Homeschool Boot Camp

The Challenge: Pick one area of your homeschool or life that needs work. Make a plan. Commit to it. Work on it over 2-3 weeks and blog about it. Let people you've never met In Real Life hold you accountable. At the same time......share this with the world (or the 2 or 3 people who actually read my blog.)

This is a bit daunting because:
1) The list of things in both my homeschool and my life that need work is huge. It's hard to pick one or even prioritize because there really are so many important changes that need to happen.
and
2) I've been really bad about blogging.
and
3) I'm pretty disorganized, a bit lazy, a procrastinator and well, this is just going to be hard.

But, I've signed up for the Boot Camp and I'm determined to make some changes.

First up, I've made a (huge) list of areas that need work. I'm still in the thinking this over stage. I'm going to write what areas I am leaning towards because otherwise I might stay in the thinking stage longer. (Here is where the public embarrassment....cough...I mean accountability.....comes in. If  I share it here, I'm more likely to move on to the next stage. Which is??

 Talking out loud (would that be typing out loud?) here.......

1) Figure out what the problem is, or in my case which of the many I will address
2) Assess what is contributing to the problem
3) Make a plan based on #2

Some of the changes that I am considering~
           ~starting our school day earlier and being more disciplined (me) about a start time
           ~adapting our schedule (I am thinking of moving to a block schedule. Also (long story) we have
             come  to a point where I generally have the kids do the main portion of their school work at  
             separate times. I would like to have most of the work done  at the same time.)
           ~have checklist/schedule for both boys ready consistently before Monday a.m.
           ~add in regular project time
           ~change some curriculum

Just writing that out was helpful. So, what I see are two main areas. One is the change in curriculum. The other is developing a solid working schedule and I guess I have to add in being consistent and disciplined. Eek. Where do I start?

To be continued.......I will update my progress as I move along.

Enjoy the ride.....

Homeschooling is a journey, not a destination. Just like many things in life, you often don't know just where you'll end up. So, you need to enjoy the sights along the way, because truly, that is what it's all about. Either that or the hokey pokey; I'm not sure.

"Do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around. That's what it's all about. Hey!"

I remember seeing a bumper sticker once that read, "What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?"

I digress......

In my homeschooling (or perhaps I prefer the term learning) journey I am often continually seeking. I guess I might've been satisfied and left well enough alone if I had easier going kids. My older son is a squeaky wheel. Sometimes he squeaks very loudly. Whatever it is, it does get my attention. This year his attitude has seemed to be, "I don't like school. It's boring. I just do what I have to do and get it done so I can go do something fun." I guess this is an improvement over years when he whined, "Why do I have to do school at all?" Or, when he got past that and resigned himself to doing some school work he still railed at certain subjects. Okay, so maybe this year is an improvement. But still.......I felt like I had somehow failed in my homeschooling. I don't expect it all to be greeted with "Wheeeeeeee!!! I can't believe we get to do this!" But some of this should be fun, interesting, at the very least better than public school. Or else, why am here? I could do something else with my time other than torture my kids with boredom and then babysit the rest of the day.

So, to that end, I am embarking on several new learning adventures. It would be easier if I started one or two small new things at a time. Like maybe just focusing on flossing regularly and drinking more water perhaps? I thought, however, that maybe I could swing those two and start several new directions in our learning.

One that I am just beginning to learn about is called Project based learning. While this term may mean different things I am referring to the approach as laid out at Camp Creek Blog. We haven't started anything yet as I am just now learning about it. I will jump in before I get it all figured out though, because I have decided that doing something imperfectly is better than waiting to do it perfectly (which of course would be never.)

In a somewhat related style, we are starting inquiry based science. We have been having a rather lengthy discussion on The Well Trained Mind message boards on this and I am learning from several people there. I have set up a question board and it is surprising how many questions are coming up. One question my younger son had was, "Why can you see fog when it is farther away (he pointed down the road) but you can't see it up close? This would probably be a research question-one we will need to read about to find the answers.

