It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like....

we're moving?!? 

I certainly hope so! 

I don't want to say too much about it, because i don't want to be a Debbie Downer about the place we are hoping to leaving (especially if it means we're staying--ha!)  Also not wanting to let myself gush about where we are heading, because the fall will be that much farther if we lose the opportunity again, this time around.

We are busy packing and moving boxes, readying rooms for strangers to walk through (has anyone put their houses on the market lately?  is it just me that isn't thrilled with all the nonsense that has to be done for strangers so that they can "imagine" themselves here?  really?  really?!?!  i'm responsible to pay $,$$$ for someone to come in my home to have a daydream?!?  what?!?!  thanks a-helpin' n a-heapin' you HGTV people!  i disgress.  ahem  sorry about that.)  :)

anywho, with all the activity that comes with moving, and with the currently packed calendar, my little journal here is going to have to take a seat even further back in the bus, behind school yet just in front of sanity and crafting.  Now some say it's a short bus.  :)  Ah, but is it because i choose to drive one or....?  :)

Also, is it wrong to call packing and organising boxes "homeschool"?  Well, you know, those college years are about 9 years away...Cookie's gotta learn to pack up and fly from the nest someday. :)  Proving once again that "Homeschool is Life-school", eh?

Oh, incidently, a tip for those out there with children who are "hating math" all of the sudden when they hit double digit multiplication.  Take them to the candy aisle. :)  My dear Cookie wants nothing more that to 1. Stop doing math and 2. Hand out Hallowe'en candy.  And sadly, Toots, those two things don't jive.  So while including her in the candy shopping for this year, she discovered that some packages didn't say how many items were inside.  Oh no!  How would we know how many trick or treaters we could hop up on sugar?  A quick check of the "nutrition (ha!) label" gives you information that you need to calculate the quantity--that job, of course, going to your little goblin.  Real life math in action!  As you see the light bulb start to flicker above your child's head and the gears in there start causing their little eyes to roll back and forth across their their face, their math hardened heart will start swelling.  It does come with a warning though:  don't give the completely uncool "See, I Told You You'd Need Math in Real Life" speech, because that's the killer.  Just trust me on that one. :) 

Most of all, wanting to wish you all a wonderful end to October and a safe Hallowe'en.

My Kind of Homeschooling :: Knights of Veritas

We were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time a little while back.  Figuratively AND literally.  Cookie's stuck in history, reveling in knights and damsels and castles.  Coincidentally, a local bookstore, where you can purchased used books by the pound no less, was celebrating the Hobbit movie announcement with a "Tolkein Tea".  They hired a group, The Knights of Veritas, from Moses Lake, WA to come for a demonstration. 

The Knights presentation really debunks the myths of sword fighting and medieval armour that Hollywood has engrained in our minds.  The presenters taught us not only the words for the 4 different attack stances, but also took us through the geometry of a real sword fight.  Basically, you always want your defense to end with your sword's point threatening your rival...and they taught us which movements would get us a victory through slow-motion sword fighting by letting the audience tell them their next move should be.  Then once we worked it all out, the sword fight would commence in real time. :)

Below is my favourite fight of the day.  The one that wasn't deconstructed, so we had no idea what was going to happen!

We were able to see what it takes for these gentlemen to dress in their armour piece by piece; we even got to touch real mail.  The mail was amazing--interwoven chains that were riveted together.  During the demostration, once they had both put on their mail, one of the men took his sword and started beating the edge of it against the chest and back of the other man without wounding him.  Completely amazing!

 

Piece by piece,

an armoured knight

was assembled in front of our eyes.

Then they got down to business. :)



It was a wonderful, informative, and enjoyable presentation.  Cookie gave it a 10 out of 10 rating, whether she gave it that because she got to hold a sword after the presentation, i am not sure. :)

Hoping you will someday get to see the Knights of "Truth" in your area!

Welcome to Washington, Mr. President!

We had an exciting weekend this weekend!  On the calendar of events was a Knights of Veritas sword fighting demonstration and Tolkein Tea at a local book store, but also a Comet and Asteriod presentation at the Boeing Museum of Flight. 


Yesterday, we arrived at the Boeing and saw a whole mess of law enforcement officials and barricades everywhere.  Something in my brain dislodged and reminded me that i had heard that President Obama was coming to Seattle for fundraising events this weekend.  Boy, did we pick the right day to head to Seattle or what?

And of course, all i brought was my cell phone camera.  Grrrr!

Air Force One (Boeing 747) Pres Obama on approach

 It was one of those days that wasn't supposed to be a school day, but ended up being more educational than most of our school days at home, where we sit and learn the basics of math and English.  Those are the days that rejuvinate my love of homeschooling!

We arrived just in time for the comet class, but when we heard that President Obama would be arriving in 50 minutes, Cookie decided she wanted to skip the comets and wait for the President. :)

We talked about the security that we saw around the area (bomb squad dogs, law enforcement from every town within a 60 mile radius, cops driving by checking license plates of big vehicles, etc.)  We talked about the relationship between the president's security and our country's well being, the presidents that have been attacked in recent years, the Obama family, and the riggers of being a president of a whole country and how that compared to the schedule of our head bacon bringer, Moose. 

The most intriguing part of our discussion was the decoy mechanisms that the Secret Service uses for the president.  Cookie loved the idea that they basically play a shell game with the president and his planes and cars.  :)

Air Force One (Boeing 747) parked above the tail of the B-17

 Once the plane landed, we headed inside for something to eat.  I never imagined the motorcade these day would pass by so close to spectators.  I felt so bad, because from where we were standing to view the plane's arrival, we would have been able to see President Obama face to face.  Apparently, he even rolled down his window to wave, because we heard that there were a few people who had seen a really nice picture of the president from someone's camera.  Rabbits!

From the cafeteria, we were able to see the motorcade for a distance--how things have changed in the few years.  The president's motorcade included, but was not limited to, an ambulance, a bomb squad, and numberous unmarked vans.

