(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: CSI Alaska

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With apologies to Bill Waterson.

 

 

The perps after their capture.

 

 

Summer Through Kids’ Eyes, and What We’re Doing for School this Year

(The title of this post is “Summer Through Kids’ Eyes, and What We’re Doing for School this Year” – I don’t know why it is not at the top, in big, bold type like the titles usually are, but it does show up at the bottom of the post.  Weird!)

A couple of weeks ago, I asked the Kids for their impressions of Summer 2016.  Though it wasn’t an assignment (Why would a homeschooling teacher-mom ask for a “What I During Summer Vacation” essay?  Except for one week when they were at Bingle Camp, I was with them 24/7.  Well, maybe 18-22/7.), the Girl wrote the following short essay:

This summer we went to the lake two times, went swimming at our grandparents’ hotel pool twice, learned how to swim, still didn’t get our tree fort, but I did get a door.  We went to Denali Park for three days with our Youth Group, which was pretty fun, except it rained for two out of three days.  We also went on a really long hike in Gulkana, and volunteered at our local Stone Soup Café [an organization providing meals to those in need].  I auditioned for the Fairbanks Youth Concert Orchestra last week, and I got in!
-The End- 

The Boy said that, though he could remember everything, due to the fact that he has an excellent and deep memory, he has trouble accessing the memories on demand. 🙂  We’ll see what he comes up with in a few days.

Boy in Otto Lake, where we camped outside Denali Park.

Hiking the Mt. Healy Overlook Trail at Denali Park

See that sticky-up bit at the top of the hill? That’s where we were headed. Most of us even made it!

The view across the lake from our campsite.

The view across the lake from our campsite.

The Girl in Otto Lake, where we camped, just outside Denali Park

***

This year I am trying a more structured approach to school.  I’ve tried being structured before, but always in the back of my head was the idea that I should be letting them choose what they want to study, and that I should trust that they will learn what they need to learn in their own time.  Well, I’ve tried that approach, too. (Probably not as well as I could have.)  The thing is, I have not really committed to Unschooling / Project Based Homeschooling,  or a more formal approach.  Inconsistency is worse than choosing a “wrong” approach, I think.  So, this year, since the Girl (7th Grade! When did that happen?) has repeatedly asked for tests and quizzes in the past, and since the Boy (5th Grade! What??) seriously needs help learning to focus on tasks that are not of his choosing,  we are going formal.  Here’s the rundown:

Language Arts:
–Daily Grammar Practice, Levels 5 and 7 (Both)
–Cursive Practice with Pictures (G)
 -Cursive Practice with Jokes and Riddles (B) (An example: Why did the teacher go to the beach?  She wanted to test the water.)
–The Writer’s Jungle/Bravewriter (Both)
-Reading and writing across the curriculum (Both)

Foreign Language:
–Rosetta Stone German (G)
–How to Train Your Dragon Dragonese (B) 😉

Science:
–Real Science Odyssey: Biology Level II (G)
–Sassafras Science Adventures, Vol. 1: Zoology (B)
-Dover Human Anatomy Coloring Book (Both)
-Selected Topics in Marine Biology, as requested (G)

Social Studies/History:
–Layers of Learning, Year 2:  The Middle Ages (Both)
-Many, many historical fiction books, and readings from several history texts (Both)
–Crash Course History videos (on youtube) (Both)
–PBS Learning Media

Social Studies/Geography:
-Layers of Learning, Year 2, focusing on Europe for the first semester
-Mapping The World By Heart – This textbook is one we will use over several years, and by the end, they might actually be able to draw a map of the world by heart…but even if they can’t, they will certainly have a better idea of where things are than they do now!

Math:
 –JUMP Math 7.1 and 7.2 (G)
–JUMP Math 5.1 and 5.2 (B)
-Supplementing as needed with Khan Academy

Physical Education and Health:
-Swimming at Fairbanks’s Mary Siah Recreation Center (Both)
-English Country Dancing (think Jane Austen) (G)
–Janice Van Cleve’s Nutrition for Every Kid

Home Economics:
-Sewing lessons with Mom (Both) (Girl wants to learn to make her own clothes; Boy wants to make his stuffed toy designs real.)
-Cooking – Raddish monthly cooking kit subscription, the cookbook produced by our PAC (Parent Advisory Committee – Kind of a PTA/Booster organization for homeschool) (G, though B might participate sometimes), and Janice Van Cleve’s Nutrition for Every Kid

Art and Music:
–Atelier video-based art program (Both)
–Beethoven Who? CD-based music appreciation course (Both)
–Layers of Learning Year 2 arts topics as appropriate (Both)
-Harp lessons, concert orchestra practice and performances (G)

Whew.  I think that’s everything.  Looks enough, doesn’t it?  It might actually be too much – we’re almost through September and still haven’t had any formal art lessons (though both kids produce plenty of artwork, daily.  Boy has piles of drawings all over the house.  The piles themselves are becoming art installations.  Sigh.) I’ll give details and examples of coursework for each class over the next few weeks.