My other son is passionate about juggling and read something about the rate of speed at which balls drop. He said that if a ball is dropped from 2x the height it's falling time is not increased 2x. I'm not sure if the why can be answered by experiment, but I felt that we should first check to see if this statement is true.





We decided we needed to drop from higher places in order to really be able to time it and see if there is a difference. Tune in next week to see us on roofs and in trees.

We're also doing some fun science--you know: exploding things. I found this project several places online. But only at Steve Spangler Science did I find it explained. I mean sure, it's fun to blow up a bar of soap in the microwave. I, however, like to know why it does this. Sometimes I can figure things out for myself, sometimes it's okay just to be told. So, I'm telling you, if you want to do these fun things and understand a bit about the why of it all, Steve Spangler is a good place to go.





We also started a Five in A Row book. I'm not quite organized with this yet, which is not good, but we did have some fun. We read Madeline. We made crepes. Then we learned a bit about Paris, during which Mommy imparted important information about things like pastry shops and cafes in Paris. It's so helpful to have actual experience in a subject. The boys did these paper cut outs of Paris.









We discovered that building with sugar wafer cookies and vanilla frosting is harder than it looks. Ah, two sides to the Eiffel Tower would have worked better.





E, who is 11, might be considered old for Five in A Row. I view it as adding some fun to our week and getting him to do some writing and research in a low key way. I realized this week that he was kind of lost on how to summarize. How is that possible after several years of narrating a la Charlotte Mason? Well, he was never a big fan of narrating, but certainly capable. I could just tell him to narrate on paper instead of calling it summarizing or tell me about the story. Since he hated narrating, though, I'd rather not draw that connection. I walked him through it this week and I'm glad we've started this way. E also read a National Geographic article on Beneath Paris, which covered the history of the city as well as some interesting bits about what goes on now underneath the city.

We still have more to do with Madeline, but I don't want to drag it out too much. I feel that we've missed key aspects though and more importantly, we haven't been to the bakery yet! This will carry on into next week.

As to the usual subjects, K is still working on reading. He is really rounding the corner to becoming a reader now. It is so exciting to hear him read aloud, unstilted, and to continue beyond where I said he could stop.

History fell by the wayside this week as I tried to stumble back into our learning time. My husband has been around more and I'm trying to make changes, both schedule wise and approach wise, so it's been a bit bumpy.

I'm working on scheduling, organization, cleaning up our spaces, and incorporating new approaches to our learning. I guess I keep thinking that things like scheduling and organization should be a destination and I should finally arrive. Shoot, this has been a long journey. But if I just stuck with what I made up at first, I would've missed so many amazing things along the way.
I'm wondering if my kids are learning half as much as me?

New Year

New year....fresh start. I rearranged our learning rooms and it really feels better. The first picture is a shot of my older ds' desk and the bookshelves. This desk is ridiculously small, but E insisted he wanted to keep it. He's since decided he needs something bigger, which either means a trip to Ikea or a trip to the grandparents who have a desk they're willing to part with.

Next to the bookshelf I created a little nook which I'd like to turn into a comfy reading space. I need a big floor pillow, a chair, or a bean bag chair, but it's not really the best time for shopping.....


The picture below is our new science/art table. I set up the bookshelf next to it and was thrilled to be able to put all our science books together, as they seemed to be in at least four different places. However, it turns out, I can't put all the science books there as we have too many. I also wanted a space for some supplies and art supplies on the bottom shelf. On top of the table to the left is our question board. We are jumping off into inquiry based science, but more on that later. Actually, we are jumping into all kinds of science, largely inquiry based, but also just plain fun.


This last picture shows my younger son's desk and shelf.



I'm also changing up some of what we do, how we do things and when we do things. Prior to Christmas, our school time was getting later and later in the day, or at least inconsistent. This was due, in part, to our being out three nights a week and all of us being just plain tired and lazy in the morning. However, I'm working to change this. It's been a tough couple of days, getting back into the swing of things, particularly trying to change it at the same time.

