Thursday, December 30, 2010
The Water Cycle
Just wanted to post a link to this interactive water cycle site. I'm going to use it next week. So fun.
Friday, December 17, 2010
MATH!!!!!
I am afraid of two things in regards to home schooling: 1) teaching my little ones to read and 2) incorporating math in a fun, useful and test ready way. The reading I can talk about later, today I want to discuss the math issue.
In my view math is something very critical to daily living, you need to know how to count money and make sure you get the right change back so as not to be cheated, you need to know how to create a budget and calculate it out, you need to be able to be able to figure out sales prices, read and understand recipes, etc, you know the basic living stuff. On another level if you want to be able to build anything you need to have a knowledge of geometry, measurement and the like. I don't use that very often or very complexly anyway but Dennis does every time he builds me a cabinet or something. Finally, I realize for college entry my kids will need to be able to take a math test and do well on it. Not to mention if they decide to go into any field such as science, engineering, medicine etc. they will need a good foundation in mathematics.
My fear is that I am not great at math. I also see that it is not Will's favorite subject and he almost never chooses it for himself to work on. I don't want him to hate it and force it and make his dislike of it worse, but I do want him to keep at least semi-current with it. For now I have decided to do a math mom share once per week. I have found two things I am excited about. One lead to the other. . .
My friend and home schooling mentor Beth suggest the book Mathematicians are People Too which tell stories of real mathematicians in a kid friendly way. I was reading through this today and was delighted to find a mathematician story on a math topic we have been working on. Will is technically a 3rd grader and my mind screams time stables because of it. So, that is the topic we have explored the last few weeks. John Napier is one of the mathematicians from the above mentioned book. Famous for logarithms, he also created a device called Napier Rods or Napier Bones that act as an early multiplication calculator. I looked on-line and found several references for making our own rods/bones. I think it will be fun to read about John Napier and make a set of his "bones". Maybe I don't get out often enough but, seriously I am so excited to find fun and interesting connections to something as drab as memorizing mulitplication tables!!
Other ways I am trying to make sure Will gets good doses of math is to have him use it as he would in real life. He counted prices, and made change when he did his candy store. We have cooked together and discussed fractions when we doubled recipes or halved them. He also has designed and built a step stool with his dad.
Sometimes I feel a little panicked we aren't doing math worksheets every day. But as I reflect on what we are doing I feel a wave of relief and a faith that in the end he will have a well rounded understanding of math concepts, that he will be able to apply what he knows in a variety of ways and that not only that. . .he won't hate it but at some point will actually enjoy and welcome solving problems using mathematics.
In my view math is something very critical to daily living, you need to know how to count money and make sure you get the right change back so as not to be cheated, you need to know how to create a budget and calculate it out, you need to be able to be able to figure out sales prices, read and understand recipes, etc, you know the basic living stuff. On another level if you want to be able to build anything you need to have a knowledge of geometry, measurement and the like. I don't use that very often or very complexly anyway but Dennis does every time he builds me a cabinet or something. Finally, I realize for college entry my kids will need to be able to take a math test and do well on it. Not to mention if they decide to go into any field such as science, engineering, medicine etc. they will need a good foundation in mathematics.
My fear is that I am not great at math. I also see that it is not Will's favorite subject and he almost never chooses it for himself to work on. I don't want him to hate it and force it and make his dislike of it worse, but I do want him to keep at least semi-current with it. For now I have decided to do a math mom share once per week. I have found two things I am excited about. One lead to the other. . .
My friend and home schooling mentor Beth suggest the book Mathematicians are People Too which tell stories of real mathematicians in a kid friendly way. I was reading through this today and was delighted to find a mathematician story on a math topic we have been working on. Will is technically a 3rd grader and my mind screams time stables because of it. So, that is the topic we have explored the last few weeks. John Napier is one of the mathematicians from the above mentioned book. Famous for logarithms, he also created a device called Napier Rods or Napier Bones that act as an early multiplication calculator. I looked on-line and found several references for making our own rods/bones. I think it will be fun to read about John Napier and make a set of his "bones". Maybe I don't get out often enough but, seriously I am so excited to find fun and interesting connections to something as drab as memorizing mulitplication tables!!
Other ways I am trying to make sure Will gets good doses of math is to have him use it as he would in real life. He counted prices, and made change when he did his candy store. We have cooked together and discussed fractions when we doubled recipes or halved them. He also has designed and built a step stool with his dad.
Sometimes I feel a little panicked we aren't doing math worksheets every day. But as I reflect on what we are doing I feel a wave of relief and a faith that in the end he will have a well rounded understanding of math concepts, that he will be able to apply what he knows in a variety of ways and that not only that. . .he won't hate it but at some point will actually enjoy and welcome solving problems using mathematics.
Friday, December 10, 2010
A week in review
This week was quite productive and as I have finally pulled myself together and worked out a system I feel good about I know more than ever I won't go back to public school. So here's our week:
Monday was "church" day. We did our regular read scriptures and read another chapter of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and then moved on to scouting and Faith in God. In scouting we went over his rock collection and talked about what he needed to do to finish up and cross that off in his book. For Faith in God he worked on developing talents and wrote a poem about one of God's creations (Lizards). He wrote an acrostic poem that requires you to know a little bit about lizards so he went on-line and read about lizards, as he came across words he liked he filled in the poem. L-Long Tongue I-insects for food Z-zoom A-anole lizard R-rain forest D-devil. I thought it turned out well and connected to Wednesday for science YAY! He really wanted to sculpt something but I couldn't find the clay but later this week he was able to very impressively sculpt a Sonic. I really was impressed at how well it turned out, I'll post pictures when he is done (he wants to paint it).