 

The Home Project, part 2

Nothing much has happened indoors since part 1, thanks to June being the month to get the Farmlet tilled, raked and planted.  We have also been working on enlarging the cleared area and planting a new raspberry patch.  I’ve been madly picking rose petals (for wild rose petal jelly – yum!), too, but now things are settling down and I can get back to the mess at hand.

Today, I took advantage of the Kids’ absence (yea for summer camp!) to start “cleaning” their rooms.  Now, before anybody objects to the idea of throwing out kids’ stuff while they are away and unaware, that’s not what I’m doing.  I told them both I would be sorting the stuff in their rooms and throwing away only the obvious trash.  The Boy grunted his assent while making Lego Harry Potter and friends play Lego Quidditch.  The Girl wanted a definition of “obvious trash.”  She was wise to ask, since I was assuming water-damaged papers and old princess stickers were clearly rubbish.  She disagreed, so those items are safe.  Sigh.

My plan is to separate the considerable amount of clutter in to piles – flotsam in one corner, jetsam in another, chaff over by the bed, etc.  Bits of tissue, old band-aids, broken bits of old toys, partial pencil erasers, dried-out markers – TRASH.  Usable but possibly outgrown toys, clothing, books, etc., in their own piles for inspection (and, with luck, removal).  Current toys, clothing books – in piles near where they belong – I am helping them clean, by doing some preliminaries for them, not doing the whole job for them.  Also, they will only be gone for 4 days.  That may not be enough time to excavate all the way to the floor in both rooms.

They, like me, have a ridiculously difficult time sorting stuff.  Each object they touch must have the memories associated with it aired before it can be dealt with; this often means an object that seems unimportant – even to the Kid who owns it – will become indispensable once they pick it up.  I am hoping that having the categories ready for them to go through (with my help, and not all at once) will make it easier to see what’s important enough to keep, and what they are ready to let go.  We shall see.  If it works, I might have them go through my space and categorize my junk.  I’ll have to be careful to define “obvious trash” really clearly, though. 🙂

Weekly Wrap Up for May 15, 2015

But first, a few words about history.

For History, we are following the progression outlined in Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well-Trained Mind, which is a four-year rotation through time.  The first year is Ancient Times, then the Middle Ages, then Early Modern History, then Modern Times.  If you start out teaching your first-grader about ancient civilizations, by the time he or she graduates from high school, you will have covered the entire span of human history three times, each time with a little more depth.  Our history focus for most of this year was Modern History – from about 1870 to the present.  We got to the end of Bauer’s The Story of the World, volume 4: Modern Times a few weeks ago. (That book ends a little past the fall of Communism.  When it was published, in 2006, Bauer considered 9/11 and its aftermath to be current events, too recent to see just what impact they would have on history.)

We have started over, at the beginning, and I am SO glad.  Modern history is, of course, worthwhile as a subject – interesting, intriguing, invaluable for understanding our world – but my kiddos, at 9 and 11, want Good Guys and Bad Guys.  Trying to explain the subtleties of shifting alliances and what “national interests” are – meh.  It’ll be much more interesting to me (and hopefully, to them) when they are 13 and 15.  We know so much about the whys of modern history that the details bog the kids down.  3000-year old wars between the Sumerians and Akkadians are just fact.  No need to interpret which group was in the right, it’s enough to know that Akkad overran Sumer.  And hey, let’s make clay tablets to try out writing in cuneiform!

So, here’s the wrap up:

(Pre)History (and a little science):

-Studied up on archaeology and human ancestors like australopithecus, homo habilis, and homo erectus.

-Watched documentary on differences between early modern humans and Neanderthals.

-Used Stone Age tools (rocks!) to open a coconut. 🙂

-Discussed what collection of traits makes us uniquely human.  Kids settled on language, tool use and art.

Geography:

-Discussed 5 themes of geography (location, place, human-environment interaction, movement and regions).

-Investigated patterns of migration of early humans.

-Noted that movement of information and a different way of interacting with the environment helped early modern humans edge out Neanderthals.

Math:

-Continued multiplication facts practice.

-Read up on early number systems and different systems for counting on body parts. (Look up Papua New Guinea counting systems!)

