Recent activity and my calendar both suggest we need a new thread... 
Kerri.
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Homeschooling - June 1st Comment on this item
 Submitted by Kerri on Tue, 05/31/2005 - 6:07pm.
Recent activity and my calendar both suggest we need a new thread... Kerri. Bookmark/Search this post with: delicious | digg | reddit | google | yahoo | technorati | stumble upon | sk*rt( categories: Homeschooling )
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Me first then!I spent some time earlier this week writing down lists for each child of what areas need to be covered and how I planned to go about doing it. Things like telling the time, Chinese, writing practice for one, cursive for the other, multiplication tables... I've got a pretty good list of stuff going actually. Including stuff for dictionary skills, which isn't bad considering I don't currently have a single 'real' dictionary (I think they must be somewhere in the Mediterranean by now!). I had DD arrange spices and paints in alphabetical order as a start! But I have a ton of computer work to do and packing and all the rest of it, and most of these things have only lasted 20mins or so at best, before I get attacked to mark things or look at things. So I decided just now (whilst cooking dinner!) that I would come up with something a little longer lasting. I've told them I want to see a science presentation on Friday!! It's now Wednesday night so I suggested they agree on a subject tonight then they have the whole of tomorrow and a good chunk of Friday to come up with pictures and words to tell me all about their chosen subject. See if they can figure out something to tell me that I didn't know. Bad news is that I have particularly stubborn and mulish children on my hands today and DD is refusin to take part. Shame really because I had to point out that her participation or lack thereof would affect her recreational television and computer time. I can't come up with treats as quick as I can come up with punishments I'm afraid - something I need to work on! They're both currently sulking but I suspect DS will come around fairly soon because he loves science and his enthusiasm would turn the hardest of hearts. Speaking of that heart... can anyone suggest to me reasons why DD is trying to push everyone away?? I would dearly love to fix this particular trend before she hits puberty because it can only get worse. She seems to revel in showing off her worst personality traits, in pushing away the people closest to her and having herself painted as black as possible. I've already figured that she doesn't really like herself, which is a HUGE problem. She seems to be turning into exactly the kind of person she'd be least likely to choose as a friend. I have had a long chat with her about this earlier today (not my first discussion with her about this) but after a good long cry and a cuddle she seems to be headng straight back for her evil persona. Any thoughts, suggestions?? She's so damn complicated! DS can be a real pain, but he's a lot more straightforward. Kerri. No words of advice on DD, Kerri. Hugs sent your way.I can paint myself black on several days myself! Did fun schooling this morning. We did a bones and muscles word find. Rather DS7 did that and I had DS4 just color his and find and circle the letters in his name, he seemed ever so happy with that. Then I pulled out the big life size, 4 ft, puzzle of the human body. We did the bones side. The flip side is the muscles, we will do that the next time around. Anyway, went over well! The boys both thanked me for getting them "such a cool puzzle, mommy"! We also looked up some of the words in the word find to understand their correct meaning. The rest of the day will be spent on DOG obedience! Riley Joe, AKA DOG HEATHEN of the HERBST HOUSE needs some homeschooling himself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jana Wish I could help, KerriAt least you have a lot of time to spend with her right now, so you can watch her closely. The person I turn to for childrearing advice would probably say, look beyond the behavior to the heart. And I would add, pray for wisdom and insight. That's what I do when I'm at a loss. I have one who doesn't reveal herself readily. If I ask her a direct question, she can be quite close-mouthed. But if I cuddle her and give her words of affirmation, she readily responds. She smiles and cuddles right up. How does your DD respond to your affection? Has she encountered teasing or any other difficulties at school? Is it a big deal if she doesn't do the science project? Maybe her brother would like to do a simple one on his own? We didn't do much for homeschooling today. I didn't even do the math drill because I was mentally preparing to take my son back to the specialist at noon. But he did two reading lessons in a row, and then when we got back, he asked to do yet another. I am so surprised at how quickly he picks it up. My daughters were not like that at all. Just the opposite of what I might have expected. Jana, that puzzles *does* sound cool! I was sooo into human biology for a while as a kid. I had a visible woman. Remember those? You could make her 7 mos. pregnant. I learned so much about anatomy from that thing. Dog heathen. You crack me up!! Love, Susannah My heart aches for not being an evil personaah Kerri, prayers to ya', I have no words of wisdom, as mine are so much younger, but whenever we begin the packing and moving of being a military kid(every 2 1/2 years), I would cut off my friends and family emotionally, cause it hurt to leave, and it was my safety mechanism...I still fight it...a maybe to look at. With email and chats, staying in touch is much easier that a lazy girl(me) would do with letters in the 70's! The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket~Maxine Thursday's SchoolWe did CalcuLadder (new level! yay!), two reading lessons for Elias, the girls made their June calendars, Anna Kate practiced typing, Olivia wrote a thank-you note to her grandmother, and in SOTR we read about the attempt of one dishonest patrician to take over Rome by giving welfare to the plebians. Cincinnatus to the rescue again. Also, the siege and destruction of Veii and the gradual improvement in the rights of the plebians (those patricians could be real stinkers, I guess). In SOTW, we're up to Augustus Caesar, so we're moving to the time of the birth of Christ now. I need to pause and add a few things to the timeline! And...I finally bought a tape recorder last night. It was twenty bucks at Wal-Mart and the sound quality isn't the greatest, but we've been recording our storybooks since I brought it home. I love that their little voices are getting recorded right along with the stories! I hope that Elias will find it helpful to have his favorite stories on tape as he learns to read by himself. They were all greatly amused by the recording and play-back process. Anna Kate wants to re-read The Hobbit and put it on tape. We'll probably start recording SOTW II when we begin that too. I hope to use it with their own narrations as well. Eventually, they will be able to take their own dictation. Just a few minutes ago I talked to a lady who wants to join our homeschool group. She has one son, going into 2nd