Thursday, August 23, 2012
Day 4
Hope is on it! WooHoo, you go girl! It is just after noon and she is just about done with all her assignments for the week. Roman and Bethany, not so much so! They are my procrastinators. Can't imagine where they get THAT from.... uh, yeah!... anyway, Hope and James are off to an eye doctor appointment. My Thursday morning meeting is complete so I'm on lunch break trying to motivate these 2. Roman is reading his chapter in KidCoder. Bethany is STILL working on her copy work and has not touched her reading assignments yet. Need to figure out how to get that girl moving. Kathryn is working in a LeapFrog Preschool Skills workbook practing drawing straight and curved lines. Let's just say, we're gonna need to invest in a whole lotta erasers this year! The child is obsessing and draws a line, erases, draws again. I'm pretty sure one of the lines is on it's 17th try, but hey, it's definitely keeping her busy and she is improving!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Day 3
The kids and James were very receptive to the folders. We have had much discussion on how we would organize school this year and left a chunk of the logistics up to the kids. What we agreed on was that I would write up lessons and organize by the week in folders this year. So each Monday they will receive their folder with all their instructions, the agenda, and any handouts necessary. The kids don't want to be tied down to daily work, they like having Fridays off and since we their programs this year are written for 5 days a week, our Free Fun Fridays have to go, but this way if they work harder on M-Th to complete their work for the week they can still take off all of most of Friday. Folders are to be completed and turned in by 5pm Friday but the order of the work completed is up to them. Bethany and Kathryn of course require more direction and consistency, but it should work very well for Hope and Roman. I am still working out the specifics on a spreadsheet layout to input and print off each week. For now I'm just writing it out on a piece of a paper.
So this morning they each received their folders then sat down to watch a George Washington documentary on Netflix before starting their George Washington projects and tackling the rest of their assignments for the week. Roman and Hope jumped right in and got things rolling. Kathryn tackled 3 pages in her workbook. And then there's B! One of the assignments each of the big kids has this week is to write the Preamble to the Constitution. We're using it for handwriting and copy work and the older 2 have to memorize it. This is not a difficult task and really isn't even that long of a passage, but for a kid with ADD, copy work is a nightmare!!!!! WOW, Bethany is having a difficult time focusing on anything today. After lunch with little complete, we are taking a break and will attempt to complete today's reading assignment, but if it's really not going well, the good thing about homeschooling is that it can be put off till tomorrow.... well, within reason at least!
So this morning they each received their folders then sat down to watch a George Washington documentary on Netflix before starting their George Washington projects and tackling the rest of their assignments for the week. Roman and Hope jumped right in and got things rolling. Kathryn tackled 3 pages in her workbook. And then there's B! One of the assignments each of the big kids has this week is to write the Preamble to the Constitution. We're using it for handwriting and copy work and the older 2 have to memorize it. This is not a difficult task and really isn't even that long of a passage, but for a kid with ADD, copy work is a nightmare!!!!! WOW, Bethany is having a difficult time focusing on anything today. After lunch with little complete, we are taking a break and will attempt to complete today's reading assignment, but if it's really not going well, the good thing about homeschooling is that it can be put off till tomorrow.... well, within reason at least!
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Day 2
Today I woke up feeling tired and lazy. I grabbed my laptop and stayed in bed working. James and the kids got up and got breakfast and the trash to the curb and the morning household stuff and then he came back up and found me still in the bedroom so he laid down and grabbed his MAC and started playing and talking. By then the neighbor kids were already knocking on the door but our kids knew they hadn't done school yet, so up they all came. Next thing I know there's a bed full of work and kids spread everywhere. Roman is laying in the floor working and homeschool and work has taken over the bedroom! Yes we all got our work completed and in good time too. I love lazy school/work days. We can literally school anywhere!
Because of a project I'm working on for work this week I did not make it out to football practice today. And since work wasn't cooperating I set to work on planning out the next few weeks. The last few years we've used Learning Adventures, a unit study by Dorian Holt as the focal of our homeschool. This year Roman is in 7th grade and we are transitioning to more segregated subjects in preparation for high school. So for the first time everything is separate. Who knew how much easier this would make MY life! I knocked out 3 weeks for each of the girls and 8 weeks for Roman in under an hour! This is a huge improvement from the 2-4 hours a week I have been spending on planning. I think I'm gonna like this! That said, their folders are filed and ready for hand out in the morning.