-Learned how keeping track of stuff lead to beginnings of writing; and how the Nile river’s annual flooding helped Egyptians get really good at surveying and geometry, as well as keeping track of time.

-Investigated the invention of zero.

-Went back to last year’s books to review and regain some confidence (both kids do fine with math, but they have a bit of mathphobia).

Science:

Science was pretty broad this week, with lots worked into history, but we also:

-Reviewed several earth science documentaries for Daddy (How the Earth Was Made series from the History Channel).

-Investigated bats, spiders and scorpions, at Boy’s request.  These are the “Crawlers” from Lego’s “Legends of Chima” series, and so are of infinite interest to him.  We watched a couple of Magic School Bus episodes and he read lots of library books on the subjects.

-Started an experiment to see if we can grow bacteria from some toys that were left in the bathroom sink for way too long.  We are also testing whether soap and water or bleach and water is more effective at killing bacteria.

-Are working on hatching our second clutch of ducklings. (Sometimes just life is science!)

Art:

-Checked out prehistoric cave art online.

-Attempted to grind pigments from rock to make our own “cave paint.” (Might need to try different – that is, softer – rocks for this…or maybe just sidewalk chalk!)

-I’m not really sure if this is art or science, but Girl flaked a rock into a spear point!  The point wouldn’t do much harm to a wooly mammoth, but the beast might get distracted by the sparkly gold ribbon she used to attach the point to the shaft. (Photo coming!)

Music:

-Girl had her harp lesson, as usual.  We have neglected practice a bit this week, though.  Daddy is the practice overseer/task master, and he has been super tired lately, as he always is at the end of the school year.

-The kids and I have been discussing the relative merit of Billy Joel’s music in different periods.  In other words, Piano Man and The Ballad of Billy the Kid vs. Uptown Girl, Allentown and For the Longest Time.  Um, probably can’t claim this is vital to their education.  But really, Uptown Girl?  Gah.

German:

-Still plodding along, looking for the Goldilocks curriculum (not too hard, not too easy).  At least the Girl has some familiarity with basic vocabulary.  We checked an interactive program out of the library, and she has been doing about 20 minutes a day this week, but it is a bit too advanced and I can see the “I’m-beginning-to-get-immensely-frustrated-with-this” look on her face.

Reading:

I can’t keep up with all they read, though I do check over what comes home from the library.  I don’t teach reading, though occasionally I have each of them read aloud a bit, to check fluency and pronunciation.  Didn’t do any of that this week.

Writing:

Surprisingly, I got both of them to write a decent amount this week, with very little moaning.  Instead of giving them a specific topic and asking them to write, or asking them to write on a topic of their own choosing, I handed them each a sheet with the following typed at the top:

Tell me about the last book you read for fun.  What is the title?  Who is the main character?  Does he or she have friends?  Enemies?  What is the problem in the book?  Did you like it?  Why or why not?

I told them they didn’t have to answer all those questions directly – they were there more as a guide, something to think about if they got stuck.  I wanted complete sentences, and they had to give real reasons for like or disliking the book.  No “I like this book because it was AWESOME!” type answers. –

Boy wrote a good paragraph – he loved his book because “the cats are funny, there’s action, and adventure.”  He needs a little work on punctuation and capitalization, but very little, actually.  I was quite pleased.

-Girl filled the entire page with a very nice summary of her book (which she likes because of the “incredibly sweet” way the main characters always help each other out and work together to find the “best possible solution”).  She only made three teensy errors! And she summarized, instead of trying to retell the whole story verbatim!  Believe me, that’s HUGE.

-They both did a good job on this assignment.  I must have hit on the right amount of structure versus freedom.  Now to try and hit that sweet spot again!

Farm, School, Love

1. Farm-y stuff:

The last clutch of ducklings included 12 little fluff balls, six or seven boys, five or six girls. (It’s kind of hard to tell before they get their grown-up feathers.)

Today, we are starting to collect eggs for the second clutch of the year.  We have one duck from our first generation who is remarkably consistent with laying daily, and we would like to make sure to pass those genes on … but in the first clutch, the eggs we collected from her did not develop.  This time around, she has been isolated with a drake (we didn’t dim the lights and strew rose petals around to set the mood or anything, but you get the idea), to make sure it is not a lack of attention that caused her eggs to be infertile.

The snow is almost completely gone from the grain field.  Weekends will soon be spent prepping the ground for this year’s crops.  I’m not sure what will happen, kitchen garden-wise, since we are contemplating a visit to the family on the East Coast during the main part of the growing season.  (Can’t wait until after Hubs’s retirement – some time in the future – so we can travel during the COLD months!!)  Hopefully we will get the greenhouse built, at least, so that next year we can extend the season long enough to suit me.