In the museum, we were able to see video footage of Pres. Kennedy dedicating NASA.  And Cookie Monster was thrilled to brave the soggy weather to see a former Air Force One (Boeing 707) on display from the Lynden Johnson era. 

Once we returned home, we heard on the news that the President Obama was leaving Seattle.  There was a bit of a delay because of an emergency medical flight arriving the same time he was to depart.  Thankfully, that give me enough time to shake another piece of information from my tired ol' brain.  When "W" was president, and came to Seattle, we could see his plane from our deck.  So Cookie and i headed out with a proper camera and binoculars in hand this time.

And we were rewarded with Air Force One flying right over the roof of our home!!

Air Force One (Boeing 747) Pres Obama



Hope you had a fruitful visit to the Seattle area, Mr. President, and we wish you a

safe journey home to your family.

State of the Homeschool Address :: Year 3

With such a busy summer this year, school prep was squeezed in when i could.  After some work this week (thanks Mom, for enduring hours of "Felt World" play with Cookie over the cell phone!), i am happy to report that we have a plan. 

Not that i am certain of how our daily routines are going to go, but we at least have a scope and sequence!!  How we are going to fit it in, well....that is to be determined.

2011 - 2012 Subjects (aka Appeasing the State of Washington Re: Their "11 Required Subjects" ):

Math, Grammar, Writing, Spelling, Reading, Chemistry, History, Latin, Art/Art History, Music, Irish Dancing, Swimming, and Religious Ed.

Okay, okay, that's not eleven.  So there's two more thrown in for good measure. :)

The lowdown:

Math - we will be finishing up Saxon 3 from last year.  We made it all the way through to Lsn 117 before i went off on my tangent on loosening up the homeschool scheduled scene around here.  Especially because really, how do you make it relevant to an 8 year old that they need to master Pre-Algebra theories now, because someday they will need them.  Truthfully, the Saxon 5/4 book is scaring me.  Not wanting to put pressure on my wee Cookie, i want her to play with the new skills she's just acquired through multipication tables and such.  Since she is a year ahead anyway, i am going to present math more as a puzzle now.  I really like the Saxon program, but we need to approach it more as a puzzle/game than a "lesson of the day".  That way, hopefully it will be more like the approach to good lit...introduce the little brains to bits of the bigger ideas now and later they will be comfortable with the process when more may be required.  And once we are finished with the text, we'll be delving into living math texts like Math on the Menu, where students help figure out the costs of starting and maintaining a restaurant business, and Checkbook Math, and starting our own little math curriculum here with our finances--maybe grocery math at first.  Toward next spring, we'll start easing our way into Saxon 5/4--maybe after our annual testing.

Grammar - we'll be continuing with Jessie Wise's First Language Lessons for the third grade this year.  We like the scripted lessons that we can both read together--little bits of learning at a time--with sweet poems for Cookie to memorise sprinkled inbetween.  And this year we start diagramming sentences; something i am sorry to say was not a part of my elementary curriculum.  We'll both be learning something new this year.

Writing - now that Cookie enjoys writing, we're going to hit the dictation hard and heavy.  Writing With Ease is another book by the Wise family--Jessie's daughter Susan Wise Bauer.  In it, she reinforces grammar basics through classic literature.

Spelling - we are taking some time off of Spell to Read and Write and going back to Spelling Workout.  Spell to Read and Write is a good program, however we are getting bored with it because even their "fun" exercises are hard work for us.  So, since Cookie likes crosswords and cursive now, she wanted to try Spelling Workout again.

Reading - we're still working through our Shakespeare and Canterbury Tales; King Arthur and all that. 

Chemistry - Cookie can't wait to get started on Chemistry.  She loves learning these magic tricks. :)
During the year we'll also get into some geology...we found a great rock hound curriculum that goes into chemical make up of rocks. 

History - We're still working our way through the Middle Ages.  Around March 2012, we'll enter into the Early Modern Times (1600 - 1850's).

Latin - we are starting with Prima Latina this year.  Cookie's really excited about this.  It will be interesting to see how it helps her with English and when we learn another language later down the road.

Art/Art History - we will continue reading about our favourite artists; books like Chasing Vermeer and such.  We have been toying with chalks and oil pastels.  We'll need to do more drawing this year.  Our goals are also to visit the art museums two times and attend three children's theatre productions:  Frog and Toad, Harold and the Purple Crayon, and Robin Hood. 

Music - with all the Irish dancing, Cookie is learning timing.  The piano we've kinda falling off of, but i figure we can listen to classical music in the car to and from classes. :)

Irish Dancing -  this summer, Cookie solidified her standing as Novice in her softshoe dances.  She started dancing in hardshoe numbers too.  She'll have classes twice a week again, hoping to get ready to compete in another feis or two in October.

Swimming - we'll be starting again soon.

Religious Ed - the last two years were grueling, completing over 200 lessons written by our deacon at our church.  Cookie aced the test for First Communion.  Now, the deacon would like the kids to come back to live out their faith.  It sounds like we'll be doing more hands on project to give to the community this year.  Should be great!

We officially start in a couple weeks.  We are going to finish up a few loose ends on vacation (constellations--because where we'll be we can actually see them.)  :)  Wish us luck! :)

Droids, Wookies, and At-Ats. Oh My!

We had an exciting day today.  We visited the Star Wars exhibit in Seattle for a field trip.

(Isn't homeschooling great?)

As a bonus, we got to meet Luke's Father.

The Force is strong with these two.

Cookie Monster hasn't seen the movies yet, so this was a perfect event in that nothing was too menacing; just interesting fashions and characters.  Her favourites being Yoda and R2-D2.  Opportunities to learn about maglev capabilities and robots.

It was a surprisingly good time.



Why Homeschoolers Should Work For Hallmark

Does anyone else out there have this Boatload of Birthdays from mid-March to the end of April?  We have 10 birthdays scattered through--Cookie Monster can't keep up with handcrafting them all, so she is in charge of the card for her cousin. 