grade. Conversations like those leave me feeling so grateful for the privilege of homeschooling! Her son has serious allergies (peanut, etc.); imagine how dangerous it could be to send him off to school. So, anyways...Oh, I also erased a bunch of pencil writing from my used Daily Grams workbook. I will be using that for Anna Kate's grammar next year. Can you believe I actually lay in bed the other night, fretting over whether I was doing enough grammar for her? It's amazing how things get so out-of-perspective in the middle of the night. There's a homeschool swap in the next county next week that I might attend. I have a few things I could swap. I just have to find out how it all works. I have put a call in to a friend about it. My Spelling Power never showed up; perhaps I could find a used one. Also, our first planning meeting for next year's history co-op is next Thursday. telling time linkjust found it but about to go out for dinner, so no time to put in the links place (and make a muck of it again!): http://www.teachingtime.co.uk/index.html haven't explored but it looks good. Downloadable tool, also for Mac users apparently. Quite a few levels for different ages. Will report back if I get round to using it! Kerri. links place?I think I missed something? Please let me in? The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket~Maxine oh dear, not you too!Lynn's going to get really cross with all of us - she has all these gerat features around the site and none of really notice till she scolds us! If you look at the top navigation bar there's one near the right that says 'links'. If you into that bit it's all categorised, and the homeschooling one is near the top. Trouble is I tried to correct my last one midway through and it didn't go in, and I haven't tried again since. There was also some kind of related maths site, and I got to both of them through www.activityvillage.co.uk - I was looking for UK school related stuff for next week. And fun stuff too. Lots of printables over there, and some unusual things that aren't easily found elsewhere. Shame my computer's not currently hooked up to a printer!! Anyone used Oregon Scientific kiddie computers?? DD got given one a few years back as a gift - Princess Cleo I think it is or something. Hers had quite a few activities on it which are very educational and it's a good way for either of the kids to go through things on their own. More so even than a regular computer becaues this kind talks as well. It has plenty of maths, including double figure multiplication, division, time telling, keyboard skills (it's a QWERTY keyboard, with mouse and attachable to a printer even). Actually I believe there's even some kind of word processing programme and even email in there. I just discovered this last week that it isn't just national anthems and silly games. So if you have any well-off relatives who have no kids of their own and have no idea what to get for yours... it's worth suggesting. Don't know how it compares to LeapPad because we haven't had it. Kerri.  Whole Lotta Cookin Going OnDD4 is quite obsessed with her new computer games. I got her Zoo Zillions and Carnival Countdown and a Reader Rabbit, all used. She spent hours this past week doing them. She and DS13 and I made a ton of European food last night: swiss fondue, truffles au chocolat, and fresh linguini al pesto. Yum! Tonight is the cultural festival, so we were getting ready for that. The kids are singing a Czech canon and doing two Scottish Highland Dances. We have to leave the festival early though because DS14 is getting an academic award at school tonight. Whoo-hoo! Last night he skipped the girl's varsity softball playoff game to write some essays that are due tomorrow. I was shocked. There may be hope for him yet. DS13 told me the other day that he wants to homeschool next year. This is the fourth time he's flip-flopped, so I still am not sure, but it looks pretty likely. I'm excited! Have a great rest of the week, Jo - the food sounds wonderful.What a great experience for your kids! DS4 and I did several workbook pages on matching like items and shape tracing. We also made a picture frame that he decorated. DS7 had art class this morning. We will be attending a Native American display at the library this afternoon. DDog has learned the "come" comand pretty well and we walked DS7 to art class so he got some leash training today also. I need to make some plans for the rest of the week. Which means, I need to clean out an area of stuff that I want to do but have piled other stuff on top of. So "plans" means "clean"! Jana Not much homeschoolingCalcuLadder yesterday and Elias's reading lesson. Nothing so far today! But, I looked up free grammar resources for my 4th grader next year and got the following hits right off. http://www.edhelper.com/language/language.html http://www.englishchick.com/grammar/ http://webnz.co.nz/checkers/grammar2.html I have not fully explored these sites and do not yet know if they are worthy of an official entry in the TNH links...but if I end up using any of this, I'll put in a link. One of them has some spelling resources online! Maybe I can manage to save myself the $50 for Spelling Power. Did I mention Usborne??We have a great Usborne grammar book. I got so ticked off at the abysmal standard of English displayed in DD's English textbooks (and the spelling mistake from which a spelling test was taken!) that I sent her in wit it to school one day. The teacher had her bring it to school every day till the end of term!! There may yet be hope for the Singapore school system if they adopt that one book. Or at least teach the teachers from it, instead of locally created materials! Blech! I had the kids do creative writing on pirates the other day because they were obsessively playing pirates after playing a computer game based on pirates. Also brought up a website aout Sir Francis Drake, Blackbeard and some others that they read while I was 'busy' elsewhere! Also dug some time telling flashcards back out of suitcase and threw them at the kids earlier so they could invent a fun game while I got on with cooking dinner. Really, anything educational has been largely accidental round here recently, but it still happens, so I refuse to fuss over it. I'm limited anyway since I can't print anything, have a few square centimetres of desk, no books, very few toys and no family games except Boggle - DD has taken to practising her Boggle skills on her own when she can't get anyone to play with her! and then there's the whole mind-broadening experience of their move across the world, crossing continents and cultures in a single flight!! Details, details... researching my kidneys at the moment, instead of sleeping or clearing the clutter off my bed... I blame Vonnie! Kerri. Well, we had a dentist appt today so we talked alot about teeth!We checked out several books from the library about it so that was our focus today. DS4 and I did some more tracing of lines and shapes. I am using a book that I got from somewhere Susannah suggested......the name is......Brighter Vision, yes that is it. Anyway, DS4 is enjoying it. DS7 had art class. He brought some projects home today. He drew the Mona Lisa, getting hit in the head with a golf ball. Not sure what that was about. We