2. School-y stuff:

Quarterly work samples and twice-yearly progress reports are due May 15th.  If I could figure out how to use LEGO Chima as a basis for all subjects, my life would be much easier.  Hmm. Perhaps, I could have my Students research the history of the LEGO company (history), and the molecular structure of LEGO plastic (science), locate LEGO headquarters, factories and distribution sites  on a map (geography), write a fan-fiction episode of “The Legends of Chima” (language arts), create posters of the world of Chima (art, and foreign language, if Girl did the writing on hers in German), learn to play the theme-song on the harp (Girl’s music), and figure out the profit LEGO, Inc. makes with each new ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY set of characters/”speedorz”/etc. (math/marketing/propaganda/brainwashing).

3. Love-y stuff:

11-years ago today, my darling Girl arrived and changed our lives forever, and for the better.  ❤

Girl ON THE DAY OF HER BIRTH, with Sir Moose-alot.

For those of you who know me personally, this is actually a picture of my daughter – not me!

Beauty at the Beach. (She prefers “Tomboy Covered in Muddy Sand.”)

And, because I was on a blog-hiatus through March, I MUST add that the Boy’s arrival in March, 9 years ago, was also a life-changing and blessed event!

My Boy. ❤

Selfie

Boy Covered in Muddy Sand

Just Some Cuteness

I love that my kids make to do lists for me to find and envy. I posted one of my daughter’s awhile back; here’s one I recently came across that my son wrote:

To do
have Breakfast
exersise get
Dressed Pick up Legos
go to shwirch
have Lunch
go to Doctor Mary’s office have Lollipop
go home take out Legos
play with Legos
Put away Legos
have Dinner
Play out Doors
go to sleep

🙂 “Have Breakfast,” “Exercise” and “Get dressed” were crossed out. “Shwirch” is our shortened version of “School-work-church,” since I was homeschooling him at my work, which happened to be at our church. The Drs. office visit was for his sister, so that was really all about getting a lollipop from the snack shop there.

I’m thrilled that he included “put away Legos.”  And I’m really going to start putting “play outdoors” on my to do lists.

Catching up on the backlog – Halloween at our house

So, I have once again let the blog slide.  Homeschooling, working, and life have happened!  My next post will be about homeschooling, and how that’s going, but for now, here are a few  recent snapshots (and explanations).

My Boy has lately been very interested in cats.  Kittens, to be precise.  For Halloween, he decided he wanted to be a kitten.  Not just any kitten, though – a leopard kitten.  And, not just any leopard kitten, a leopard kitten wearing an aye-aye costume.  “Why?” you ask?  Um . . . not really sure.  But he did make a diagram for me, so I could get busy making it.

Here’s what he eventually came up with:

  It’s hard to see here, but the paper-plate aye-aye mask is looks a lot like his drawing.  His tail and ears (the leopard ears) came from Joann Fabrics clearance rack.  The leopard suit, socks and black gloves are from Value Village re-sale store.  The long aye-aye fingers are pipe cleaners wrapped around his middle fingers.

 The Girl was “Count No-Fangsula.”  The Red Riding Hood cape she got from Grandmom was “too girly” – so she was using it as a vampire cape.  Unfortunately (or fortunately for her blood-filled victims), at eight years old, she has gaps where her fangs should be.  The suit and tie are her brother’s. 

The gappiness is easier to see here (Boy is pretending to be a cat.  Of course.) :

To Do Lists

Ok, I should just never make promises to do anything weekly.  Maybe if my to do list looked like one I found recently in my 7-year old daughter’s notebook, I’d be better at getting everything done.  Here is her list:

1. Wake up.
2. Eat breakfast.
3. Get dressed.
4. Play with dolls.
12. Go to bed.

I think she’s got a really good sense of what is important in life. 🙂

I will try to post more often, but only after I play with my dolls.

The Wisdom of Preschoolers

My friend, Tammi, and I were attempting to figure out how to get her daughter’s toy to work, to show my son.  The toy in question is a hobby horse with a chip in its ear that makes galloping and neighing noises when pressed.  The chip is apparently broken.  Tammi squeezed the ear for awhile, then I gave it a go.  Finally, her nearly-three-year old came over and said, “I can show him how it works, Mommy.”  She took the hobby horse, straddled it and skipped off across the room.

“This is how you make it gallop, Frederich!”

Then she added, “And you can make it neigh, too – Neigh!  Neigh!”

My 4 1/2-year old said, “Cool!”

 

Sometimes grown-ups can be really idiotic. 🙂

Wordless Wednesday 6-2-10