This year, she got real creative and drew a scene from her studies of Egypt:  her various cousins and herself as Egyptian gods and goddesses and the birthday boy a pharoh, of course.

Close up of Happy Birthday card designed by Cookie Monster



She also wrote a cute little...how many kids would sound so formal in their greetings?  Curious as to way she would choose to be Anubis?  Isn't he the god of the underworld?  Her behaviour has been rather stellar lately, making it all the more curious. :)

What really impressed me the most was that she remembered her parents in the drawing.

Apparently Moose is an undercover tomb robber (that fact must have gotten past me when i was reviewing the "Application for Husband-To-Be" a few years back.)  :)  Of course, it wasn't much of a stretch to cast me as Ma'at, the goddess of harmony and justice. **grin** 

Aren't these great quotes??

In looking for whom to credit with the great saying, "If you and i were the same, one of us wouldn't be needed," i found some other great quotes.

Mark Twain:

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."   (This one needs to go in my chore book and sewing room!)

"Don't let schooling interfere with your education."  (I'm posting this one in the school room!)

And a little something appropo today, 
"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But I repeat myself."  (especially when there is an impending gov't shutdown due to lack of budget.  Due truely to lack of funding, because companies like GE continue to make profits, pay ZERO taxes, and actually collect tax rebates. Isn't America great?  hurrah!

PS should you happen to know with whom to credit the "If you and i were the same..." quote, could you please leave it in the comments?  Thanks!

Homeschooling :: Gaining a New Perspective

From our State of the Homeschool addresses, one can gather that i have been consumed by scheduling this year.  Something about scheduling school out perfectly into 10 little months makes sense.  That is, until you encounter thee "Aaaaawww" reaction everytime you mention to your child that it's time to start school for the day. 

Recently, i heard about a type of class offered here in the state of Washington, that is meant to be a qualifying course for parents without the college credits required to qualify for homeschooling.  It is a 2 day course given on the weekend, 16 hours total, to cover topics from early child development to writing transcripts for the homeschool high schooler to submit to colleges.  Although i qualify through the time i spent in hell, er, i mean college, it wasn't something i hadn't considered attending until i had heard enough people mention that it was a worthy class to look into.  And hey, i'm all about learning new stuff.

Something a teacher in the class mentioned shook our current plan of action to its very core.  She was discussing methods of homeschooling, and scheduled students vs. unschooled students.  She said, "If your schedule is as rigid as the school down the street, and your child is expected to finish rote work each day, then what makes you different from a brick and mortar school?"  Heavy, eh? 

At first, i thought, you know, this lady is entitled to her opinion, however the tightened ship is working for us.

Then i woke up out of my lack of sleep-induced stupor and started thinking that maybe she has a good point.  I am coming from a public school education in my thinking and scheduling seems normal to me, as does having to stop in the middle of something i enjoy because someone in charge is telling me that there are other things to get accomplished.  As does sitting in a seat during the lesson seem normal to me.  Must be because they broke me well, eh? 

So last Monday, i challenged myself a bit.  Cookie's getting into multiplication and division and it hasn't been coming to her as easy as other things.  I've been lecturing her on her lack of attention to the lessons, and she's been "giving me the same excuse" of "I can't do it."  Our approach obviously needed to change.  So, we spent the day baking cookies as a way of practicing our multiples of 8.  One cookie sheet with 8 cookie gives us how many total?  And so on.  Not only was it a lesson in math and measurements, but also in household management/food storage, as we baked a few off, and froze the rest of the dough, portioned out by eights, for later.

The on Tuesday, we read.  A lot.  Cookie now knows a little about Venus and Mercury and about the Sui Dynasty of China. 

And the rest of the week we practiced multiples of 6 with half dozen egg cartons and multiples of 4 with the dollars to quarters conversion.  And we read some more.  But relaxed like.  Was she getting any grammar in?  Not structured grammar from her grammar text, however she was the authour of a newspaper called Animal Jam that compose with her Grandpa's old electric typewriter and some magazine articles for reference.  That's writing, technically too.

Today, we placed our seed order--she was in charge of gathering the order numbers, weights (for figuring shipping), and prices so we could do some "real world" math.  In the course of this math lesson, we realised that she still needs help remembering that one performs math the opposite direction than reading English.  We also happened to be splitting parts of the order with a friend, so she learned how to calculate percentages, as the cost of the items we are splitting and the shipping needed to be split fairly between both parties.  She was fasicinated by the fact that you wouldn't just split shipping and tax in half.    

Different?  Extremely!  Do i worry that we aren't ever going to get through to a new math book?  Sure.  Is it a race?  I thought so; to try to keep up with the school kids right?  But isn't it that one of the reasons we take our children out of a government operated education system?  Either they are held back in certain subjects they grasp well or they are pushed through material that they might need just a little more practice at to fully understand it.  All in the name of "Good for the Common Group".  Hmmmm .... 

We will be drastically modifying our "school model".  Who's to say that if Cookie and i are lying in bed reading or talking until 9am in the morning that we aren't discovering new words or discussing new concepts.  Why just last week, we were reading the reports from Japan's reactors on my phone (geography & science) and discussing why we might need to seal off windows or purchase a little more food in the coming weeks to stock up a bit.  That was a teaching moment.  What followed was more learning:  the one where Cookie asked if we could stop talking about this subject because it made her a little bit scared and not only did i show her manners when i did stop (health), we also talked about the value of being prepared (occupational education), and we discussed how much we loved each other (which can sometimes cover distance-math-and geography.)

And eventually, we'll work our way through multiplication and the Earth will still be spinning and life will be just as hunky dory!

Really?!? Has it Been Two Weeks??

Hey. Hi. Remember me? Yea, it's been a while. How are you? Hoping Spring has found it's way into your part of the world. We've been up to our ears in spring drenchers around here, so no planting has been finished. I want my, I want my, I want my fresh grown broc co li... Wah!!

