hiking by waterfalls in northeastern PA, or jumping waves at the beach, having sleepovers with friends, watching the incredible fireworks and fountains fourth of July display at Longwood Gardens, or they could write about declining nouns in Latin, conjugating verbs in German, reading about Ancient Egypt and excavating a miniature pyramid and wrapping a mummy of their own, learning to play an ancient Egyptian board game using throwing sticks instead of dice, attending a book signing for a newly released book by an author they personally knew, learning about Pi or multiplication and division, memorizing funny poems about Egyptian pharaohs and stanzas from “Horatio at the Bridge,” making cartouches of everyone’s names, and practicing Cuneiform writing in clay with a stylus, reading about King Arthur and Sharyar and Sharaazad, exploring the Civil War site of Fort Delaware, learning how to draw a map of the world’s continents from memory, taking trumpet lessons and learning recorder, blowing the library's summer reading program out of the water, learning how to identify trees by leaf and bark characteristics, learning to compost, raising a tadpole into a tiny froglet on the back porch, building molecular models, and doing amazing chemistry experiments with balloons, static electricity, water, oil, food coloring, baking soda, vinegar, hot water, Coca Cola, batteries, Mentos, and test tubes, and comparing double negatives in speech to double negative signs in arithmetic, and more. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Or, they could write about all of the above, because we had plenty of time for school, travel, and play, and still lots of time to just sit and drift on the swingset out in the back yard, and even (heavens) to play some videogames.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>So, you're cool with making your kids social pariahs, just like all other HS kids? </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yes, we had a few confused knocks on the door from time to time from the kids in the neighborhood, but since they all know we homeschool, and we could generally give an answer regarding what time school would be done that day, they’d happily enough come back at the appointed time to play that afternoon. Most of them had summer camps strewn throughout the summer, and didn’t think it was all that odd to be busy in the summer—with just one week of camp each this summer, my two kids, as it turned out, were actually two of the most available kids in the neighborhood in their age group, as summer camps have become so ubiquitous in this two-wage-earner or single-parenting world. We also had many instances in which kids in the neighborhood thought what we were reading or studying was just so cool, they requested permission to join us.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Don't you guys ever burn out then? I mean, I loved summer, because I needed down time from school! </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Despite a school year that is planned to last about four weeks longer than a typical PS year (40 weeks), we still anticipate extra time throughout the fall, winter, and spring to take days off to go hiking, apple-picking, traveling, or just have a day off when we wish, thanks to having ¼ of our year done before most people have even started (some year-round homeschoolers actually maintain a 3 weeks on, 1 week off schedule throughout the year, for regularly scheduled mental breaks or hobby time. Right now I’m not that organized, but I can see the appeal). We’ll have extra down-time during the more pleasant fall and spring seasons, when it’s actually nice to be outdoors, and when we can go and enjoy local and distant attractions when everyone else is in school or at work! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, in the long run, getting the first quarter of the school year done over the summer seems like a pretty small price to pay for the flexibility we will now enjoy for the rest of the year in terms of having an ability to take time off when we need or wish to do so. Illness, travel, or opportunity to explore need not derail our educational plans, and instead of review and time spent getting organized and back up to speed, come September all we have to do is just keep on rolling.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Thanks for Reading!