Tuesdays are more difficult because Ian is home all day and Will prefers to play with him than do work. I wanted to continue on with Rivers so we watched fresh water section of the PBS series Earth. Will was glued to it and I was reminded of how interesting he finds this sort of thing. I thought it gave a good background and imagery for him as we will continue to learn about the rivers of the world. We all made craft stick puzzles and mostly did closet for the day. Of course we read another chapter of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and scriptures.
Wednesday we read again and wrote out the questions Will had about Lizards for his report. My plan is that his report will mainly be about what he wanted to learn. I chose Whales and modeled for him the writing of the questions so he would have a general idea of what kinds of questions I had to give him ideas. We then went to the library and found books on our animals. I thought we could put a copy of his lizard poem in his report as well.
Thursday Will got to go on a field trip to the local planetarium and picnic lunch at the park. I have made a great connection with some other moms that home school and one of the moms took him with her and her son so I wouldn't have to take all the little kids. Will had a great time learning about the planets and they did a light show on the way different cultures celebrate Christmas. We also started a little art project of painting poinsettias. The art topic will be complementary colors. We had finished the "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" on Wednesday and with him at the planetarium and such we did not get any together reading in. He did read on his own as usual though so that was great too.
Friday, today is math day. We read scriptures and also started reading Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". It is a children's version and I told Will that I wanted him to read the original when as his reading skills improve. For now I think this version is appropriate. We then moved to math. I wanted him to work on his math program as one of his tasks but he didn't want to so instead went through a lesson in a 3rd grade text book I have. We discussed times tables with factors of 1 and 0 and he was a wiz, I didn't even have to back track or anything. He didn't even miss a beat when we looked at the algebra parts of the assignment. Then, I had him continue work on looking at patterns associated with times tables. Last week he colored in the 3's of a 100's chart and this week he did 4's and 5's. He quickly noticed the patterns and said he thought times tables would be easy for him. I agreed. Finally, I bought a book called "Mathematicians are People Too." and we read one of the stories about a mathematician.
Several times this week we have also done "pillow talk" where Will writes in a journal to me. I told him he could write whenever he wanted and then at night I would answer and slip the book under his pillow. This has been really fun. It hasn't been quite what I expected it would be and Will has surprised me with what he writes about. I don't want to spill too much about it because honestly as it develops it seriously is something I may look to publish especially if it continues along these lines.
I have to say, I am loving the home school thing. Yes, I am busy and way more overwhelmed than if I just sent them all off to school, but I am finding great joy in seeing my child/ren develop and learn and it such unexpected profound ways. Even if it is the harder road I would take it again and I will take it 3 more times! I don't know when I will pull Viv but my guess is that it will be sooner rather than later. I am just trying to be patient so that I do that at the right time as Viv brings those special circumstances, I have to be in the right place to start with her.
So that's it for this week!!! Happy Home Schooling!
Monday was "church" day. We did our regular read scriptures and read another chapter of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and then moved on to scouting and Faith in God. In scouting we went over his rock collection and talked about what he needed to do to finish up and cross that off in his book. For Faith in God he worked on developing talents and wrote a poem about one of God's creations (Lizards). He wrote an acrostic poem that requires you to know a little bit about lizards so he went on-line and read about lizards, as he came across words he liked he filled in the poem. L-Long Tongue I-insects for food Z-zoom A-anole lizard R-rain forest D-devil. I thought it turned out well and connected to Wednesday for science YAY! He really wanted to sculpt something but I couldn't find the clay but later this week he was able to very impressively sculpt a Sonic. I really was impressed at how well it turned out, I'll post pictures when he is done (he wants to paint it).
Tuesdays are more difficult because Ian is home all day and Will prefers to play with him than do work. I wanted to continue on with Rivers so we watched fresh water section of the PBS series Earth. Will was glued to it and I was reminded of how interesting he finds this sort of thing. I thought it gave a good background and imagery for him as we will continue to learn about the rivers of the world. We all made craft stick puzzles and mostly did closet for the day. Of course we read another chapter of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and scriptures.
Wednesday we read again and wrote out the questions Will had about Lizards for his report. My plan is that his report will mainly be about what he wanted to learn. I chose Whales and modeled for him the writing of the questions so he would have a general idea of what kinds of questions I had to give him ideas. We then went to the library and found books on our animals. I thought we could put a copy of his lizard poem in his report as well.
Thursday Will got to go on a field trip to the local planetarium and picnic lunch at the park. I have made a great connection with some other moms that home school and one of the moms took him with her and her son so I wouldn't have to take all the little kids. Will had a great time learning about the planets and they did a light show on the way different cultures celebrate Christmas. We also started a little art project of painting poinsettias. The art topic will be complementary colors. We had finished the "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" on Wednesday and with him at the planetarium and such we did not get any together reading in. He did read on his own as usual though so that was great too.