haven't really had time to discuss it. Kinda funny to me. A Killdeer (bird) has layed her eggs in some rocks next to the parking lot at my mother's bank. We have watched it for 2 days now. First one egg, then two. From our reading we know she should lay 2 more. They are beautiful aqua colored eggs with brown specks. The bird, I would like to call her Mona, is a hoot to watch. We really are having a wonderful opportunity to learn more hands on about this bird. We get to see what she does when someone gets to close, we have watched her leave to go and get herself some food. They really are neat bird. We went to the library today and checked out some books on Killdeer and I have found a few things on the net. The eggs should hatch in about 24-26 days. Fun! FUN! Here is a link that gives a brief tid bit! http://www.birdwatching.com/stories/killdeer.html Oh and DDog has mastered the "shake" command. Totally taught by the boys! They are so proud!! Jana About time I shared thisI sent emails on to Jana and Honey about this website but it's only just dawned on me to share it with everyone else. now a lot of the content is paid membership, but there's still a fair chunk that isn't, and more if you get the free newsletter. For those of you with older children you may find some useful stuff - I've found a lot of homeschool sites seem to cater more to younger children, but there are less with ideas and suggestions for older ones. This isn't actually a homeschool site though. Definitely worth a look. I'd advise you to subscribe to the newsletter for a little while, see if anything catches your eye. Kerri. Love teachervision Kerri! Thanks for sharing it.We have a "Healthy Teeth" experiment we are planning on doing next week. Today we checked on the Killdeer and she had laid her final egg. Everyone at the bank thought for sure she was just laying 3 but WE knew that she had another one coming. The boys were so proud to be passing on the knowledge they had on the subject. The library books were very informational. We are also listening to "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe" on tape and they didn't know what a "wardrobe" was so we took a field trip to the grandparents antique store and got a lesson along with them climbing into see if they could find Narnia! Loads of painting done today. They had paper from one end of the garage to the other. They have a table on which they can do as they please but today it was not enough room so things were scattered on the floor as well. They did feet prints, hand prints, painted wood, painted each other We are thinking of taking a trip so I am not sure what the next few weeks hold but we do have the Heathy Teeth experiment and an adjective chain we would like to do along with several books on the body to dive into. The DDog had a tough day today. Two accidents in the house and one plant totally dug up! He has been closure today to the newspaper than he liked!!! Jana Forgot to say...What was that about manatees and John Lithgow?? I've been addicted to manatees since my parents first went to Florida and then they took me the following year. Singapore zoo got its first gift of manatees almost exactly the same time I arrived here and DH took me for my first Christmas here. The've since had a baby too - I love manatees. We even have a baby dugong, Gracie, who was rescued from open waters near here when her mother died, about the same time DS was born. They are just TOO adorable. And they remind us to take life slowly. So why is an Englishman like John Lithgow (I think he must be English right, even if he spends so much time in the US nowadays) narrating something about manatees?? And where can I get it so I can complete brainwashing my children with manatee adoration and conservation. I even know the Chinese for manatee, which many Chinese don't - actually it's 'sea cow' translated! the kids have been babysat by the computer for the last three days, in between a zoo trip, a swimming trip and a shopping/dinner with grandparents trip. The zoo is ALWAYS educational, and DH is ALWAYS left out. He was complaining that whichever child he takes he always looks round to find I'm gone... we've usually stopped to look at something fascinating. Like the fungus growing on a tree in the kangaroo enclosure (after photographing a clearly nuclear family of three kangaroos), or the unusual lizard we found near a primate enclosure. Then there's my children's absolute disgust of little Aussie children being taught to imitate animal noises at the tiger enclosure, instead of being told about how endangered tigers are! I love the zoo. ok, it's late and I still have other threads to look at. My stomach keeps interrupting me tonight - heavy garlic and heavy swimming was a bad combo for me! TMI! Kerri. John LithgowI just was skimming through this thread. The Internet Movie Database says that he was born in Rochester, New York to American parents, and grew up in the US. So he is 100% American. He did live in London for a few years after he finished university; he had a Fulbright scholarship to study theatre there. Then he moved back home to the US after that, and spent much of the rest of his career on Broadway and film before television and whatever else he is doing now. ManateesOHHHHH! I love them too! While we were in Florida this spring, we were out on Hutchinson Island and we saw one....in the wild only 25 feet-or-so from where we were walking....very exciting! I brought my girls home books on both manatees and sea turtles which are also common in FIL's area. Blessings, I just put the manatee book in reveiws.We also have The Remarkable Farkle McBride by John. I will put that in reveiws as well. Jana was in panic...had lost book!The Christian Spelling Primer I found and was so joyous about, I lost...yesterday. I was going thru the dumpsters in fear, that one of the children had accidentally put in garbage...finally found in hall closet in a basket of "stuff" I threw in when we had some company drop in...lol...can you tell I am not flying??  Our dayI finally put my foot down and blocked Nick, Cartoon Network and Disney Channel. Josie was forced to watch Discover Kids and found out she kinda liked it. She was also forced to play games with her mother and sister. We played Scrabble Jr. and Uno Stacko, both of which qualify as homeschooling in my estimation. Lynn Siprelle, Editor Good for you Lynn!!It does seem to get gradually out of control with watching television, and it's just one cartoon after another after another. My kids love the educational stuff too when they can get it and will happily watch a nature programme if there's one on offer, but it's too easy to let the 'kiddie' stuff take over. The only thing I've been consistent with is blocking all commercial television so far, and sticking to only videos. Even that gets out of control eventually though. Same with computers, and they don't quite accept that I use the cmputer in a different way than they do, not staring at a game on a screen for hours as they do! I'm off to see what printables I can find to keep myself sane and them busy. Colouring seems to last 5mins and anything else they see as a ploy to keep them out of my way. Smart kids are definitely not easy to keep occupied at times, and without books and toys