First up:
Five in A Row
I started using this program very lightly in the fall with my younger son (who is actually considered old for it). Okay, the truth is, as much as we loved our first "row", it was our only row. We also read Cranberry Thanksgiving and Papa Piccolo, but didn't really do any activities with it. We did read other books to go along with them, but that was it. So, I decided we would pick this up again this winter, but I am also folding my older son into it. He is 11. I'm using the books as a jumping off point for him and I think we'll do at least a few of the FIAR titles before moving onto Beyond Five in a Row. I am having him doing additional research, reading, and writing.

Inquiry based science:
I learned about this approach to science from The Well Trained Mind message boards. It really resonates with me and I have been trying to learn more about it. Nurturing Inquiry: Real Science for the Elementary Classroom is one of the books that lays out this approach. I will post about this in more detail and cover my journey toward creating this in my home.

History:
I have been covering both world history and American history. As we move into the new year, I am picking up Winterpromise: American Story 1.
I have had this for several years and used it a bit with my older son. My younger son seems to have missed out on things we did several years ago and my older son still needs more American history, so we're pulling this back out.

It seems we have done plenty of ancient history and yet......we never covered China, Africa, or the Americas. We covered Greece and Rome, but not in much depth and again, my younger son was too young to retain much. So, I am doing an abbreviated ancient history this year. I'm approaching it TOG style. Of course, without a Tapestry of Grace guidebook, it doesn't even come close. I won't claim it to be TOG at all. Just TOG style--with history core reading, in depth history readings, related literature, focus on famous people, etc. geared to each child's level.

History notebooking--this is something I'm trying to incorporate, but with all the other changes it may be awhile.

Writing:
I'm still up in the air on this. I'm leaning towards trying some Bravewriter: Arrow units. I'm also considering Writing with Ease, Igniting Your Writing, and The Creative Writer.

All in all, trying to just get back into the swing of school and change things up is hard. I think the changes will be good, though.

I have been working on something for next year. I'm planning an integrated geography and culture study. I am adding in a bit of history, science, and literature. I have tried to use resources I already have and books or dvds from the library. There will be some new things, but I am trying to keep that to a minimum.

Really, most of these ideas are not my own. I'm borrowing bits from the Sonlight Core 5 program as well as a modified version of SL5 that someone sent to me. Also, I'm including ideas on earth science from Mater Amabilis. I only take credit for blending from many wonderful resources. This is still a work in progress.

This week, however, I have been trying to create a template to use as a weekly schedule for this program. For the technically challenged as I am, this is more difficult than it should be. I wanted to share what I've come up with so far, which is just the basic schedule form. It doesn't include the books or breakdown of the weeks. Even sharing this form was a challenge for me. At any rate, here it is.

Geography and cultural studies schedule form

Week in review

Did I mention we've had just a bit of snow these days? So, what have we been up to?

Art......building....reading......snowboarding....playing with friends....and just a bit of school, too.

Some of what we've been reading this week:

Good stories.....



Science.......


E's and K's books....



A little poetry, history, geography......









K finished a mini lapbook on the Revolutionary War. We generally do lapbooks on subjects they want to do them on, not necessarily connected to anything we are studying. This mini lapbook is from Fortunately for You Books. The boys like them because they are little and can be done in 1-2 days.







We started working on a project from Deep Space Sparkle. This was a very precise art project. It included lots of measuring. They're not done yet, but so far they both seemed to enjoy it.






A fairly typical week here. We did picture study, lots of reading, mapwork, history, math, and hands on projects as much as I could get them in.

What we're loving this week: Charlotte's Web, Mountain Born, Build-It cards.