Friday, today is math day. We read scriptures and also started reading Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". It is a children's version and I told Will that I wanted him to read the original when as his reading skills improve. For now I think this version is appropriate. We then moved to math. I wanted him to work on his math program as one of his tasks but he didn't want to so instead went through a lesson in a 3rd grade text book I have. We discussed times tables with factors of 1 and 0 and he was a wiz, I didn't even have to back track or anything. He didn't even miss a beat when we looked at the algebra parts of the assignment. Then, I had him continue work on looking at patterns associated with times tables. Last week he colored in the 3's of a 100's chart and this week he did 4's and 5's. He quickly noticed the patterns and said he thought times tables would be easy for him. I agreed. Finally, I bought a book called "Mathematicians are People Too." and we read one of the stories about a mathematician.
Several times this week we have also done "pillow talk" where Will writes in a journal to me. I told him he could write whenever he wanted and then at night I would answer and slip the book under his pillow. This has been really fun. It hasn't been quite what I expected it would be and Will has surprised me with what he writes about. I don't want to spill too much about it because honestly as it develops it seriously is something I may look to publish especially if it continues along these lines.
I have to say, I am loving the home school thing. Yes, I am busy and way more overwhelmed than if I just sent them all off to school, but I am finding great joy in seeing my child/ren develop and learn and it such unexpected profound ways. Even if it is the harder road I would take it again and I will take it 3 more times! I don't know when I will pull Viv but my guess is that it will be sooner rather than later. I am just trying to be patient so that I do that at the right time as Viv brings those special circumstances, I have to be in the right place to start with her.
So that's it for this week!!! Happy Home Schooling!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Rivers
Home school has been going well. Even yesterday which was a personally hectic and emotional day we somehow had a great school day. Will helped with all the chores, we read another chapter of the Best Christmas Pageant Ever, we read scriptures, Will worked on a book report, he wrote a 4 page book with great paragraphs and illustrations (I didn't even ask him to do it, he just did it during closet time!!), and we studied rivers. For a little activity and to show will how tributaries flow together into rivers I used this fun activity I had used when teaching 4th grade a million years ago. You crumple up butcher paper and tape it down to create a mountainous land form then line the ridges with goo style food coloring and then spray with water (rain) and watch tributaries flow into rivers and empty into and create lakes in land basins! Will really enjoyed this little project and at the end of the day when we asked what his favorite part of today was this little ditty got the prize. Super fun and another great school day!!!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The Beauty of Questions
While on our little Thanksgiving trip Will had a few questions that I thought were pretty great. He asked why it was getting dark so early and why it was colder and snowy in SL than in Las Vegas. He asked these questions at two different occasions but they were very connected. I told him in both instances that we could talk about these during home school. I taught these concepts in 6th grade and knew where to find some lesson plan resources but when I got to them they were very detailed and required materials I didn't have to explain this to Will so instead I found a website and a YouTube video that seemed to answer his quandary. One site was a Christian home school site, found here. Here is the YouTube video. I pulled these up and had Will watch and read them and then asked him if he knew the answer to the questions. He explained them well and then we discussed how crazy it was to think that right now in Australia it would be summer.
I loved this experience because Will learned from his own curiosity. I didn't have to follow any curriculum or standard or benchmark for him to wonder about his world and how it works. He read non-fiction science materials, then explained it in his own words all without me dictating or persuading him with grades or tokens to do so. He was curious, I supplied the resource and then he learned for himself. BEAUTIFUL.
As for the rest of school yesterday. . .
I found ants upstairs in the TV room and freaked out. So we spent a lot of the day moving the TV room back downstairs. Will has my assistant and we discussed how I was crazy and that was just part of who I was, he seemed OK with it.
We also finished the last 3 chapters of Bridge to Terabithia. I sat and cried through the whole thing and Will sniffled along. I had planned to read only 1 chapter but he urged me to finish as it was the climax of the story and he didn't want to stop. Again I was reminded of the beauty of home schooling and that it allowed us to finish when were at that tumultuous part of the story not wanting to put it down.
We also read scriptures and worked on memorizing the articles of faith as part of his faith in God and went over a new chore chart for a scout project.
Will was very sweet today. He jumped at my asking for any help and even though had a choice moment or two with his siblings was helpful and kind to them. He played bubbles with the kids and Bat man and Robyn with Ian escaping to the "Bat Cave". He also made the kids lunch all by himself without me even asking!!! So far I am thinking home school is where it's at!!!
I loved this experience because Will learned from his own curiosity. I didn't have to follow any curriculum or standard or benchmark for him to wonder about his world and how it works. He read non-fiction science materials, then explained it in his own words all without me dictating or persuading him with grades or tokens to do so. He was curious, I supplied the resource and then he learned for himself. BEAUTIFUL.
As for the rest of school yesterday. . .
I found ants upstairs in the TV room and freaked out. So we spent a lot of the day moving the TV room back downstairs. Will has my assistant and we discussed how I was crazy and that was just part of who I was, he seemed OK with it.
We also finished the last 3 chapters of Bridge to Terabithia. I sat and cried through the whole thing and Will sniffled along. I had planned to read only 1 chapter but he urged me to finish as it was the climax of the story and he didn't want to stop. Again I was reminded of the beauty of home schooling and that it allowed us to finish when were at that tumultuous part of the story not wanting to put it down.
We also read scriptures and worked on memorizing the articles of faith as part of his faith in God and went over a new chore chart for a scout project.