We've been super busy around here. There's been school, school, swimming, swimming, swimming, dancing, coffee dates, and more school. I signed up for a 2 day course on "how to homeschool" through our state association and thought i'd glean a few ideas, meet some new people, learn a little more about the law, and be finished. Oh, no! :) It's considered a college course. We have homework, people! Homework!! We have a week to read a text on homeschool methods, to write a paper, article, interview, or a letter to our child about why we do what we do. You can probably guess which i chose. And it's going to be graded! Eeek!



But before all this (thank goodness the final class is this Saturday, because i can't handle all this pressure) we'd been busy working on the embroidering the sash for the Communion dress, cleaning out the house more in hopes of listing it this summer, and accumulating and making items for a special someone's "60/60" package. That's when you send someone a gift to remind them to enjoy the last 60 days before they celebrate their 60th birthday. I made a little spring-ish bunting.

We've been enjoying the last few quiet days of winter. We're really looking forward to visiting with friends this Friday for a little impromtu DEAR Day party--the kids will be playing, maybe working on a little school or art project and whenever us parents feel like it we will shout out "Drop Everything And Read" and the kids will grab a book and their sleeping bags and get to it. Should be fun. We are even encouraged to go in our jammies. Hooray!

Hoping you are having a productive, yet relaxing March.

See ya here again real soon.

Fondly,

Whit

State of the Homeschool Address

Oh my goodness, i can't believe i haven't issued a SHA since October '10! Sheesh! No worries though, we've been movin' right along...footloose and fancy-free! 15 more weeks and schools out for us! Yeehaw!

We've just come from having a week off--not of commitments like dance and swimming, but of school. I think it's done wonders for Cookie and me. We planned fun (subversive learning) experiments this past week, including making homemade butternut squash ravioli. Cookie was enamoured with thee entire process and couldn't wait to show Moose what she had been making for dinner when he returned home from work. :) We also made valentines and Cookie learned to serve & hit a shuttlecock. She'll be a champion badminton player in no time.

One thing has caused us to change our schedules from last fall is the deletion of tap and jazz and the addition of swimming lessons. Like i told Cookie, if you don't learn the advance shuffle brush hop step, you won't drown. :) We found a pool, through many recommendations of our friends, that doesn't use a boat-load of chlorine, instead preferring saline water. Many wonderful things have come from this opportunity: most extraordinary is Cookie overcoming her fear of putting her face in the water! Hooray! She is now the master of the front & back float and doesn't mind putting her head underwater to "dive" for weighted rings in the kiddie pool. Also, we have two unadulterated 30 minute sessions of visiting with our close friends who we wish were our neighbours and we've met a new friend--the receptionist at the pool, who is an adorable German woman and is helping me practice my 2nd language and teaching Cookie a little to boot. The best thing about this program is that it's not just another "certificate of participation" program again...they test the kids on a regular basis and don't not graduate the child to the next level unless they can perform the specific skill. Imagine!?!? So, should she choose, Cookie has 12 levels to pass...and has passed the 1st. We were discussing the commitment to finish all the levels, and so far she hasn't the interest, however i think it would make her the strongest swimmer...especially with all this water here in the Pacific NW.

Another wonderful addition to our schedules has been homeschool bowling. It's a challenge to get to now, as it is on the same day as swim lessons, however a worthwhile endeavour as we get to see some wonderful friends we've met through dance classes.

Currently, she's readying for another feis after St. Patrick's Day--this time in Seattle; time and date TBA. She's coming along smashingly with hardshoe. Watching her is amazing--especially the way her face lights up when she perfects the really challenging new steps.

As far as school goes....

She's performing marvelously. I am working with her on the concept of motivating herself to attend to tasks that she can do alone. So far the only success i've had is with her cursive writing. She *loves* completing those lessons and is almost done with the book. One thing i've been slacking on is dictation, especially because i couldn't find an appropriate source. However, with the discovery of a really cool list of books assorted by grade level, i can find sources of dictation at her spelling and writing ability (which i've discovered doesn't completely match up with her reading capabilities.)

In Math, she is by far learning the most. She's through multiples of 7 now, learning about measurements of volume and distance in English and Metric, and is currently working on adding three digit numbers. Only 40 more lessons to go and she'll have completed grade 3.

Part of staying motivated this late in the year is compiling all the new resources to investigate for next year. In reading about her next math text, it's going to combine 4th and 5th grade level math and is reported to supposedly take 2 years to finish, however so was this year's text. It will be Cookie's first hard cover math text...just like i remember getting in 7th grade! :)

Language arts could be going a tad better. The material Cookie finds very boring. Memorising lists of prepositions and helping verbs. She hasn't completely rebelled yet, so i have to give her credit for her wealth of self-control. Today, i'll be introducing a text that is a daily review of grammatical concepts: correcting punctuation, capitalisation mistakes, identifying parts of speech, and combining sentences using commas instead of "and". I am starting to get a little worried that if we don't review this material now on a daily basis that she will have a hard time remembering it in the future and have a hard time with test questions on her evaluation coming up in 4 short months.

Reading is going well--we are staying on top of history texts, which neatly coincide with some English lit. We must get into Shakespeare soon, before the end of the year! I think we are partly behind in this because we are behind in History. One thing i wish i could put a stop to is the "junk food" chapter books for kids this reading level. These fairy stories are ridiculous and provide no substance. Another reason i am thankful to have found the reading lists. Cookie skipped a lot of wonderful books for 3 and 4th grade reading when we thought she was ready for Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Winnie the Pooh, and Mary Poppins. Turns out, those books are considered late 4th grade reading and may have done more harm than good. Whoops. We are jumping into late 2nd grade level books and reading ones that spark imagination--not the babyish books, but books like Frog and Toad, anything by Tomie De Paola, and such. Sticking with classical writers with a penchant for making inanimate objects or animals come alive like Virginia Lee Burton, The Rey's, and Margaret Wise Brown. With these, we are also working on our narration exercises, which Cookie has gotten extremely better at retelling stories in her own words.