and attention from me things are going a bit screwy. When I also need to use the computer and limit their television time we're really up a creek. I hear the sounds of very grouchy children... DD's favourite boredom buster is annoying DS and he's already so grouchy and irritable that she gets all the fun she needs. Doesn't make anyone else very happy though! this too shall pass... I know it will... but it's hard to tell a 6yr old and an 8yr old who perceive time in a different way! Kerri. HomeschoolingSporadic around here. Yes, Scrabble and Uno definitely count as homeschooling! Good for you on the TV restrictions, Lynn! My kids loved Nickelodeon, and the cartoons were kinda fun (although some of them were not good) but I hated the commercials. I'm glad we don't have it anymore. They play all the time now (pretending with their dinosaurs). Yesterday, we did our CalcuLadders and ReadyWriter, and Elias went through three reading lessons. We are now halfway through the 100 EZ Lessons. This kid sits and re-reads all his old lessons, he loves it that much. He could probably teach himself. We also did a language lesson (Three Billy Goats Gruff narration), and read from Story of the Romans (Pyrrhus' elephants routed by the Romans). I am so enjoying Roman history! I pass the sections along to my mother as we finish them and she's reading them too. We started our second Story of the World book the other night and have been recording this one as we read. The girls like to listen to it again after I leave. I've been recording storybooks for the boys. We've already done about a tape-and-a-half. I have learned so much from SOTW, even though it's a very simplified, broad survey of world history. I didn't realize that the Byzantine Empire resulted from the division of the Roman Empire by Diocletian. I knew about Constantinople, but didn't know how it had arisen. Man, I have lots of holes in my education! LOL! It's embarrassing. Somebody said Focus on the Family is starting the Chronicles of Narnia on the radio...anyone else heard about this? I haven't caught it yet, if they are already on the air. So anyway, we won't do anything much today except hang out at the lake for a couple of hours (daddy's coming too! yay!), then take a meal to a friend who has had surgery. Later! Susannah Narnia is on your local Christian station.whatever station, normally host Oydesey,the Focus on the Family broadcast...is now bringing the Narnia series, hosted by the son or grandson of CS Lewis. It began on Monday, with the Magicians Nephew...it is quite good...and hold the attention of my 6 and 8 year old. The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket~Maxine Hmmm.....I'm wracking my brains trying to come up with something, anything educational we've done recently... DS13 is still helping build the shop. They are putting on the siding now, next it will be concrete floor, roof, and wiring. He also has been on a tear with back issues of National Geographic and Smithsonian, so that counts. I brought home some fun math puzzles for him too, but he hasn't done them yet. DS14 just finished finals, so much study skills training there. He is a "I do my best work under pressure!" guy, and he puts everything off to the last minute. We reviewed essay format, the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and I edited the biography of DaVinci he wrote. Today is his first day off from school, and he was still sleeping when I left to take the other two to the dentist this morning. DD4 is still obsessed with the computer games (we don't watch TV either) and she is also into drawing stories and is still gardening, we just had a lesson on how to tell the perennials from the weeds. Next week we'll be on a lighter schedule, so there will be more time for lessons! Yippee! I mentioned last week that DS14 was getting an academic award, and to our surprise, it turned out to be 5 awards! Excellence in world history, math, science, and health, and acheivement in English! Very exciting. OK, gotta go make something of myself.  way to go joThat is so awesome about DS! We've been doing some fun stuff, though I think we need to be doing less. DD wants to "do school" constantly but anything that doesn't come automatically makes her really grumpy and pouty. We have a mix of difficulty -- she loves math worksheets (they look so official) but they are so easy for her. But she is a bit lazy in her writing, so she needs a bit of prodding. Today she read a short history of toilets and wrote about it! She's very articulate, but doesn't ever like to stop and think things over or try to recall things -- that's where the prodding comes in. Not sure what we'll do tomorrow. More math, and some kind of craft. I've not had time to really think through anything beyond the science "curriculum" we got from Usborne, so we're just going with what strikes us at the moment. Speaking of which, time for some music! TodayJosie and Lou mostly played with their friends, so that would count as socialization and phys ed. I have some things printed out for tomorrow, including a book for Josie to make for her dad for Father's Day (how did I ever survive without EnchantedLearning.com?), and some worksheets on bears, which is a current fascination of Jo's. I also discovered that a video game she's been playing for a while contains quite a bit of educational content I was not aware of; for instance, Jo knows the planets of the solar system, in order, because of this game. We're still reading Little Women and are talking about the Civil War, why the country went to war, and what happened to people on the battlefield and at home. We're also talking about medical care and how much better it is now. (This was brought home to me recently by watching "Deadwood," my current favorite TV show. Love that show, even if every third word isn't printable here. Love it even though it needs more spaceships.) Lynn Siprelle, Editor make your own worksheetsthere are quite a few sites around Shaun that will let you make your own, so you can still get them looking official, but adjust them according to what DD can manage. I can't think of a particular site offhand, but I'll have a look later and see if I have any bookmarked. A quick search should bring up some alternatives though. Sounds like you need to find something she really loves and incorporate writing into it. Or skip the writing altogether for now. Maybe you could try the narration approach and let her come back to writing later on. That works best if a child is completely homeschooled of course because school has certain expectations. Is there a relative she could write to, or a add a postscript on a letter you write?? Or could you have her help you write down a recipe or instructions on something off the computer perhaps. There must be some form of writing that appeals to her if you look around. I cheated the other day when DS was in areally bad mood and handed him a creative writing exercise book in which I'd written the title, "If kids ruled the world..." Naturally he took off with it, but he got his anger vented and did some good writing while he was at it. He's also not one of the world's most natural writers either. www.activityvillage.co.uk has some interesting printables too Lynn, and Kids Domain and I found a brilliant