Will was very sweet today. He jumped at my asking for any help and even though had a choice moment or two with his siblings was helpful and kind to them. He played bubbles with the kids and Bat man and Robyn with Ian escaping to the "Bat Cave". He also made the kids lunch all by himself without me even asking!!! So far I am thinking home school is where it's at!!!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Mom Share To the Rescue!
Mom share is what The Thomas Jefferson method uses in my opinion to ensure that even though you let kids choose and move at their own pace you still need to introduce things in order for kids to even know to choose them! I am using the "What your 3rd Grader Needs to Know" as my guide. I have laid out the remainder of the school year to hopefully at least introduce all the topics that my 3rd grader needs to know!!
Yesterday, I gave Will a little geography quiz. We discussed the 7 continents, 4 oceans, what a legend is and a few other basic geographical terms and concepts. Then we did a word sort. This is where you take a word, break it down into its letters and then make other words with that word. You can use this to discuss vocabulary, spelling and grammar rules. Beth gave me a web site called wordplays.com that breaks down all the possible words for you so you know what topics and rules you can discuss. As a final little part Will had to use all the letters to make one big magic word. I did the word continents. He had fun and I felt like he learned a lot from the two activities.
Also his daily plan is going well and I started "pillow talk" in hope to get him writing a little more. This was another suggestion from Beth. I told Will if he wrote me a letter before he went to bed I would answer it and put it under his pillow for him to find in the morning. I had to laugh when I got his letter asking me if I knew how people made fish food! The things kids think about is hilarious!
Anyway, another peaceful day. I so hope we can maintain!
Yesterday, I gave Will a little geography quiz. We discussed the 7 continents, 4 oceans, what a legend is and a few other basic geographical terms and concepts. Then we did a word sort. This is where you take a word, break it down into its letters and then make other words with that word. You can use this to discuss vocabulary, spelling and grammar rules. Beth gave me a web site called wordplays.com that breaks down all the possible words for you so you know what topics and rules you can discuss. As a final little part Will had to use all the letters to make one big magic word. I did the word continents. He had fun and I felt like he learned a lot from the two activities.
Also his daily plan is going well and I started "pillow talk" in hope to get him writing a little more. This was another suggestion from Beth. I told Will if he wrote me a letter before he went to bed I would answer it and put it under his pillow for him to find in the morning. I had to laugh when I got his letter asking me if I knew how people made fish food! The things kids think about is hilarious!
Anyway, another peaceful day. I so hope we can maintain!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Finding Peace
I think I found some peace. I know most people run around thinking what kids are doing right now is so important. People have their kids in every kind of activity possible with the good intent of turning out rounded, knowledgeable kids. But is seems like all of that looks and seems good but the consequence is the lack of time together as a family. What it feels like when I jump on that band wagon is stressed and no time for quality family time. The last few days I have simplified. I want my kids to know how to interact together in a positive way. I want them to play, share, problem solve. I want them to have a strong sense of right and wrong, service, caring for others and thinking of more than themselves. I want them to know the gospel and have a strong testimony of their own. Yes, I want them to read, write, be able to calculate sums and figures and to know that the Columbus sailed in 1492, but really, right now that is very secondary and to teach them those facts and figures I will do it in a way that is promoting my family core strength and values. I will play games with them, read to them, challenge them. . .I will do those things as we do the other more important things. I have found peace in looking at my completely amazing children and knowing they are so smart, so capable and that they will learn all those random and sorted facts and figures but they won't do it in a classroom, they will do it was we learn to be a strong and happy family.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Just another day. . .
Today was a little crazy, Ian was sick and luckily Dennis was home so he took him and Will to the doctor (Will wasn't sick but just tagged along-for fun!). Viv was OK she went to school as usual. Ian's little home school preschool workshop thing was having the parent workshop day and I didn't want to miss so I took Cadey with me to that and she got to do "school" today. She was super excited and made sure I packed her a backpack like I do for Viv and Ian when they go. Dennis ended up being at the doctor for 4 1/2 hours! They had to do tests and take x-rays and finally determined Ian has a bronchial infection. We all had lunch and then I decided that we still needed to do a little school time so the day wouldn't be totally lost. Ian and Cadey had quiet time/nap time for a bit. Will and I read a chapter of Bridge to Terabithia folded laundry and played a game called take two where you make words out of scrabble tiles. Will also did two science experiments out of a little book he has and read his chapter book "Super Goofballs". For some this may not seem like a productive school day. I might even have a sliver of my brain that is worried it's not that productive but considering what he would really accomplish in a school day the only thing really left out is writing and math from today. He read, he worked, he experimented, he thought about and manipulated words and he built his relationship with me, his dad and his brother today. I can't see what is too bad about that. As I am writing I am still feeling like I need to justify what we are doing. . .Still working on that!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Things we're doing . . .
I loved school growing up. I loved going to school to be a teacher and I loved teaching too. Home school is not the same but I think it's even better!! We play a lot, create a lot, discover a lot and learn a lot.
Ian has spent an hour and half in one sitting creating these little plastic creations, AMAZING to me since he is only 3, really an hour and a half!!!
Will and I got a make chocolate from scratch kit that had the cocoa powder, cocoa butter and the like to create our own chocolate. This was a precursor to our big candy making endeavor that is coming up soon.
Dennis found a lizard egg that we saved and the other day the kids went outside to check it and it had hatched. Very exciting, now they keep going out to look for the baby lizard.
These are just a few parts of our last few weeks. We are loving it!!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
HOW TO MAKE BUTTER!