Her handwriting is amazing. She has gone from Sloppy Sally to Neatnik Nelly in just 5 months. She's never liked the paper with the special kid ruled lines, so she's writing on regular ruled paper and we can read it! Woot! The cutest thing is that the "girly" gene has apparently kicked in. I's are starting to be dotted with hearts. Swirls have been appearing with regularity for some time now. But truly, when does this phase end? :)

Spelling is going really well for her too. It is amazing the words she can spell. She's completed 2nd grade level and we are just finishing our first third grade section. We've just been taking our time so she can start digesting the spelling rules of English and reiterating them in her own words, especially key now as next year we start in with the Latin curriculum. Yikes! I can't imagine trying to teach both and helping her keep both of them straight at the same time.

We've made a little headway on the second book of our history series, Story of the World. We're dealing with the Middle Ages here, and Cookie is as engaged as ever. She remarked the other day that history is becoming her favourite subject (just like her daddy.) So far we've seen the Roman Empire crumble and replaced by the Byzantine Empire. Now we are moving onto what is happening to countries like India and the Nordic countries during this time. So far, our projects have included illuminating manuscript and making a Monk's supper (which incidentally helped contribute to a stunning weight loss that week of 2.8lbs! We need to eat like monks more often around here!!) This week, since we are in India, i believe we may try our hand at weaving on a homemade weaving loom.

Science is going well too. She's moved from Earth Sci to Astronomy. She's been learning about the space shuttles, missions, and the ISS, and now we are moving onto the solar system and constellations. She's a hound for the stories of Greek and Roman gods, so i have no doubt she'll love the stories behind the constellations. We're planning a trip to an observatory in Central WA once the weather turns better.

Music and Art History is going smoothly too. Both are great subjects for our Tuesdays now that we have swim in the morning and dance in the afternoon. Both of these subjects provide her with just enough school for the day and are relaxing enough to allow her to conserve energy for such a long day. We've made it to Norman Rockwell on of our list and through 7 of our 10 classical music cd's , with Beethoven being Cookie's favourite.

So off we go looking toward May 31st. Please don't let us fall behind now! We are still a few lessons ahead in our core texts (grammar and math), so i am hoping the trend continues so we can get to the fun stuff--gardening and playing in the yard in the sunshine!!

Gettin' Organised :: How I Was Bitten By The Scheduling Bug

Last time, i mentioned something about my funky school calendar. After giving it some considerable thought, i figured i should do some backtracking about my quest for organisation.

This is the gory details of how it all started. Hooo hoo hoo ha ha!

Rewind to 2002: is there any time that a woman of the modern era who is about to give birth even thinks about homeschooling? Getting ready for a baby is stressful enough. I was getting ready to have Cookie Monster, and at no time did her schooling cross my mind during my pregnancy. If someone had told me that i'd be homeschooling then, i'd have begged their pardon. I was clueless.

Fast Forward to Spring 2007 where Moose and i were feeling pretty defeated because we knew our kid was ready for Kindergarten, however couldn't find a school that was on board with taking a 4 year old into a class. On with preschool it was, but i had some tricks up my sleeve then too.

By Spring 2008, our kid had been in Pre-kinder all year, and it seemed that just as kindergarten evaluations were being giving was when the teachers learned that Cookie Monster could read (she could read by the time she was 3.) So, that is about the time Moose and i figured we'd try looking for a school where we could move C.m. up into 1st grade.

By Fall 2008, we couldn't find a school that would oblige. So into kindergarten she went. It was a waste of a year academically, but she had fun. During that year is when we decided we'd had enough. She was far ahead in enough subjects that we figured 1st grade in public school would be the nail in the coffin of her potential. So we decided we'd homeschool.

But what does that look like if you are a completely not so well organised person in other areas of your life. Well, from our State of the Homeschool addresses last year you can pretty well see...it was utter chaos. Sure, i had a basic idea of what subjects needed to be covered, but i had no plan. By summertime, the need for help was very evident.

Our family attended the local homeschooler's fair last summer and a speaker gave me tons of insight in how to organise lesson plans for school. From the minute i saw the first excel spreadsheet, i was hooked. It was a simple form that broke school into subjects and broke subjects down by months. These are what they look like for us:



A word of advice: fill these out in pencil, because you'll need to change them during the year as you go through your lessons incase of illness, laziness, or overzealous overachievers that can't have just one math lesson a day. That last catagory we would know nothing about no matter how we wish we could. :) What i learned from having these organisational tools was that without them, you'll never know **exactly** how far behind or ahead you are in your schedule. This year, because i have this form filled out, i can see that when we are a couple lessons behind in math but one ahead in language, i can schedule a day where we do an extra lesson of math in favour of our language lesson. A **huge** help when it comes to staying on track! You will want to take a photocopy before you change anything though, so you'll have a baseline.

After those were made, i used my trusty school calendar to map out our year of school. In my funky school calendar is a roadmap of July 2010 - Sept 2011. I isolate the school months, center 36 weeks of school around the Christmas holiday (18 wks on each end), and then total up the number of school days in each month.




Also helpful, is a grid of the months in the year. I use this page as a quick reference for yearly appointments or renewals.


Monthly calendars: Beside each calendar is a page for important dates. This is where all the birthdays and anniversaries go. Then appointments and field trips can go in the grid. When a friend asks if we can play, i have an idea of what the schedule looks like right off the bat. Before homeschool, everything would have been kept in my head. I don't know how i ever did that now!

On the back of the calendar page is where i keep notes of supplies or errands that need to be tackled for the month. I keep detailed lists in here for everything like this but Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those both have their own separate files i am working on. It also has an expenses/income page. Being a SAHM, homeschooling mom, you'll notice the income column is desperate for an entry. :) However, the expenses curiously never have enough room to write everything. :)

Now, enough of this backtracking. On to how we get organised for the week.