</i></div>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-43151288134191862262011-06-18T00:41:00.000-07:002011-06-18T00:41:54.009-07:00Show and Tell time<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ij84ccKdk1RLoJBe6xA4zGWm6a3b-kE5mXfRfYpDD8xYeh0IK0h0_lwDkgkuMP1ze2qmIOIN-KA51B6BOLzhYIOrDe5M7eZXqlsMH2JVgDAW11CbIdLrFn4HOx7jgJN4ELEBGYvFvsuS/s1600/IMG_2977.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ij84ccKdk1RLoJBe6xA4zGWm6a3b-kE5mXfRfYpDD8xYeh0IK0h0_lwDkgkuMP1ze2qmIOIN-KA51B6BOLzhYIOrDe5M7eZXqlsMH2JVgDAW11CbIdLrFn4HOx7jgJN4ELEBGYvFvsuS/s320/IMG_2977.JPG" style="clear: both; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a> <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7UT48h11TUVEXJOPBCkq1MjhjIdmsEQUz6k0pq2KTHWF3LoMy6l-GmHeDE9A7_LglncitnKcTkXcRtkg7brWbNXya6hAtlo_OKR9J4WHRFTCqNzuLUf8Er_y4rE-0rktI3_PmVHNBrj79/s1600/IMG_2984.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7UT48h11TUVEXJOPBCkq1MjhjIdmsEQUz6k0pq2KTHWF3LoMy6l-GmHeDE9A7_LglncitnKcTkXcRtkg7brWbNXya6hAtlo_OKR9J4WHRFTCqNzuLUf8Er_y4rE-0rktI3_PmVHNBrj79/s320/IMG_2984.JPG" style="clear: both; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a> <br />
This week's post is just for fun! I thought we'd show off a little bit of what life is like around a home schooling house. These photos are not really a "day in the life;" they span quite a period of time.<br />
<br />
In this first photo, we get the best of both worlds; although we don't have to miss school for snow days like our public school counterparts, we get to play with our friends who are home from school during play time! And unlike our local school, we get to go OUTSIDE and play in the snow! Hooray!<br />
Here is DS#1's favorite way to spend time reading-- with a cat in his lap. I happen to love this shot, because he's reading, "I Am Spartapuss," a book as full of terrible feline puns as the title suggests, which kept him laughing all the way through, but which also inspired him to head to the library to begin researching the real Spartacus while we were studying the ancient Romans this winter and spring.<br />
<br />
DS#2 is preparing our timeline, part of which you can see here. He's drawing the lines for some of the cultures we plan to study in the coming year. This timeline now dominates one wall of our family room, and we add to it every time we encounter important dates in our history lessons. It's a pretty neat visual on when different cultures rose to prominence and then ebbed!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF0YG33chY5fvh-1JIkG7PWhKqWtEgSNMRce2UEN6F2ql9Zm_QL3_XZQ0rEPASF7LbcFG-zDKmMoloQpIl1vjXf0xYH1b-QXGIro4J_ywrN3N113efUgyWZcQ6zevmg17AqXLf1go76f6z/s1600/IMG_3062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF0YG33chY5fvh-1JIkG7PWhKqWtEgSNMRce2UEN6F2ql9Zm_QL3_XZQ0rEPASF7LbcFG-zDKmMoloQpIl1vjXf0xYH1b-QXGIro4J_ywrN3N113efUgyWZcQ6zevmg17AqXLf1go76f6z/s320/IMG_3062.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Sleepover time! Kids woke up before I did, and decided it was a nice morning, so they dug out "Life" and set it up on the back porch. Homeschool kids have sleepovers and do normal social activities just like any other kids!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKeqdBnmLtDd8nXjdHcpV0X9dPLqBJ0NrwipxXrtsoENW5Z7xWuQaTUJF1wJPHng1bXfxF90xuUF9o3X0Y5lROaaub-OvIwnYhY-ILGCpOhQj74Rwqr4ZUN4U0uuKAn642_nvCX4lF66YO/s1600/IMG_3066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKeqdBnmLtDd8nXjdHcpV0X9dPLqBJ0NrwipxXrtsoENW5Z7xWuQaTUJF1wJPHng1bXfxF90xuUF9o3X0Y5lROaaub-OvIwnYhY-ILGCpOhQj74Rwqr4ZUN4U0uuKAn642_nvCX4lF66YO/s320/IMG_3066.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Son #2 has been appointing himself to assist in the kitchen lately; he decided to make brownies the other night. Despite the upside-down directions, the brownies came out right side up and tasted pretty good!<br />
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Son #1 jots down his observations during a NOEO Chemistry experiment (are gas molecules very far apart compared to liquid molecules? If we coax the gas out of the soda, will the liquid level change in that bottle of Coke?)<br />
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Son #2 returns to cooking-- time to make the french toast! It came out just as well as the brownies did!<br />
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How do we open Khufu's pyramid? First we have to decipher these hieroglyphs to find the secret entrance!<br />
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Success! Now with archaeologist's tools, we excavate the inside of the pyramid, looking for the sarcophagus and canoptic jars, and even a mummy wrapped in linen! We want to get back to doing some more of those hieroglyphs. The excavation took a really long time.<br />