Put heavy cream in jar, add salt if desired (kosher salt is yummy), seal jar tight and shake it baby shake it!! Voila, BUTTER!
Oh My Bread and Butter!!
This week I really wanted to make homemade bread and butter with the kids and we did that today. It turned out really well even if such projects are generally chaotic. Cadey can't keep her hands out or mouth off the product, Ian wants it to be his turn all the time and Will yells at everyone and so do I!! Needless to say we have some kinks to work out of the cooking process!!
I still think they had fun and they really enjoyed eating the final results.
I still think they had fun and they really enjoyed eating the final results.
Anne of Avonlea
I finished reading Anne of Green Gables a few weeks ago and now I am reading the second book of the series Anne of Avonlea. I came across this line today that I really connected to. Anne has just finished her first day as a teacher and Marilla her adopted mother asks her how the day went. She replies, "Ask me that a month later and I may be able to tell you. I can't now --I don't know myself. . .I'm too near it. My thoughts feel as if they had been all stirred up until they were thick and muddy."
I love the imagery and metaphor of how her feelings were stirred up and muddy. I feel this way a lot. I feel so much and so many different things all at the same time often it is difficult for me to sort them out. If I don't take time to ponder and weigh things out I usually mispeak or let my chaos of feeling direct me in a mixed up direction as well.
I think I will take Anne's example more often to give myself time to sort things out before expressing myself.
I love the imagery and metaphor of how her feelings were stirred up and muddy. I feel this way a lot. I feel so much and so many different things all at the same time often it is difficult for me to sort them out. If I don't take time to ponder and weigh things out I usually mispeak or let my chaos of feeling direct me in a mixed up direction as well.
I think I will take Anne's example more often to give myself time to sort things out before expressing myself.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Addition
This week we added a park outing with a group of other home schoolers. Will was beside himself happy that he finally had an opportunity to have "friends". I did talk to him about how friends can be any age and gave examples of some of best friends being 5 years or so younger and/or older than myself. I pointed out that his brother is 5 years younger and that he still could be his friend. Still, it is nice for him to some kids on his level to interact with as well as older and younger so we were all quite happy. Not to mention some social interaction with adults for myself!!! The kids all seemed to get along well and this group plans field trips and such as well so I think we have been blessed to find this opportunity. At every turn even though I feel scared that I won't do a good job, I know this is what we are supposed to be doing for our family. So I will keep building this boat and having faith that Heavenly Father will be helping me do it.
Will is also doing a candy survey to go with the stories we are reading lately (Chocolate Fever and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). He has gotten so many responses from our friends and family so thanks so much for everyone that is supporting Will in his learning and me in my guidance of his learning. I think it will be a good experience as we move through these books and activities. I am even learning. . .did you know they make white chocolate using not the cocoa beans but the cocoa butter they press out of the beans??? Cool huh?
Will is also doing a candy survey to go with the stories we are reading lately (Chocolate Fever and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). He has gotten so many responses from our friends and family so thanks so much for everyone that is supporting Will in his learning and me in my guidance of his learning. I think it will be a good experience as we move through these books and activities. I am even learning. . .did you know they make white chocolate using not the cocoa beans but the cocoa butter they press out of the beans??? Cool huh?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Afloat
This is hard, really really hard. I think I probably make it harder than it needs to be, but still it is hard for me to be doing this. Still, despite feeling this way, I am grateful for the opportunity to be doing it. I know that it is the best for my family and I know that I will be doing this for the rest of the kids as well. I say I want Viv to finish out elementary but I don't know how long I will be able to send even Viv to school. I am most scared of trying to teach her though, so fear might keep her where she is for a few more years. Time will tell I guess.
I think the hardest part right now is taking what others are doing into consideration and then doing what is best for my own family. I think I have found a balance of getting my own daily chores done, but I am still problem solving to figure out how to do activities and projects that will be beneficial for Cadey up to Will. 2-8 is a huge age difference. We have cooked and done some art projects but I feel like Will could do more and I am expecting a little much of the little ones. They do pretty well working out of the closet (pretty much explore and play time) most of the time with the basic sibling issues of sharing and whatnot, so it really just the time of day that they are all awake and all done with TV and needing some quality project of some kind. Any suggestions????
Will is doing pretty well on his individual studies. He seems to enjoy the math and I love that he is self learning that. That is the easiest part of my day and I feel like everyone is happy! He also finally found a cursive book he seems to enjoy. He has a fascination for Roly Poly bugs and so he has created a soda bottle habitat for a few he found in the yard. We looked up information on them and he wrote a little book about them. His book was basically narrative and described the pictures and I would have liked him to go into some of the facts he learned. I think for tomorrows mom share I will talk to him about the questions he asked as he observed his Roly poly and the answers he found and suggest he add them to his book.
He is also working on a Boston Book from our trip but it has taken a back seat since the discovery of his buggy friends.
We have really slacked on his journal writing and I need to find a time that it will fit in better, maybe right after kids go to bed or right before I wake kids up from naps??
I am amazed at how fast he reads, but am noticing that he doesn't think much about what he reads. During Stuart Little I am trying to remember to voice what comes into my own head as I read. We read a little poem today about taking learning slow and not rushing from the Children's Book of Virtues, I need to remember that my self and realize that it's not a race to cram as much as I can into him as fast as I can, instead it's about building a love of learning a desire of learning and a how to go about learning.