Because of a project I'm working on for work this week I did not make it out to football practice today. And since work wasn't cooperating I set to work on planning out the next few weeks. The last few years we've used Learning Adventures, a unit study by Dorian Holt as the focal of our homeschool. This year Roman is in 7th grade and we are transitioning to more segregated subjects in preparation for high school. So for the first time everything is separate. Who knew how much easier this would make MY life! I knocked out 3 weeks for each of the girls and 8 weeks for Roman in under an hour! This is a huge improvement from the 2-4 hours a week I have been spending on planning. I think I'm gonna like this! That said, their folders are filed and ready for hand out in the morning.
Monday, August 20, 2012
The 2012-13 year is upon us!
No promises to keep this thing up this year, as I have failed miserably the last 2 years! But all the same, it is that time again. This will be our 4th year homeschooling, and our 3rd full year with all the kids home. Last year was not so great. Life definitely got in the way of school and we made a lot of mid-school changes to curriculum that left us in limbo by end of year. That's okay though, this year we should be better and stronger because of the chaos of last year!
So when does the 2012-13 school year for the TERDS begin? Well officially we are starting full school September 17th. Why so late this year? We are heading to Florida Sept 8-15th and schools here don't start until the 4th so we really didn't see the point in starting school just to turn around and take a week off just when we're finding out groove. BUT James and I woke up this morning and said, you know, today's the day! Since we only half finished several things last year we have carry over work, plenty of busy work, and some fun projects we can start kicking into gear. So although our first full day is still 5 weeks away, we are diving in head first with some light schooling to turn those brains back on after a long lazy summer!
So today I placed the last of the orders for the new curriculum and a few things are starting to roll in. We did a big family scavenger hunt to pull together scattered supplies and roll over curriculum from last year. Binders and folders are all neatly labeled and ready to go now. And each kid completed one actual schooling assignment. Plus James and Roman are starting to look over the pre-req's for KidCoder, the programming elective Roman picked out for this year.
And the highlight of today's 1st day of 2012-13 school year..... BAND open house! This year all 3 kids are joining Beginner Band with Powhatan Homeschool Music under the direction of James Robinson. Today we got to meet Mr. Robinson and see the music studio which is the finished garage in his house. The made instant friends with his 2 daughters and we got to meet 2 other families as well. The kids each got to try their new intruments... Roman on Sax, Hope on Flute, and Bethany on Trumpet. And they did great! We had hoped to sign them up for this last year, and already bought their instruments, but it was too late by the time we got everything sorted. But this year, we're a go! This will also count as Roman's 2nd elective for this year.
And so, without all our curriculum, and with nothing prepared, we dive in head first and if today is any indication, it's going to be a GREAT year!
So when does the 2012-13 school year for the TERDS begin? Well officially we are starting full school September 17th. Why so late this year? We are heading to Florida Sept 8-15th and schools here don't start until the 4th so we really didn't see the point in starting school just to turn around and take a week off just when we're finding out groove. BUT James and I woke up this morning and said, you know, today's the day! Since we only half finished several things last year we have carry over work, plenty of busy work, and some fun projects we can start kicking into gear. So although our first full day is still 5 weeks away, we are diving in head first with some light schooling to turn those brains back on after a long lazy summer!
So today I placed the last of the orders for the new curriculum and a few things are starting to roll in. We did a big family scavenger hunt to pull together scattered supplies and roll over curriculum from last year. Binders and folders are all neatly labeled and ready to go now. And each kid completed one actual schooling assignment. Plus James and Roman are starting to look over the pre-req's for KidCoder, the programming elective Roman picked out for this year.
And the highlight of today's 1st day of 2012-13 school year..... BAND open house! This year all 3 kids are joining Beginner Band with Powhatan Homeschool Music under the direction of James Robinson. Today we got to meet Mr. Robinson and see the music studio which is the finished garage in his house. The made instant friends with his 2 daughters and we got to meet 2 other families as well. The kids each got to try their new intruments... Roman on Sax, Hope on Flute, and Bethany on Trumpet. And they did great! We had hoped to sign them up for this last year, and already bought their instruments, but it was too late by the time we got everything sorted. But this year, we're a go! This will also count as Roman's 2nd elective for this year.