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Somehow, when he reads, he always ends up with a cat in his lap. Greek and Roman mythology . . . again. This is free time after school was done.<br />
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1,2, . . . 3? It's not unusual to end up with an afterschooler joining us in our house unofficially. Chemistry experiments are just so cool, it's no problem to come and do them with us after school, even if NittanyJen makes you write up a lab report for it! Today we're watching how food coloring dissipates differently in hot vs cold glasses of water . . . why does it go faster in the hot water?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We just wanted to share some of the fun we've been having, and of course help homeschoolers answer that ever-present question: What do you do all day?? Of course, we don't have any action shots of our math or grammar texts :). But we hope you enjoyed seeing some of the fun side of things!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>--Thanks for reading!</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303515296000510726.post-70292494741394762782011-06-03T17:45:00.000-07:002011-06-03T17:47:09.171-07:00What to expect when you're expecting...to live with homeschoolersPlease welcome guest blogger, my husband, who makes home schooling the way we do it in our house possible!<br />
<br />
Switching to homeschooling is a big deal. It's a life change on par<br />
with moving to another state or starting a new job, but most of us<br />
have some similar experiences to draw on for those milestones. Nothing<br />
prepared me for what homeschooling would be like. Yet as I look back<br />
over the transition our family has made, I realize that the event in<br />
my life that most closely matches it was the process of expecting and<br />
having our first child with my wife. Indeed, I see now that I should<br />
have expected...<br />
<br />
...TO DISCOVER A HIDDEN WORLD. Like many dads, I stumbled about in<br />
shock most of the time in the months leading to my first son's birth.<br />
I had been blissfully clueless about the distinction between a<br />
bassinet and a crib, the sectarian splits formed around brands of baby<br />
bottles, and, yes, even Elmo. As revelations about coneheads and<br />
bilirubin counts and night terrors and LeapPads continued to spool out<br />
over the months and years, I came to adopt a near-Zen state of<br />
humility towards the major matters of this world which I know nothing<br />
about.<br />
<br />
When it comes to homeschooling, you soon learn that there are multiple<br />
curricula, support groups, message boards, state officials, classes at<br />
local institutions, and many, many items for sale, all revolving<br />
around this world which previously you never noticed. You find out<br />
about religious fervor regarding, well, religion, but also less sacred<br />
items like math textbooks--all of which to me resembles nothing so<br />
much as the constant controversy that seems to swirl around<br />
breastfeeding.<br />
<br />
The cool part is that once you break through the hoopla and actually<br />
begin the experience, you feel a bit as though you've been inducted<br />
into an elite society. I mean, lots of other people have done this<br />
before you, and people who don't go through this experience aren't<br />
really any poorer for it...aww hell, it's hard not to feel smug pity<br />
once in a while for the saps who continue to lead their little,<br />
unenlightened lives.<br />
<br />
...TO BE POORER. Oh, yes, did I mention all those items for sale? You<br />
may naively think that God, or His prophet the Internet, will shower<br />
down upon your family everything it needs for a first-class education.<br />
Then you will remember that in the US of A, value is measured in<br />
dollars. There will be books, software programs, and chemistry sets to<br />
buy and store. Plus, maps, posters, private lessons, and more books.<br />
As in the case of having a child, I remain skeptical that all of this<br />
stuff is really necessary, and, as then, I try to keep my own counsel<br />
as my wife wears out the credit card.<br />
<br />
...TO BE A ROLE PLAYER. Keeping your own counsel is a big part of the<br />
pregnancy gig, as veteran dads know. You have a role on this team, and<br />