one yesterday for slightly older kids: www.tlsbooks.com/kidspagearchive.htm lots of worksheets in every subject and all kinds of fun word game sheets. I say slightly older because a lot of them weren't so suited to my 6 1/2yr old, but my nearly 9yr old loves that kind of thing. Still worth looking at for 5 and 6yr olds though. Not quite sure how I bumped into it so make sure you bookmark it or you might not be able to find it when you need it! I know what you mean about Enchanted Learning Lynn and I've never even paid for the extra content. A narwhal came up in conversation yesterday, thanks to one of the worksheets from the looking forward to our phys ed content being greatly increased soon! Kerri. Kerri. Good homeschool dayJosie did some writing practice making a book for Father's Day from an EL printout, and then worked on a book about herself. This is the first time I've managed to get her to do this kind of work, so I'm pleased. The secret? We listened to a book on tape while we worked ("The Moffats" by Eleanor Estes), one she'd already heard and loved. This is so like me and her father it's not even funny. Give us more than one thing to do at a time and we settle right down. The girls watched a little Discovery Kids, a show about dinosaurs (whale ancestors, actually) and another about endangered animals. Josie loves "Trading Spaces Boys vs Girls" but she was too busy with her other stuff to watch today. Now she's watching "Darcy's Wild Life," which is a "Lizzie McGuire"-ish show that actually has some real content to it; it's about a girl who works for a wild animal vet. Lou asked for coloring sheets about kitties today, so she's got cats and chickens to color. Mostly she ran around like a crazy nut as usual. Lynn Siprelle, Editor Well, we are back from a week away! And really we managedto homeschool everyday! I am finding that we really do "learn" a lot that is not forced on us. I think if I ever did "officially" homeschool it would be more UN schooling. We were at my aunt's and since our focus is The Human Body this summer we went to an awesome 1/2 Price Books and found 4 books for about $6. YIPPEE...3 were about the body, one about Indians. Since going to the Native American exhibit at the library a couple weeks ago, DS4 is all about Indians. Anyway, my aunt was looking at the books with the boys and it showed a "replaced" knee. Well, she was so excited, since she has one! They spent the rest of the evening in the recliner, talking about knee replacement and looking at her scar and how her knee moves just like the "old" one. It was great. And I really think they learned so much more than if they had just "read" it. We visited 2 museums......plenty to go from off of those experiences. And one had a LIVE bug display that we happened upon and the boys LOVED that. They got to touch and feel and see up close and personal! Got to see the stages of a millworm. Look at different ants. HELLO, carpenter ants are BIG! Hissing cockroach! Yeah, I know but all the creepiness was gone once I say their little eyes lite up! We also made a trip to a very cool health food store and tried a few things! DS4 is much more flexible on this than DS7! At the moment, they are doing scissor art and just glad to be back home. DDog - did very well on his first trip. Jana Meant to add......on our trip we listened to: Anne of Green Gables (one of my most fav books) We went kinda out of order on the Chronicles of Narnia because of what was avaliable at the library! Jana Homeschool gamesUh, like, duh! Why did it not occur to me to be playing games with DD6? I guess I am out of the habit! We played Blokus today as well as Scrabble Jr. If you have not checked out Blokus I strongly urge you to. It is a great game for adults and kids, great for math skills, logic, etc. DD6 loves it. I am terrible at spatial relations, so I give her about 6 months to surpass me! And when DD2 starts playing, forget it. She'll be beating me by Kindergarten! Shaun no school todayUnless you count social skills. We went to Mabels and had a treat and Josie talked the ears off this one poor soul on the couch by herself while Lou regaled a knitting class with tales of chickens. I always tell the people they pin to the wall that they don't have to parent my kids and all they have to tell them is that they came for some alone time or would like to talk with their friends, and to please not hesitate to do that. And the girls are really good about adhering to a gentle "buzz off." Lynn Siprelle, Editor Boggleis another good game for word skills at any age. I'll check out Blokus Shaun, because spatial is my thing. I realised just how much recently too - it explains why I'm constantly movng stuff around to make it ll work better! I love to have a few games I'm REALLY good at because it's just no fun to be beaten at Scrabble by DH every single time. He plays strategy on points and I get distracted by interesting words that I just have to put down! I still hate hissing cockroaches Jana - saw them twice recently at the zoo and science centre. Those are one of the few things that really give me the creeps, even inside a cage! Sounds like you had a lot of fun though, with or without the cockroaches. I wish my kids took subtle hints on shutting up Lynn... would you care to borrow them for a bit!?! Kerri. I ADORE BoggleBut I haven't played it much with DD6. We have the regular version and Boggle Jr., which is 4x4 rather than 5x5. Time pressure freaks her out. And I am just so damn good . . . But maybe if we extended the time slightly. Because a full-on game of Scrabble gets looooonnnngg, as you all know. And yes, I am not so good at Scrabble for the same reason, Kerri. I feel like a cool word deserves more points than making IT DO TO and KID plus a triple word score or something, so that's how my mind works when I play. And my in-laws look at me like, "Shouldn't an English PhD be *good* at Scrabble?" OK. sorry, very OT! But it is Saturday. Shaun I've got a law degreeand I'm playing against someone for whom proper English is actually a separate language, but after 10yrs I'm over the humiliation. I don't just lose a lot but every time. It's not even funny any more. I have the same problem with Boggle, and get accused of having a big ego when I suggested DH and both kids team up against me to try and even the playing field. DD has taken to practising it on her own!! Kerri. First Official Weekof homeschooling DD and being really and truly officially home! We are going to start by reviewing all the consonant sounds and short vowels. We are going to practice writing the lowercase form of l, i, and t (they are all in the same stroke family) this week. Since she's so interested in plants right now we will capitalize on that. Today we will plant two impatients and a rosemary plant. Yesterday she learned that red clover is our state flower. We will also start the Saxon math workbook today. The first lesson is making unifix cube towers and coloring matching ones on the sheet. ALso tons of life skills like weeding the perennial beds, folding laundry, washing the van, and cooking dinner. Better go get busy! Yesterday was an allday molding clay and toothpick day!They made all kinds of stuff. Today I am cleaning out some drawers and getting some workbooks and art stuff ready. I need to get them on a bit of a routine. Left to their own they seem to bicker more so we are gonna try to gear towards small routines and see what happens. Right now they have been forced into quiet time! We did make a run to the library so we have some good reading to do! Jana best decision I ever madeI cannot believe how much better things are going since I locked off the !