These are the blank weekly calendar pages, which i love.

Every Saturday morning during the school year, i now take it, an insanely heavy bag of school books, and my organisation-starved little hiney to the nearest coffee shop for a few hours. For good measure, i throw in a couple cookbooks too.

First thing is to consult the calendar and identify dates we have late night activities or nights Moose works late. Then it's time to plan dinner for the week, depending on our schedule. Cookie has dance lessons at our normal dinner time on Tuesday, so i know those days i need one of three things: leftovers, a quick and easy dinner, or Moose needs to cook. :) If Moose works late, i need to know that Cookie Monster will be expecting a girl's tea and movie night for dinner so i can plan the grocery shopping accordingly. :) After that, i identify days that may zap my energy where a "no recipe required" dinner may be the ticket. These are the days that have a commitment in the middle of the day, or a committment that we might not know when it ends, like a playdate or field trip. Then there are usually 2 days in the schedule where nothing extraordinary occurs, so i'll plan nice, big dinners. Not 4 courses or anything, mind you, but maybe lasagna or pastitsio. Once dinners are planned, they are written in pencil next to the day they will be served. From there, a grocery list can be concocted. Don't forget to plan your lunches too and include those items on the list.

Once nourishment for the week is tackled, then school scheduling can begin. Our schedule for school is fluid, but i list what we need to accomplish for the whole week, filling in the calendar. Sometimes we're right on track; sometimes Friday is a very, very, extremely long day. :)

During the course of school planning, i find that i require an "immediate action" list. This is the list that keeps refocusing my efforts for a smooth week. If i need to remember that there is a snowstorm predicted this week, i write it down. :) The math lessons that need a special tool for the lesson, i make notes of. Any thawing of meats, library duties, etc...anything specifically unroutine that would make life easier to know ahead of time gets written on this list and i place it near my computer. Then i can free up brain cells to remember a new favourite song or something. And i don't look like such a hot mess in front of my kid when we need a weather chart for math or science and i'm digging around in the recycling bin while she's patiently waiting to begin her lesson. :)

This is what's helped us so far. Hoping something here might spark your imagination if you are looking to get more organised. Don't forget to check out LH in the 'Burbs for more ideas on how to get your life organised. If you have any other ideas, please share! We'd love to hear them!

Next up: Burnin', i mean, breakin' down the house.

Gettin' Organised

Another thing that Ivory at LH in the 'Burbs mentions, as with practically every other life organising guru, is to make a basic weekly plan. For me, especially since i resist all things routine and most things requiring conformity, i cannot get behind the basic weekly plan for things...the daily routine list is causing enough of an allergic reaction in me that i can't bare to make a weekly list that i have to adhere to. Well, except for the stuff that we signed up and committed to. This is the stuff that my REALLY, REALLY basic list of weekly blah blah blah is made of. :) And especially since our obligations change monthly or even quarterly, i don't rely on it for anything other than making the practically impenetrable weekly schedule in my school calendar.


The **really** Basic Weekly Plan for Whit’s Household 1/1/11 - 2/3/11


Monday: school, library, zone


Tuesday: school, swim class, Irish dance


Wednesday: school, home blessing


Thursday: school, swim class, zone


Friday: Weight Watchers, school, zone


Saturday: planning day, errands & shopping, Mass, dinner out


Sunday: family day, arts & crafts, projects


Now, my other method of organisation that i mentioned above is a funky school calendar from Mixed Productions. It's not a regular calendar that runs from Jan to Dec (although they do produce a Jan to Jan calendar.) It's core runs from August to August. Each month being represented by monthly calendar and weekly calendars that have the days broken down by the hour. I love this kind of calendar. I also love that it has a page in front of each month for sqecial occasions (so the precious space in the date boxes can be saved for non-routine activities or appointments.) It also has a page each month for notes and for financial record. 13 paperclips later (one for each month and one for the week you are currently in), all family appts and school plans are at your fingertips when your friend asks for a playdate or that new homeschoolers field trip ad pops up!! The other beauty of this device is that it includes monthly calendars that overlap each year giving you an 18 month calendar with overlap for continuity...there is a calendar page for the July preceding the first August and for the remainder of the year after the last August. So if you are scheduling appointments out a year in advance, you can have the space to keep them in on the correct date, not just a piece of paper cliped to a calendar that will hopefully get transcribed to the new calendar when it arrives. Granted they are a little spendy, and for families with more than one student it would be to small--i can see when we eventually add students to the Whit Academy of Fyne sKoolin', i will need to find or make a calendar with the same concepts on a larger scale. However, this is the part where you go out and find what works for you and your tribe! That's the beauty of the internets, one persons routine gives another person inspiration and the brainstorm ideas to grow for themselves!

I'll get into how i use my calendar in the next post.

Inaugural Run

Our oven went out while i was making our Thanksgiving dinner for the three of us. I know, it was such an obvious thing for an oven to do. Ahekk!

So it's been a trying 3 weeks, but we've finally returned to normal cooking procedures around here. Hooray!

Thank goodness, Moose installed it just in time for today's math lesson: baking brownies!

Have i told you yet how much we love the Saxon math program??!

(incase you were wondering, i did put out the clean hand towel for the photo.) :)

Rockin' the Irish Dancing

Back in July, Cookie Monster not only competed in her first feis, but she sat for her first grades as well.

She qualified for Grade 1: the reel and the jig.

The judge happened to be a childhood friend of Cookie Monster's teacher, so her teacher told her that her friend is a really strong critic, a very good judge. But students can think she is very strict. First, she doesn't hand out A's. Very few B+'s either. Cookie Monster's grade? B!!

Also, unique to the certificate was that the judge strayed from her usual habit of writing only criticism for improvement, and noting the practices she does really well! Things thrown around like "great smile", "lovely style", and the most impressive "promising dancer"!