He is also progressing through his faith in god pretty well and as done 3 projects already. Scouts is a bit of another story. He has been working on a 2 week chart of healthy habits for about 4 weeks now!! He forgets to do it, I forget to remind him. . .I will be glad to pick a different project! Our plants are growing pretty well, I need to figure out how and will best to transplant them. I really want some cucumbers and zucchini and the kids will be thrilled if we get a pumpkin even if it is in November!!!
So that's it from our Boat, so far we're floating so that's good.
I think the hardest part right now is taking what others are doing into consideration and then doing what is best for my own family. I think I have found a balance of getting my own daily chores done, but I am still problem solving to figure out how to do activities and projects that will be beneficial for Cadey up to Will. 2-8 is a huge age difference. We have cooked and done some art projects but I feel like Will could do more and I am expecting a little much of the little ones. They do pretty well working out of the closet (pretty much explore and play time) most of the time with the basic sibling issues of sharing and whatnot, so it really just the time of day that they are all awake and all done with TV and needing some quality project of some kind. Any suggestions????
Will is doing pretty well on his individual studies. He seems to enjoy the math and I love that he is self learning that. That is the easiest part of my day and I feel like everyone is happy! He also finally found a cursive book he seems to enjoy. He has a fascination for Roly Poly bugs and so he has created a soda bottle habitat for a few he found in the yard. We looked up information on them and he wrote a little book about them. His book was basically narrative and described the pictures and I would have liked him to go into some of the facts he learned. I think for tomorrows mom share I will talk to him about the questions he asked as he observed his Roly poly and the answers he found and suggest he add them to his book.
He is also working on a Boston Book from our trip but it has taken a back seat since the discovery of his buggy friends.
We have really slacked on his journal writing and I need to find a time that it will fit in better, maybe right after kids go to bed or right before I wake kids up from naps??
I am amazed at how fast he reads, but am noticing that he doesn't think much about what he reads. During Stuart Little I am trying to remember to voice what comes into my own head as I read. We read a little poem today about taking learning slow and not rushing from the Children's Book of Virtues, I need to remember that my self and realize that it's not a race to cram as much as I can into him as fast as I can, instead it's about building a love of learning a desire of learning and a how to go about learning.
He is also progressing through his faith in god pretty well and as done 3 projects already. Scouts is a bit of another story. He has been working on a 2 week chart of healthy habits for about 4 weeks now!! He forgets to do it, I forget to remind him. . .I will be glad to pick a different project! Our plants are growing pretty well, I need to figure out how and will best to transplant them. I really want some cucumbers and zucchini and the kids will be thrilled if we get a pumpkin even if it is in November!!!
So that's it from our Boat, so far we're floating so that's good.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Keeping Up
Today was better and smoother. We didn't have any appointments other than picking up Ian from his home school workshop/pre-school that he has started so we were able to just take the day a little less chaotically. One thing I am seeing as an advantage and slight disadvantage is that Will loves to learn and is SO curious (I should have named him George). It's an advantage because he has the desire to learn and that takes care of a lot of problems. I don't have to coerce too much to get him to want to participate, if anything I am having a harder time keeping up with him. The disadvantage is he wants to learn about everything. Every day it's a million questions that could be turned into research and projects. For example, he found some Rollie-pollie bugs outside while playing and decided to create a little habitat for some in a plastic container. He told me he wanted to learn more about Rollie-pollies and so we looked up things on-line and he adapted the habitat to fit the "pill bug" better such as adding moisture and fruit/veggie scraps to the container. This has been great and he has learned a lot from this little 2 day project. However, I am a planner and it is hard for me to jump from one thing to the next. In addition, my learning and how I know how to teach includes a lot of writing and other demonstrations of showing what you have learned. Most of what we are doing is verbal and so there is not much documentation of what is going on. I know I need to let go of this and realize that Will is learning even if I don't have a report he wrote to show it. My favorite thing is the safest thing and that is his math. Concrete, documented and has a clear start and finish. I guess for now I will hold on to that for my sanity and have faith with the rest!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
I wonder what it's like living in Hawaii?
So today I feel discouraged. It's the 6Th real day of being at school at home and so far while I know we have accomplished things and Will has been learning none of the days have followed the same pattern and most days if not all we have not accomplished all that I want to get done. I am finding it difficult to know what is OK and what isn't. What is critical and what to be OK with letting go. Is it OK that he didn't write in his journal yesterday and may miss it again today? Is it OK that I put in half of the pictures for his Boston Report (details of that later, his first big project)? Is it OK that I am dictating this report? I sort of let him choose the format of his presentation, I definitely guided him. He is also going to have to present his Revolutionary War information as well and he chose to write a poem about it, I don't know how he can get all his learning into a poem? Should I suggest he write several poems? Is one general poem OK? I want to do some art projects but am finding it difficult to pick something that relates to other things he is learning so it's not just random. But, I am also finding it hard to do something with Will and the younger kids at the same time. He is so much more advanced than they are. I just feel overwhelmed. I feel like I can't possibly do it all. We have missed chores the last 2 days so a thick layer of dust is lounging about on all the surfaces of my home, my carpet is screaming to have it's fur cleaned and I won't even mention my bathrooms. I am also behind on my personal reading, my diet is out the window and I have gone running once this week. It's been a horrible, terrible, no good, very discouraging day. I know some days are like this, but I wonder if days like these occur in Hawaii?