@#$%^@#$! Disney/Cartoon Network/Nickolodeon channels. After a day of carping Josie has adjusted. They're both pretty much living outside now, watching the chickens and making up stories. Josie has decided that Discovery Kids is pretty cool and has asked me to DVR Prehistoric Planet so she can skip through the commercials. It also means she's not tied down to a particular time to watch. (I'm telling you, if you've got DVR service available through your cable provider, go for it. It's worth it ten times over. Full disclosure: My hubbie works for Comcast.) I still shake my head over how TV took over in MY house of all houses. That's not going to happen again. Josie have even stopped wheedling for a TV in her room (as if). Lynn Siprelle, Editor Way to go Lynn! TV is a nasty little creeper! It is in yourlives at every second before you even realize it! We just have PBS and the regular channels, no cable but my kids love the Disovery and Food Network so they enjoy it when we do get a chance to watch it! I printed out some Independence Day stuff from teachervision so we are going to fiddle with that and our library books this afternoon. Jana works well in good weatherthe hard part is when you've got the kids stuck indoors for several days at a time. That's when television tends to come creeping back. For us it also happens when we visit my parents because it really is the only way to make the kids stop for a few minutes - in that instance it actually has a slightly calming effect! I've noticed the same thing about television and the whining though Lynn... they only notice for the first day or two, and then they get on with life!! uh, and Lynn... you're only human, though you do a mean goddess impression!! sadly our entire day now is composed of watching television, although I have vetoed the baby stuff in the middle of the day quite successfully. My excuse is that it really is only these few days, and there's a seriously absolute deadline on that. Once they're at my parents' they'll be out in the garden, although since it's Wimbledon fortnight it could be pretty wet I guess! My mother said there was a couple of pheasant chicks to look out for, although now she reckons maybe the fox got one. There were two woodpeckers in the garden last week while I was on the phone to them though, and there are always squirrels to look out for too, as well as gardening with Grandma and DIY stuff with Granddad in his fancy pants new shed (he has laminate flooring in there!) in between him working and helping us look for cars, house and office! Lots of learning experiences coming up, but I suspect there will be times of boredom in between when they don't have attention because we're busy trying to get our life set up. I've warned them what's coming though... fingers crossed they'll remember. 63hrs to go... Kerri.  TV-less lifestyleYou go, Lynn! I predict that you will continue to see an improvement in your daughters' behaviour, and more peace in your home. My son does enjoy his Prehistoric Planet DVD (and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, and Walking with Dinosaurs) but he doesn't ask for a new TV any more. The TV eater! lolCheers to you all with the views on TV! Most of you know, we haven't had one our whole marraige (15 years), but one of the things that sets a house free is no TV in living room....you can rearrange so that you have conversation! I love having my DH and I as center of attention versus the screen! **does anyone else have children that will sit and look at paper for a long time, in hopes you will do it for them???** and you know they can do it...they just want you to? !! no school today~swim time.... The trouble with bucket seats is that not everybody has the same size bucket~Maxine What about writing doen't he like?Is getting started hard? There are different strategies depending on his hang-up. Ask him what about writing he specifically dislikes, and I may be able to give you some tricks. FunYesterday went really well with DD. She was all excited and thougt it was all fun. After I got off here I went to enchanted learning and printed a pumpkin lifecycle coloring page, which she loved. She also did her math and letters. Today she has done another page of math, and one of handwriting. She really liked the rhyme for remembering how to form a 5 ("Over, down and then around") and kept chanting it and writing 5s. We talked about the solstice and seasons, and she did an enchanted learning label the seasons page. Right now she wants to play Reader Rabbit. One thing I need to get better at is reading to her more regularly. She loves it, and we have a ton of books, We have been really off-schedule at night lately. I think I'll ask her to remind me, that should do the trick! Ok, I better get off the computer and do what needs to be done! Bye, Today we went and visited where our friends are building a houseQuestions, questions and more questions! They enjoyed understanding what "dirt work" and "building a house" really meant. They got to get all dirty at the cow pond and see teh fish and they say they saw a snake but I didn't. They also saw BIG cracks in the ground, since we need rain, so that started a whole 'nother subject. We read through several library books on blood and what it does, in keeping with our Human Body topic. They also had a babysitter this am while I was at exercise class. She said all they did was play board games. Teh TV has not been on at all! Tomorrow we are heading to the beach! Jo - you are such a help, I am glad you are willing to offer us some gentle steering when we need it! I may PM you some questions of my own! Jana Oh!We also checked on our little Killdeer bird and she gave us a great display of the broken wing trick trying to get us away from her nest. The boys just think she is so smart for that and that she laided speckled eggs that look like rocks for camoflauge! They eggs are doing just fine. We should be seeing little birdies in the next week or so. Jana We went to a wedding in a difWe went to a wedding in a different city this past weekend, and while we were there we went to the zoo (the recently-wed couple hosted a brunch at the zoo and paid everyone's admission!). Danika and Abrehem were in heaven. Danika was excited to see the tigers and the elephants and the giraffes. Giraffes have always been her favorite animals, and she wanted to see tigers and elephants because she has been listening to Magic Treehouse on tape and Jack and Annie were in India recently. In the end, though, her favorite animal was the zebra. Why? "Because they don't eat people the way tigers do." Abrehem's favorite part was riding the train through "Australia." "Momma! Tain-tain!!" On Monday we glued strips of orange and black or white and black paper to green paper to represent tigers and zebras in the grass. Then we wrote stories about our animals. Danika's: One day the tiger ate