it is not the star. (This rule is not so relevant to actual<br />
childrearing, except on TV.) When there are 7 seconds left and your<br />
team needs to sink a 3-pointer to win, the ball is not coming your<br />
way. You are Robin, not Batman: in theory, you are needed, but they<br />
could make the movie without you.<br />
<br />
As a (college) teacher myself, I know that insecurity comes with the<br />
job, because so much is hard to measure and out of your control<br />
anyway. So, my newly homeschooling wife wants to talk a lot about what<br />
she's learning and teaching and planning for our kids. She seeks my<br />
opinion on many things, but I think what she's really looking for is<br />
reassurance. I know she's smart and thorough and a natural teacher, so<br />
I'm not often inclined to weigh in, but she may need to have a<br />
conversation anyhow. That's my job. But I can't get insistent about my<br />
way of looking at things, because I am not the one delivering the<br />
goods.<br />
<br />
...TO PINCH-HIT. Everyone who's been partner to a pregnancy knows that<br />
there are meltdown days. True, to some extent these are<br />
physiologically driven. But daily exposure to whining, inquiring,<br />
resisting, lollygagging, interrupting, clarifying, complaining,<br />
daydreaming, and general wall-bouncing takes a physical as well as a<br />
psychological toll. You won't believe it unless you try it, but<br />
teaching is exhausting.<br />
<br />
No doubt your job is hard too, but at the end of the day your clients<br />
aren't still expecting you to make them dinner and play War with them.<br />
(Unless you are a Michelin-rated arms dealer, I guess.) You need to<br />
step up your game on some days and take one for the team. It's not<br />
about what's fair, it's about long-range sanity.<br />
<br />
...TO SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY. Bringing a child into the world<br />
changes your perspective. Long-term problems like wars and economic<br />
collapses and environmental degradation take on new personal<br />
importance. At the same time, you gain a renewed sense of wonder at<br />
how even the most mundane things are often miraculous.<br />
<br />
As a product of public schools and a public university, I have always<br />
wanted to disregard the perennial Chicken Little cries about the<br />
American educational system. They've been going on since I was in<br />
school myself. Those cries are often still exaggerated. But I finally<br />
had to concede that our local public elementary school wasn't working<br />
for us.<br />
<br />
Now I have watched my formerly bored sons become passionate learners<br />
of history, chemistry, and languages. They devour books for pleasure.<br />
We conduct dinner table conversations in which I can't consult<br />
Wikipedia fast enough to answer all of the questions. Their old school<br />
starts to sound more like a prison every day. (Seriously. Our state's<br />
schools became infamous for trying to send a first grader to reform<br />
school for using a Cub Scout pocket tool to eat his pudding.)<br />
<br />
I'm glad we didn't wait to make things better for our kids and our<br />
family. Really, I'm envious of the education they're getting. As it<br />
was with bringing them into the world in the first place, my concern<br />
for our ability to care for them properly has evaporated. Instead--and<br />
this was completely unexpected--my worries are for the world and<br />
country we're bringing them into.<br />
<br />
I have come to believe that it's time to rethink the school model at a<br />
deep level. The system was shaped by and for the industrial<br />
revolution, when a high school diploma meant a decent job that could<br />
support a family. Those days are never coming back. Schools are not<br />
producing the citizens we need, as you can tell from the rampant<br />
irrationality and magical thinking that surrounds all public<br />
discourse. We need a new model for the Information Age. I cheerfully<br />
admit that I don't know what that model should be--after all,<br />
homeschooling won't scale up to national size. But I'm sure it's going<br />
to take creative, critical, and informed leaders to make this happen,<br />
and I feel like we're doing our part. From our kids, I expect great<br />
things.<br />
<br />
<i>--Thanks for reading! </i>NittanyJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08424106109608745692noreply@blogger.com2