Hooray!

And so she receives her first grade certificate of completion. 19 more passing grades and she could be an Irish dancing instructor!!

Finally, A Current Events Story We Can Teach!!

Isn't it amazing the live feed from Chile? Truly a miracle for our entire human race!

And what was pretty good about it (the best being that everything is running smoothly, by the grace of God, and the men are coming up reasonably healthy and reuniting with their families) is that it is a current events story i feel comfortable teaching my soon to be 8 year old about! Hooray!

Up until now, i've been pretty mum about the whole business. I remember the day in '86 when someone at our school had the great idea to have us all watch the Challenger lift off because it carried the first teacher in space. And there us 5th graders sat with a group of 2nd graders to watch the horrifying events of the morning, while our teachers and principal shuttled in and out of the room dealing with their own shock, and having to contain ours, while coming up with a game plan. So you can say i've been a little antsy to say anything about the Chilean miners...until today!

But that's just what we did....as soon as our feet hit the floor this morning!

We talked of the geography and methods of mining. We talked of the science of living underground--trapped a mile below for 17 days with little food or light. We covered math in conversions from days to months and metres to feet to miles. We touched on everything else from plate techonics to modern technology. We talked about life vs. time: miners celebrating birthdays, babies being born, men who had just started working a few months ago with a man who was going to retire in a few months. We discussed the strength these men have to possess to stay alive for 69 days underground. We discussed world relations of Chile and Bolivia having to put aside differences now because the miners include a Bolivian citizen; and how a number of US companies and NASA helped with donations of materials so that the Chilean government could design a plan that would be so successful! We delighted in their superstitious belief about the number 33: there were 33 of them, it took 33 days for the rescue shaft to be completed, and they were rescued on 10/13/10 (add them up, you get 33)--they marvel at the fact that their 33's match up to the number of years that Jesus was alive on this earth. We talked of the power of hope. Of faith. Of determination. And of courage.

And then, we went downstairs for an hour and watched 2 rescues. Cookie monster's hooked now. I can't get her to come back up and eat breakfast so we can start school. And once she heard the chanting "Chi chi chi, le le le. Los Mineros de Chile," she couldn't stop singing it.

We've found a great live feed website to share called Breakingnews.com. It is filtered to receive only the news on the miners, and MSNBC links video of important developments very quickly. They even have a video of the ride up the rescue shaft with the rescue of Edison Pena. The BBC has a great website that is updated as well with international feed. I find their feed for mobile devices is best...as in if you are in a place that you can't watch video feed but you will be able to read updates.

I know we'll be glued all day!!

Homeschooling Helpers :: Art History

Are you a perfectionistic homeschooling mom like me? If you are, and you are teaching the Classical method, i have a few lists i am planning to post here (for my sake, and possibly yours.)

The first list i made regards the great artist covered in Art History curriculum. In the Well Trained Mind book they seem to be in random order to me. I wanted the list to tell me who arrived in what order, since i remembered studying these artists in an actual order as they tend to build off each other somehow. I also added a few i thought weren't worth missing.

I've arranged them in order of accepted year of birth. That way, when we are studying the Renaissance, we'll be able to pull all the artist from that time and review them.

Art History Reference: Who Came First, What's on Second, Picasso's on Third, and Warhol's in the outfield.

Botticelli 1444
Da Vinci 1452
Michelangelo 1475
Raphael 1483
Bruegel 1527
Rembrandt 1606
Francisco Goya 1746
Edgar Degas 1834
Cezanne 1839
Monet 1840
Renoir 1841
Mary Cassatt 1844
Gauguin 1848
Van Gogh 1853
Seurat 1859
Toulouse-Lautrec 1864
Matisse 1869
Klee 1879
Picasso 1881
Edward Hopper 1882
Diego Rivera 1886
O'Keeffe 1887
Marc Chagall 1887
Grant Wood 1891
Norman Rockwell 1894
Dali 1904
Pollack 1912
Warhol 1928

State of the Homeschool Address

Still trucking right along with school. Cookie monster is doing well in her studies and our only trouble so far seems to be the dreaded return of the tantrum. I haven't seen a tantrum like that since she was 3! Apparently, it's because she wishes she could go back to Kindergarten. To hear her tell it, she would like to grow up and be dumb. Huh. Interesting. I am not below threatening to stick her back in public school, although i am not sure i could physically do that.



Here's the stats:

Math: 32 lessons down, 108 to go.

Grammar: 26 lessons down, 74 to go.

Spelling: 4 sections down, and i think i am actually starting to understand it now.

Earth Science: 9 lessons of the 18 are done for the semester. 2 experiments involving volcanoes have been conducted.

History: only 9 more chapters in the ancient times, then we move on to Middle Age history.

Art History: we've worked our way through Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Seurat. Up next: Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse, Klee and Picasso (which i am very excited about because a beautiful Picasso exhibit is coming to the Seattle Art Museum from Paris!)

Music: we've exhausted Mozart and are moving on to Beethoven.

Piano is going well...she just love playing on her own and moving ahead at her own intention, so it's a really easy part of school so far!

Irish dance: she is learning her half steps she will need for her next set of grades and has competed in another feis. They are practicing and learning new steps for the recital.

Tap/Jazz: they are reviewing steps for the new students.

Religious Ed starts next week! I can't wait to see what 1st communion class is like this year! Deacon George has giving Cm the head's up that Fr. Uncle Pete wrote some really tough questions this year, but Deacon George thinks she'll ace them! :)

We've had 2 field trips for the month of September. One was to a local organic farm. The other was to inspect some local creeks and rivers for her watershed unit in science.