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Day 3
I probably won't blog each day, but surprisingly I have had a bit of time to do so. Today brought its own challenges simply because Will and I have a buzzing energy about us in anticipation for our big field trip we are leaving for tonight!! Still, we accomplished quite a bit.
We read 2 more chapters of scripture, Will completed another 2 math lessons, some typing and read for about 4o minutes from Sonic and Falling Up (I was excited he picked a poetry book, YAY!). We also read a few more chapters of Stuart Little, and completed 2 more science projects. Today he was a little distracted and found little interest in the "why" of the experiments and preferred to just enjoy the doing of them. I still think they were worth while. Will also sent an email to his Baba and started a conversation about what he read in the Book of Mormon. I think that will be a good way for him to write and think about the Book in addition to just finding me as a resource.
This week overall went well especially considering all the interruptions and such we have had. Next week should be a little more mellow once we get back. I hope we can maintain our momentum and that we can both continue to learn and grow. I am eager to see how his projects turn out such as his Revolutionary War report and Boston Report. We haven't discussed fully how he will present what he learns but I am sure we will figure out something great.
Next post from Boston Massachusetts!!
We read 2 more chapters of scripture, Will completed another 2 math lessons, some typing and read for about 4o minutes from Sonic and Falling Up (I was excited he picked a poetry book, YAY!). We also read a few more chapters of Stuart Little, and completed 2 more science projects. Today he was a little distracted and found little interest in the "why" of the experiments and preferred to just enjoy the doing of them. I still think they were worth while. Will also sent an email to his Baba and started a conversation about what he read in the Book of Mormon. I think that will be a good way for him to write and think about the Book in addition to just finding me as a resource.
This week overall went well especially considering all the interruptions and such we have had. Next week should be a little more mellow once we get back. I hope we can maintain our momentum and that we can both continue to learn and grow. I am eager to see how his projects turn out such as his Revolutionary War report and Boston Report. We haven't discussed fully how he will present what he learns but I am sure we will figure out something great.
Next post from Boston Massachusetts!!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Day 2
Today was another hectic day but I still feel like we accomplished a lot of quality work. Viv's bus was late AGAIN and Ian had his meet and greet and we had to go to the grocery store, so needless to say we had a lot of interruptions. Still we were able to get through 2 chapters of the Book of Mormon, we started reading Stuart Little, Will completed 2 math lessons and some typing lessons, we read about and researched the Revolutionary War, baked cookies and worked out of the closet. Not to mention his free reading time and that I made him add up all the prices of our grocery items as we shopped! Will still needs to do his chores for the day (clean the downstairs bathroom and get stuff out for packing for our trip tomorrow) and write in his journal but I will call that "homework".
I was really pleased with his work on the Revolutionary War. I did a "Mom Share" on how to look up topics (i.e. table of contents, indexes, etc.) and then asked Will what did he want to know about the war. I was surprised at what he expressed. He wanted to know why it all started, where battles were, more about Minutemen and the Boston Tea Party. Today we read in books and looked on the Internet and took notes on the stuff we found. We also discussed how the war effected families and how Dennis is in the military and how he might have to protect our country some day. This made Will sad, but we talked about how the families of the time felt the same way and that if Dennis had to go we would have to pray a lot and it would be sad. I think it is good to have that connection and build an emotional tie as we learn about it rather than just think about facts and figures. I think it is important to learn the affects of war, the reasons for war and other options so that our future generations can find other ways to solve problems. I felt good about our work today.
I am so excited for our trip. We might run into Hurricane Earl, but I guess if that happens we'll use it as an opportunity to learn about hurricanes!!! Wish us luck, I will post as I can!
I was really pleased with his work on the Revolutionary War. I did a "Mom Share" on how to look up topics (i.e. table of contents, indexes, etc.) and then asked Will what did he want to know about the war. I was surprised at what he expressed. He wanted to know why it all started, where battles were, more about Minutemen and the Boston Tea Party. Today we read in books and looked on the Internet and took notes on the stuff we found. We also discussed how the war effected families and how Dennis is in the military and how he might have to protect our country some day. This made Will sad, but we talked about how the families of the time felt the same way and that if Dennis had to go we would have to pray a lot and it would be sad. I think it is good to have that connection and build an emotional tie as we learn about it rather than just think about facts and figures. I think it is important to learn the affects of war, the reasons for war and other options so that our future generations can find other ways to solve problems. I felt good about our work today.
I am so excited for our trip. We might run into Hurricane Earl, but I guess if that happens we'll use it as an opportunity to learn about hurricanes!!! Wish us luck, I will post as I can!
Monday, August 30, 2010
A Few Bumps but a Good Ride
Viv's bus was an hour late, we also had a few tantrums and I almost flooded our pool, but other than that the day went well. I considered what most kids do on the first day from my memories as a kid as well as when I taught. The first day is generally a day of get to know you, rules, procedures, a few fluff activities and not a whole lot is covered. Home schooling you don't have to do that really. Will already knows our rules and what is expected. We have been talking to him all summer about school starting and that it would be work and not just all play. Plus we have had bits of our routine in the mix so that today would not be a big shock and I would say it worked out.