people. And he ate Aubie [Abrehem]. And he ate Momma and Daddy. Abrehem's: Zebra eat. Zebra eat Danika Momma Daddy Aubie! Yesterday we went to the library (surprise! It was the first day of summer storytime, which I had completely forgotten about, so we stayed for that) and got books about tigers and zebras. We read part of one of the tiger books and learned about the difference between big cats and little cats (it's not size, it's whether they can roar) and about the difference between tiger eyes and cat eyes (tigers have round pupils, cats have slits). We drew tiger eyes, cat eyes, Danika eyes, and Aubie eyes, and then we tried to guess whose was whose. We got Georgia, one of our cats, and looked at her eyes. Then we looked in the mirror at our eyes and talked about how they are different than Georgia's. We reviewed the word "pupil," which we had learned when we were doing Letter of the Week. Then we wrote stories about the eyes. Danika's: One day, the tiger eyes belonged to the baby tiger. Tigers are big cats. Big cats can roar. Abrehem's: Georgia cat. Georgia eyes yay! We have also been reading chapter books, at Danika's request. She's more into ongoing stories now than she is into short picture books. We have read Beezus and Ramona about 15 times (seriously). (I always wanted to name Danika Ramona after Ramona Quimby, but Frank said no.) We have been reading the Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood (my favorites when I was little, although I am guilty of editing out some of the more sexist remarks--these were written in the 30s and 40s, and it's also startling how the kids just walk off with men they just met and go in the houses of people they don't know well), and we're also reading My Father's Dragon, which my dad read to me. I am pleased to discover that there are three books in that series. I wonder, too, whether the kids are old enough for Rupert and Rabbit Hill? For 12 weeks we did Letter of the Week curriculum. Danika really enjoyed it at first, but then she got bored because it's the same format every week. We didn't do much for about 4 weeks. Now I've decided to just go with whatever that week's interest is and read a lot of books about it, doing activities as I think of/become inspired about them. I'm also trying to arrange our art stuff so that the kids have better access to it, so that we will do more art. A bit of a double-edged sword, though, because I don't want them to have free access to it ... I don't think they are old enough yet to not color on things they aren't supposed to or cut things they aren't supposed to. Danika asked me for her scissors yesterday so she could cut her hair! I will try to check in on this thread more often. I love reading it! Danna =] catsI thought the other difference was that small cats can purr and big cats can't. Pumas can purr. Beezus and RamonaAs someone who was named after Tom Sawyer's simpering little girlfriend, I can assure you that Danika is much better off not to have her more-literate classmates calling her a "pest." so was Becky ThatcherBut being named after her made third grade a bit more difficult, that's all I can say. Sounds like mewith the art stuff... I was always meaning to 'arrange it better' so they could get more creative, but am a very nervous mother round messes, so we've only very rarely gotten round to painting and other more messy stuff. our zoo has had three white tigers (one boy and two girls, all siblings) for a few years now. I'd offer to email you the great photos we got recently of Omar, the male (it was quite early in the morning and he was on the prowl!), but I don't know where my camera is and it could be ages before I got round to it, and by then you'll likely be on something else! White tigers don't really exist in the wild apparently - not surprising really because they'd not outlast cubhood since they stick out like a sore thumb. I still prefer the striking colours of the orange tigers mind you. Give me a couple of weeks or so and if you'd like a photo or two of white tigers (with blue eyes - didn't know about the pupils... I guess I never got quite that close!) then give me a nudge! DD got stuck for ages before she would move onto chapter books. Her reading level was very good, but she just didn't fancy the commitment of a whole chapter book somehow, so she knows every Beatrix Potter story every written. They were just the right length, she loves animals and there was nothing at all to object to. She now loves Enid Blyton and I do find I get some odd questions to deal with about stuff that isn't really appropriate these days. sometimes I find it's a matter of throwing a ton of information at the kids and seeing what sticks. I can put out printed sheets or get a variety of odd library books they wouldn't choose for themselves... just let them decide where their interests lie. sounds like Danika and Abrehem are getting on great. You know, there will probably come a time when Dnaika almost forgets that Abrehem isn't her 'real' brother by blood. Sounds odd, but I get something similar to that where my mostly Chinese friends will make a joke about caucasians and it doesn't even occur to them that I'm one. A friend was prompted on that once and he didn't even understand what the prompting was about - he genuinely forgot!! Kerri. WednesdayDD did another math page yesterday. She also did 5 pages of phonics. I tried to stop her, but she was just really into it. We read Cinderella (the Kinuko Craft one-gorgeous!) and Bill and Pete. We also listened to stories on tape when we went to run errands. The big thing yesterday was learning about the phases of the moon. It has been clear, bright nights here, and she noticed the craters on the almost-full moon the night before. She has also been really funny with quizzing DH everynight. Whatever she worked on that day, she will ask him. Like, "What are the four seasons?" and when he answers she says, "Correct." It's really cute, and she is so proud. She especially loved stumping him with the state flower. Today my 5y.o. niece is here, so there is a lot of imaginative play going on. DN wants to do a math sheet too, so I may buzz down to MIL's and make a copy for her. In just a second we are going to make lunch. Becky, you really don't like writing? I'm surprised. What about it don't you like? Danna, Those stories are so cute. I have one DS14 wrote when he was 5 called "The Crab and the Bear" and one from DS13 called "The Red Knight." They just were reading them the other night and were so amused. Kerri, my DS14 went through a stage when he could read really well, but wouldn't. Then we went to the library and he checked out 4 books that were all non-fiction. He read every single one cover to cover. Then he proceded to eat up non-fiction like there was no tomorrow, but until the Harry Potter books, no fiction. DS13 has always been an equal-opprotunity bookworm with very ecelectic tastes. Aren't they funny? Jana, I wish your kids could be here right now to watch the concrete work. They would love it! Bye Guys, a whole threadThere was a whole thread a few months ago about how much and why I hate writing. Everyone tried to help but I never learned to hate it any less. But I've gotten more facile at writing since taking this dreadful summer school class I'm