We also finished the month with a trip to Portland, OR. We visited the zoo with a dear friend of mine and her adorable chidlren, who also helped make clear to me the act of knitting gussets in a sock because she is thee knitting guru, and also an excellent child wrangler to boot! :) Cookie monster also participated in The Portland Feis, where she competed in the U9 catagory which meant she was dancing with children young and older than her. She did great, considering it was extremely chaotic, and won the 2nd and 3rd place medals for Single Jig and Light Jig. Hooray! We also spent a few hours in the mesmerising Powell's Books, where i didn't even make it out of the children's section. Note: this place warrents a post all it's own. And we finished the visit with a trip on the MAX and lunch at Kell's Pub. C.m. fell completely head over heels for Portland and is telling everyone that she can't wait to go back--she thinks this winter would be a good time to go and visit her new friends in her new favourite city!

State of the Homeschool Address

Ah....the second year of homeschool. One month down.

I feel like we have it more under control.

And that's the important part. :o)

Because "feeling like" and "actually having" things under control are two very different beasts. Especially when you are the type of person who is a perfectionist and a pessimist.

You can see why "feeling like" is alright in my book.

Anywho....

in trying to keep in perspective that we are trying to instill the love of learning rather than spoon-feeding information to create Momma's little SAT-passing robot, we've elected to do a few things differently this year from "what the book says".

Cookie Monster is going great guns blazing with Math. That i am not worried about. Even with all the days we ended up taking off in August for playdates and such, we are on track with Math. As of August we had 16 lessons out of 140 done.

Grammar is humming right along too. She's completed 12 of the 100 lessons we need to this year.

We have gotten better at reading the required 30 minutes. Now i am not saying that happens everyday, but now that we've gotten our living room arranged to be conducive to snuggling on the couch and reading things like Aesop's Fables and other kid friendly literary works, it happens with much more regularity.

Spelling is the biggest hangup. I am still feeling intimidated by Spell to Write and Read. Making a goal of grabbing a hold it the reigns this month. She is through the first two sections already, as a warm up. Most were 3 and 4 letter words...things she words she knew how to spell when she was 4.

Her writing is exploding, especially because she is learning cursive. She's been using it to write more...experimenting with how the letters fit together or how she can make them fit with the strokes she already uses. Since the introduction of cursive, hearts have started appearing as dots of the i's or as little embellishments. Must be some gene in that second X chromosome that produces that behaviour, getting switched on when girls start learning their formal handwriting. :o)

We're keeping pace with Science...some weeks even ahead. C.m. is a science geek--hallelujah!

So far we've studied Earth, the solar system, storms, and rocks and fossils. More homework for me this week is to study up on making a volcano and find some other everyday science projects to do with her.

The only things we've yet to add this month are music (which i just acquired) and piano. She tends to gravitate to the piano during her breaks, curious about new songs then. And about once a week she's learned a new tune by heart. She'll be starting her dance classes upon her return from Idaho (Moose has just left to pick her up today) and we'll also be picking up where we left off in Art History last year: with Gauguin. Oh, and Religious Ed starts in October.

History is where we've taken a detour. We were just getting to the good stuff last year with the Greeks and Romans. We hadn't even gotten through Jesus' arrival, so i made the executive decision to keep working our way through the Early Ages. We'll start Middle Ages soon enough.

C.m. has really been taken with the Greek/Roman gods. She loves the story of the Trojan Horse and the Odyssey. So we are immersing ourselves in that for a while. She was ecstatic to find that one of her enrichment activites was to colour and cut out Greek paper dolls. :o) The scissors, cardstock, and glue seemingly bolted themselves onto the table! ;o) However, when she realised how the paper dolls themselves were dressed, she threw one hand over her eyes and held the paper out to me as she decried, "Oh no, tell me they aren't in their underwear, Mom!"
When i assured her they were and even remarked that maybe it was better they were in their underwear rather than their birthday suits, like some people are in the art history books, she declared "Just great! Ahhh! Just GREAT! I can't believe i'm going to be playing with these. This is so inappropriate."

However she did, and with wonderful style too, i might add.

One important lesson C.m. has learned so far apparently is the ol' underwear trick: if you are uncomfortable, just imagine them in their underwear. :o)

Maybe she's a little too good at that trick, as this was the result:

Haaaaaaa! Who knew Greek warriors favoured polka dots instead of stripes.

Doesn't this look like a character gone wrong from Space Ghost?

State of the Homeschool Address

Well, well, well, we've made it through the first year of homeschool only slightly scathed. :o) We are still finishing up our first year history book, using it for bedtime stories. Over the summer break we attended a homeschool conference where i gained a little insight into syllabus making and the art of scheduling. Also learned that we homeschoolers in WA state, by law, have to have our child involved in 11 subjects in grammar school. Oy! It sounded like a lot, but then when you add up all the activities (that would extra-curricular for most kids), it worked out just right!

Our curriculum for the Cookie Monster Academy's 2010 - 2011 school year looks like this:

• Saxon Math, 3rd grade


• Spell To Read and Write (a grammar program designed to give grade school children the vocabulary of a college level freshman by 5th grade), starting with section I


• First Language Lessons, 2nd grade


• cursive lessons for writing


• Reading works of Shakespere, St. Augustine, Cicero, etc this year.


• Medieval history from Story of the World


• Astronomy


• Earth Science


• Bastien Piano and Piano Theory


• Classical Music hour (once a week)


• art history continued


• Irish Dance


• Tap & Jazz


• Swimming Lessons


• and Religious Ed.

Yesterday, she begged to do two lessons of Math (proving to me that she is completely bipolar when it comes to math, as she was just screaming and yelling about having to finish last year's math just 4 short weeks ago.) I'm just thrilled that she still loves the teacher! :O)

The Luck of the Thrift-echans

Hooray! I've found the rest of the set of the American Heritage Guide to the States at Goodwill this evening.

I've been holding on to volume one since I acquired it as a kid, and the photos from the 60's mesmerized me then. Now Cookie Monster is infatuated with them.

I wondered if I would find them. Now Cm will be able to see how much this country has grown and sadly, how much industry isn't done here anymore. Best yet they were considered kids books so they were a buck apiece.