And so, without all our curriculum, and with nothing prepared, we dive in head first and if today is any indication, it's going to be a GREAT year!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Walk Like and Insect
Reading school books can be boring. Everyone knows this. Memorizing a bezillion facts can be tedious and usually the memorization is only temporary at best. Few kids truly retain the bulk of their education. I have found that when the kids are having fun and reinforcing things outside of the box that they truly remember it for the long term. Because of that we try to do something crazy and fun at least a couple times a week.
Right now our Science segment is on Insects. To be honest, none of us are all that big of a fan. It's ranked slightly above Plants and the Human Body both of which we struggled to complete last year. We're more Earth Science, Technology, Chemistry and Physics fans than that of the Biologies, and with exception to First Aid, that seems to be a pretty true fact for ALL the TERDS. But alas, somethings you just got to learn anyway, so insert a little fun......
Topics being studied
Insect anatomy - Parts of an insect and Parts of insect legs. Plus how insects move and how they walk up those walls without falling.
What you need
3 kids and a roll of duct tape (you know those 2 go hand and hand! LOL)
The Project
Begin with a discussion of the insect parts. We covered this earlier with a basic print out from Enchanted Learning. In this project we reinforced this with Bethany modeling our "head", Hope sitting in as our "thorax", and Roman as our obvious "abdomen". We reviewed all the basic parts. This time we went into more detail regarding insect legs though, identifying each of the 3 leg parts and how they function together.
Now, insects do not walk like us humans. It is very different actually and very coordinated. There are actually various patterns that different types of insects walk in. To designate which leg moves we first need to label them. Right legs will be R1-3 starting from front to back and left legs L1-3 also from front to back. Now we walk.... R1, R3, L2, R2, L1, L3......
One thing they quickly learned is that humans aren't quite as coordinated as insects, but then we had to remind them that a real insect only has one brain to coordinate all those legs, not 3. In the end their attempts to walk like an insect tended to end up like this:
Right now our Science segment is on Insects. To be honest, none of us are all that big of a fan. It's ranked slightly above Plants and the Human Body both of which we struggled to complete last year. We're more Earth Science, Technology, Chemistry and Physics fans than that of the Biologies, and with exception to First Aid, that seems to be a pretty true fact for ALL the TERDS. But alas, somethings you just got to learn anyway, so insert a little fun......
Topics being studied
Insect anatomy - Parts of an insect and Parts of insect legs. Plus how insects move and how they walk up those walls without falling.
What you need
3 kids and a roll of duct tape (you know those 2 go hand and hand! LOL)
The Project
Begin with a discussion of the insect parts. We covered this earlier with a basic print out from Enchanted Learning. In this project we reinforced this with Bethany modeling our "head", Hope sitting in as our "thorax", and Roman as our obvious "abdomen". We reviewed all the basic parts. This time we went into more detail regarding insect legs though, identifying each of the 3 leg parts and how they function together.
Next the kids lined up in order of their designated insect part to create our insect model. 3 kids with 2 legs = 1 6-legged insect ready to go!
Now, insects do not walk like us humans. It is very different actually and very coordinated. There are actually various patterns that different types of insects walk in. To designate which leg moves we first need to label them. Right legs will be R1-3 starting from front to back and left legs L1-3 also from front to back. Now we walk.... R1, R3, L2, R2, L1, L3......One thing they quickly learned is that humans aren't quite as coordinated as insects, but then we had to remind them that a real insect only has one brain to coordinate all those legs, not 3. In the end their attempts to walk like an insect tended to end up like this:
However they had a lot of fun trying and they have a new found appreciation for bugs!
You're probably wondering where the duct tape came into play noticing we did not actually duct tape our insect parts together! After this we took duct tape and wrapped around their shoes with sticky side down and let them walk around to get a feel of how insects have sticky pads on the bottoms of their feet that allow them to stick to walls and walk around places that we as humans can not.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
A New Year, A New Adventure
I've been toying with the idea of starting a new homeschool blog beginning with our adventures effective today. However, although there has not been much posted here as of yet, it does in a sense showcase the start of our homeschool journey which I find is quite typical of a normal homeschool family coming from the public school system.
Transition takes time. The homeschool world calls it "de-schooling". Changing your mindset from the regimented world of Public School to the anything is possible life homeschooling offers is a shock to the system. It leaves one feeling disoriented and turns your world upside down. It is a transition, always evolving.