What some of us are not loving: The math program. This is E. I have decided much of it is too easy for him. Although it is lots of review which is good, I think it is more than he needs and is taking away his enjoyment of math. I'm going to go through this level and see where he really needs to work on things. Beyond that, I can't buy a new program now, but maybe by spring.

What some of us love, some of us don't, and maybe we've all had enough of??? Snow.

Wordless Wednesday

Week in review

It's been a little bumpy getting back in the routine after Christmas. Part of that is the usual just getting back into it. The other part is that I've changed a few things. We actually had things going pretty nicely for awhile, but I wanted to add some things in and alter some others. And we've also had SNOW. Lots of snow.

This is some of what we've changed a bit:

I felt we were too light in history this year, so I've added Tapestry of Grace, Year 2 into our schedule. I am planning on using this fairly loosely. So, it may take us ten weeks to get through unit 1 (the Middle Ages) or it may take longer. Either way it's okay.

Also, I have added in some extra hands on materials--Get a Grip by Tops Science and McRuffeys' Build it cards.

Lastly, once again, I am working on organization. I think this could be a whole separate post.




The snow was very deep. I didn't measure it, but a friend said it was 27 inches. You can see in this picture it's up to K's thighs.







Some of what we've been up to the last couple of weeks:

E:
He's been loving the new hands on items I have added.
Math: We're still at odds over math, however, it's getting more challenging for him so that is good. He is bored with the routine of it, but I think he needs to just keep with it. We started reading Penrose the Mathematical Cat again. We started in the fall, but I stopped because I thought it was way over their heads (and maybe mine.) I'm reading it just with E now and it seems much more within reach now. He's been playing Timez Attack and again and acing it now. We're still working in the math journals, doing whatever strikes our fancy that day that is math related.
Language Arts: Still working through Classical Writing Primer. I really like this book. I would like to have E doing more writing, but since the physical act of writing is still such a burden to him, it hinders his ability to compose. This is why I chose the Primer level for him to start with. I thought the additional copywork would help. However, anything called "copywork" leaves a bad taste in his mouth at this point. When he has writing to do that is not just for the sake of copying, he seems more willing to do it. I am reconsidering Classical Writing for him and may just jump into Intermediate Language Lessons. We also are still working through Grammar Land, which he loves and has been a wonderful introduction to grammar.
Geography: Started Seabird with accompanying map.

K:
Reading: Last week K was still working through McGuffey's. This week he picked up one of the Pathway Readers (Days Go By).
Math: We just got the first Miquon book and are working through bits here and there. Some of it he is way past and some is new to him. With math at this stage I think the more solidly they know the basics the better off they will be down the line. So, some review is a good thing.

Together:
History: Started Tapestry of Grace. K loves the notebooks. E is not loving sharing this subject with K, so I'm not sure how this will sort out. Some of the things I will do separately, but to some extent E needs to get over it and be able to work on this at the same time.
Science: I started reading Jeff Corwin's biography aloud to both of them. This sparked all kinds of rabbit trails--rain forests, snakes, Belize. We're just going to follow these for a bit.
Picture Study: We're continuing our study of Henri Matisse.
Composer Study: I tried something new with this. I made my own notebooking pages for this subject. I wanted the boys to connect more with the music rather than just listening to the music and hearing about the composer's life. The sheets I made up have some room for factual information and then a big space for a picture. I told them to draw whatever the music made them feel or just whatever they felt like while we were listening to the music. We listened to A little Night Music by Mozart. The boys really liked this way of doing composer study. And I'm pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to do those pages.










Read alouds: I usually have a family read aloud going and separate read alouds with each of the boys. Over the last few weeks I finished with E: The Four Story Mistake and Winnie the Pooh. We started Charlotte's Web. I am still reading On the Other Side of the Hill with K. With both of them I finished Paddington Takes the Air and The Family Under the Bridge. We started Mountain Born and A Wild Life (Jeff Corwin's biography).



Rock the math:












Working on mathematical stars, as described in Penrose the Mathematical Cat.