Today, Will read 2 chapters of the Book of Mormon and discussed them with me. He completed a lesson and partial 2ND lesson of math, he worked on cursive, finished reading How to Eat Fried Worms and blogged about it, read his Sonic book for 30 minutes, completed 3 science experiments, planted seeds for our family garden, cleaned his room, developed a deeper relationship with his brother by helping him build a train set, made lunch for not just himself but his brother and sister as well, wrote in his journal and chose topics for his Boston report and picked what he wanted to learn about the Revolutionary War. I think it was a productive day, beat that Public School! So despite being a bit exhausted, I feel pretty happy about our day!
Today, Will read 2 chapters of the Book of Mormon and discussed them with me. He completed a lesson and partial 2ND lesson of math, he worked on cursive, finished reading How to Eat Fried Worms and blogged about it, read his Sonic book for 30 minutes, completed 3 science experiments, planted seeds for our family garden, cleaned his room, developed a deeper relationship with his brother by helping him build a train set, made lunch for not just himself but his brother and sister as well, wrote in his journal and chose topics for his Boston report and picked what he wanted to learn about the Revolutionary War. I think it was a productive day, beat that Public School! So despite being a bit exhausted, I feel pretty happy about our day!
Boy scientist! During Study time, Will chose to work on a science book I picked up filled with different experiments. He loves this type of activity and had fun doing them. He learned about Surface tension, Optical illusions and "Bending" or Refracting light.
Below is his Surface Tension Experiment. Super fun!
The First Day of School
Yikes, I am scared. Dennis said, have a great day today, "teacher"! I can't believe I am really doing this. Good luck Will, I hope you learn a lot, I will be doing my very best!!
So here is the schedule for today:
Breakfast
Get ready for the day
Scriptures
Chores
Free Reading
Mom Share (report topics)
Math
Cursive/Typing
snack
Study time (I have a basket of items from Will's learning wish list that he can choose from to study)
Closet time (see Thomas Jefferson Education and future posts for more details, basically I have a closet full of different things Will and the other kids can pull from and play with, learn with, etc.)
Lunch
Free Time
snack
Family Project (planting seeds/gardening)
Hopefully all will go well, wish us luck and lots of learning!!!
So here is the schedule for today:
Breakfast
Get ready for the day
Scriptures
Chores
Free Reading
Mom Share (report topics)
Math
Cursive/Typing
snack
Study time (I have a basket of items from Will's learning wish list that he can choose from to study)
Closet time (see Thomas Jefferson Education and future posts for more details, basically I have a closet full of different things Will and the other kids can pull from and play with, learn with, etc.)
Lunch
Free Time
snack
Family Project (planting seeds/gardening)
Hopefully all will go well, wish us luck and lots of learning!!!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Day 1 on a schedule
I just finished my first scripture/Faith in God/Cub block of time with Will. It went OK. We sat down and looked through the first part of Faith in God and he picked his first activity of creating a pedigree chart and doing some family history. He made his chart and we still have to work on a family group sheet (still need to figure that one out) and pick a family story to share and discuss how temple work blesses families. He also picked a scout project to create a healthy habit chart.
The great thing is these are things I would have picked for him and he picked them on his own!!!
The bad thing is the amount of distraction we had. I let the little kids watch PBS but Will kept wanting to watch and the kids still kept coming in for different things and getting into his work. Next time I think I might try giving the little kids a project of their own, my worry is that they will still be very distracting and interrupting a lot and these are projects that require Will and I discussing things. The only thing about doing it without TV is that Will will be more focused, I hope anyway.
I also had a big Trio set of blocks and pulled that out for "school" time. The kids loved it and all stayed pretty focused on it. When the little kids got bored with the blocks I told them they could just choose another toy from their toys to play with. Ian followed Will, Cadey and Viv played with the dolls. I felt that time was a great success. I hope I can pull enough items to keep them excited and happy for this school time.
Will and I read more of How to Eat Fried Worms. The main theme is betting, lying, cheating and friendship. Will picked up on the characters telling a lie but he didn't come up with why they would lie, (to win a bet). I guess it is good he wouldn't think of that. I asked if he thought it was fair that they would lie so that Billy wouldn't eat all the worms and thus lose the bet, which made him realize why they were lying. I don't want to feed him too much. Not sure how to go about discussing. Do I give more time, what do I say if he says, "I don't know?"
The great thing is these are things I would have picked for him and he picked them on his own!!!
The bad thing is the amount of distraction we had. I let the little kids watch PBS but Will kept wanting to watch and the kids still kept coming in for different things and getting into his work. Next time I think I might try giving the little kids a project of their own, my worry is that they will still be very distracting and interrupting a lot and these are projects that require Will and I discussing things. The only thing about doing it without TV is that Will will be more focused, I hope anyway.
I also had a big Trio set of blocks and pulled that out for "school" time. The kids loved it and all stayed pretty focused on it. When the little kids got bored with the blocks I told them they could just choose another toy from their toys to play with. Ian followed Will, Cadey and Viv played with the dolls. I felt that time was a great success. I hope I can pull enough items to keep them excited and happy for this school time.
Will and I read more of How to Eat Fried Worms. The main theme is betting, lying, cheating and friendship. Will picked up on the characters telling a lie but he didn't come up with why they would lie, (to win a bet). I guess it is good he wouldn't think of that. I asked if he thought it was fair that they would lie so that Billy wouldn't eat all the worms and thus lose the bet, which made him realize why they were lying. I don't want to feed him too much. Not sure how to go about discussing. Do I give more time, what do I say if he says, "I don't know?"
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