Then there's the curriculum yo-yo game. Few homeschoolers find what truly works for them on the first try and that has largely been our case as well. Next month marks the 2 year anniversary since we pulled our son from public school. Two years sounds like a lot and yet it still feels like yesterday. So where do we stand 2 years later?
In fall 2010 heading into the 2010-11 school year we brought Hope and Bethany home and became a true homeschool family. The grove James and Roman had begun to establish quickly fell apart. Last year was like a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs, but we survived and I dare say better than a lot in their first year. The kids passed their respective grades and we headed into a new year, but life happens!
For us, as public school peers headed back to school we found ourselves facing much turmoil. Not within our immediate family, but the affects greatly impacted us and left little time or energy to properly homeschool. But alas, that is just one of the many benefits to homeschooling! Throughout the 2nd half of 2011 we stuck to the bare minimal with math, independant reading and the occasional writing assignment or a bit of science or social studies, but overall it's what I'd call "homeschool lite". But that's okay, cause with homeschool we have a lot more flexibility than formal school environments and plenty of time to round out our year successfully.
That brings us to present. After much review and consideration we have largely switched up most of the girls curriculum and are considering a few changes for the boy as well. We're focusing more on the Bug too, who quickly picked up ALL of our planned "light preschool" topics for the year before Thanksgiving and is ready to move on or at least be stimulated with self guided learning. More of that to come.
Because of the changes we're making and because sometimes life just happens and things don't go as planned, we are officially declaring this week as our new start to the 2012 school year. Who knows, we may love a calendar year scenario. Who says we have to go off the public school calendar?
For us, homeschooling is fluid. There is nothing set in stone. If a child needs more time alotted to grasp a concept, it is freely given. If a child excels at a rate faster than I have planned for, then we supplement as necessary. At the end of the day the point is to see the kids learning and being successful in their endeavors. Not everyone does so based on my schedule, and that's okay, that's homeschooling!
While I have decided not to remove my posts up till this point, it should be noted that today begins a new chapter for the TERDS and with it I will make a pointed effort to keep current on this blog and truly showcase our adventures in homeschooling!
Transition takes time. The homeschool world calls it "de-schooling". Changing your mindset from the regimented world of Public School to the anything is possible life homeschooling offers is a shock to the system. It leaves one feeling disoriented and turns your world upside down. It is a transition, always evolving.
Then there's the curriculum yo-yo game. Few homeschoolers find what truly works for them on the first try and that has largely been our case as well. Next month marks the 2 year anniversary since we pulled our son from public school. Two years sounds like a lot and yet it still feels like yesterday. So where do we stand 2 years later?
In fall 2010 heading into the 2010-11 school year we brought Hope and Bethany home and became a true homeschool family. The grove James and Roman had begun to establish quickly fell apart. Last year was like a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs, but we survived and I dare say better than a lot in their first year. The kids passed their respective grades and we headed into a new year, but life happens!
For us, as public school peers headed back to school we found ourselves facing much turmoil. Not within our immediate family, but the affects greatly impacted us and left little time or energy to properly homeschool. But alas, that is just one of the many benefits to homeschooling! Throughout the 2nd half of 2011 we stuck to the bare minimal with math, independant reading and the occasional writing assignment or a bit of science or social studies, but overall it's what I'd call "homeschool lite". But that's okay, cause with homeschool we have a lot more flexibility than formal school environments and plenty of time to round out our year successfully.
That brings us to present. After much review and consideration we have largely switched up most of the girls curriculum and are considering a few changes for the boy as well. We're focusing more on the Bug too, who quickly picked up ALL of our planned "light preschool" topics for the year before Thanksgiving and is ready to move on or at least be stimulated with self guided learning. More of that to come.
Because of the changes we're making and because sometimes life just happens and things don't go as planned, we are officially declaring this week as our new start to the 2012 school year. Who knows, we may love a calendar year scenario. Who says we have to go off the public school calendar?
For us, homeschooling is fluid. There is nothing set in stone. If a child needs more time alotted to grasp a concept, it is freely given. If a child excels at a rate faster than I have planned for, then we supplement as necessary. At the end of the day the point is to see the kids learning and being successful in their endeavors. Not everyone does so based on my schedule, and that's okay, that's homeschooling!
While I have decided not to remove my posts up till this point, it should be noted that today begins a new chapter for the TERDS and with it I will make a pointed effort to keep current on this blog and truly showcase our adventures in homeschooling!
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