in, so while I still hate it as much, it goes faster. I'll try and find the thread for you later today. here it ishttp://www.thenewhomemaker.com/node/68193 The suggestions which helped the most were the "reward" suggestions. Now when I have to slog through a paper or part of a paper, I lay in a supply of tea and a box of chocolates and some other stuff. Then I set my Flylady timer for two-minute intervals and write for two minutes straight, then give myself another two minutes for a break (cup of tea, piece of candy, web-surfing, whatever). I absolutely have to give myself as much break time as writing time to make the pain of writing worth the pleasure of the reward. Sometimes I do four- or six-minute chunks of writing; when I manage that, I give myself the equivalent break as well. Not much schoolWith mom here not much school is going on. Today: Music, math (measuring things around the house with a ruler), beauty school (painting grandma's toenails!), horseback lessons We'll have next week to get back into our routine, but then more vacation! So I have set my expectations very low. Regarding art supplies. I just reorganized mine. One challenge we have is kids of very different ages, so the older needs to be able to get into stuff without calling me every 10 seconds, while the younger shouldn't get into anything! I have lots of small containers sorted to the nth. Crayons and pencils are separate from markers. Glue is in its own (pencil-case-size) box, as are paints. (The big tempera paints are in the basement, and they almost never come out because I'm like Kerri and really have to steel myself for the mess, which I never seem to do.) Containers are clear and labeled. Ziploc baggies hold pompons, google eyes, feathers, etc. inside bigger boxes. I have a big box labled "SCRAP PAPER" in my office, from which kids can take as much as they want. It is still a challenge, since I am not a free spirit when it comes to mess! Not because I am so neat, but because I am already living in such mess that I can't handle anymore, and there's no new surface to make one on! Craft Mess"Not because I am so neat, but because I am already living in such mess that I can't handle anymore, and there's no new surface to make one on!" Oh, how I relate to that. As for paints, I can handle watercolor, but rarely pull out the tempera because they always splat it on the floor, and someone tracks it onto the carpet. I haven't done much homeschooling the past few days (formally). I did pick up a bunch of books at the library and we are reading through those, and we are still recording Story of the World at night, and I am reading through the Gospel of Mark over dinner, albeit with myriad interruptions (including DH). I did three reading lessons with Elias yesterday. He re-reads them all on his own. I've just been so lazy lately. I'm blaming it on the pregnancy. Craft Organization: I have a shoe-box organizer that a friend gave me several months ago. (She's really organized.) It has plastic shoe-boxes for each compartment. I put most of our craft stuff in those (glue, tape, markers, "scraps," etc.). It is quite accessible to children (sometimes unfortunately so). I have a wheeled cart with one pencil box for pencils, one for colored pencils, and one for markers/pens that I use for academic work. I keep the crayons (a big plastic box I picked up at a yard sale...where else?) and tempera paints over there too. Olivia was given a stamp set by my sister for her birthday last month, and that is the latest craze around here. The girls make their own "wrapping paper" out of their personal stash of printer paper my mom gave them. They wrap up "presents" for their toys. They make little booklets with the stapler. They also do lots of snip, snip, snipping with scissors, so that my house is continually covered with tiny paper scraps. I think I'll try to go to the library again tomorrow morning, and let the girls look for books while the littles go to story time. Wish me luck. Library excursions usually don't go well when I've got all the children. Later! Susannah TV-less lifestyleWe actually have a tv, but I think I can count on my 10 fingers the times Danika has actually watched anything on it (can't say that for Abrehem because they used to watch a video every day at the orphanage). Sometimes I desperately wish I could plop the kids down to watch tv with a good conscience, but I can't. If they watch something, either Frank or I watch with them. They have seen LeapFrog Letter Factory and the Muppets, some Animal Planet at my sister's, Reading Rainbow's Stellaluna episode. Richard Scarry's Best Alphabet Video Ever ... ... oh, and they have watched the videos of Abrehem's orphanage and our trip to Ethiopia many times, so I guess I can't count on my ten fingers the number of times they've watched tv. But it's still a very, very limited amount for kids their age. Hearing stories of people who break their kids' tv habits and see dramatic improvements in their behavior make me shy away from ever really starting the tv habit. WednesdayNot much academic yesterday. The kids took advantage of the re-arranged art stuff and produced dozens of water-color paintings. We spent part of the afternoon painting the sidewalk with water and the rest of it in the kiddie pool. We also read and re-read chapters of Back to School with Betsy, and Danika started treating the Elmo sprinkler like a baby and carried it around the house, singing to it, giving it water to drink, and putting it to bed in a laundry basket. Graphing and MappingI made DD some graphs to use last night. Both are bar graphs, but one is orinted horizontally and one vertically. I just used the table feature in word, and made the cells square. The first one is a weather graph. DD can check the weather eveyday and then color in a box next to the picture that describes that day's weather. The other one is a birthday graph with 12 columns going vertically. I wrote the name and number of the month in the bottom cell of each column, and wrote the names family members and friends who have a birthday in each month. I'll have DD color in the corrosponding number of cells later today, and I think I'll have her do it in rainbow color order, because that's today's obsession. I also took out my huge US wall map and hung it. Since we have such a large family spread out all over the US I thought we would find pics of everyone in the big box of pictures I havn't sorted yet and hang them around the outside of the map with a string going to where they live. Just trying' to keep it meaningful to a 4 year old. We also have 5 baby lupines to plant courtesy of my SIL and DD will probably ask to do math and phonics sheets too. My mom was a little disturbed that I had started her on those, but when I explained that they took a grand total of 20 minutes to complete, and I only do them if she asks, she felt better. DS14 is at work, they are training him to be a prep/line cook today. Now he can: be a host and seat people, be a waiter, carve the meat on the buffet line, do the dishes in t |
Very naughty of me really. But very often i come upon sites on the way to other things, as I was doing this afternoon, but had no time to do much more than give a quick heads up on it.
Or maybe I can just cheat... subtly!
