Homeschool Confidential 4
Going on Year 7!
Highlight of my day - Summer 08
We have homeschooled since my oldest was born. My dh is out of town for over a week, so I decide to take the kids to Boston Market for dinner (we have a coupon - yay!).
The scene:
The kids help get the trays to the table, get drinks, help each other with silverware, wait for help, say please and thank you, etc... All around good kids displaying the behavior we EXPECT when out to eat.
The interruption:
In the middle of great conversation with my 3 kids, a family with two little boys (3 and 4 or so?) and boy were they LOUD. Even my kids, who can be loud, commented on it. Plus the boys were running up and down the aisle and no listening to parent.
The foreshadow:
Also in the restaurant were an elderly lady and her mother, sitting across the center aisle from us.
What followed:
The parents of the loud kids finally got the kids under control and got dinner on the table - loud and annoying crisis averted!
The Climax:
In the middle of conversation with the kids, the elderly lady and her mother can over to me.
The Highlight of my day:
She said "I just wanted to tell you what beautiful and well-behaved children you have. You must be so proud of them."
Finally:
I thanked her profusely, and we agreed that well-behaved kids are better than the other option, and wished each other a nice day. Then mommy got all teared up that my beautiful and well-behaved were basically complimented by a total stranger for their mere existence. And all is right in the world, except daddy wasn't there to see it. But the kids did, and I think that was more important.
The end.
OMG! A Charter School?! 8/30/07
Yes. After moving to CA, paying for both rent on a place out here and our mortgage back in MI, plus the overall higher cost of living, we can't afford to do some of the things we really want to do with regards to the kids' education. So, this year, we are giving the local public charter a try. It has received rave reviews and we can't find a single person who has disliked it. There is a waiting list a mile long! We are still homeschooling, only we have to fill out some paper work for the school and meet with them about 6 times a year. Plus we have to do testing in the spring (for the school, not the kids specifically). In exchange for this, we get our books paid for; we get to still pick what curriculum we want, and they kids get to participate in a slew of extra-curriculars ( we think of them as necesities, not extras, so the fact we now have access to them is GREAT!
Choir has already begun, and so far so good. My littlest is in Choir, and she LOVES it. Hopefully the other two will enjoy their extras - art and soccer specifically. If this charter thing works well, we will definitely look at doing it again next year. If not, it will back to the old grind. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because, I will admit, the extra support is wonderful, especially as the kids get older and involved in more things. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
The Write Stuff! 7/12/07
When working on Merit badges, in addition to the hands on element, there is quite a bit of research and writing involved. Since we have a dog, we figured Dog Care would be a great merit badge to work on this summer. Aden has been researching and taking notes (real note taking, not just copying sentences from the source!) and then writing up the information into a report. TOday he had to write on the 7 different dog groups -- their similarities, what they "do," how they act, ect.
While we are still working on developing full paragraphs, I was still worried about the basics with him - run on sentences, using commas. As a college prof, I see students in comp 1 and 2 who still do this, and I am trying to get Aden into a writing well habit while young. However, this has not been as successful as I would like. He would write sentences that barely said anything, paragraphs only 2 sentences long, no commas, not periods, no capitals! And his handwriting itself still leaves much to be desired.
Today, however, he was typing his notes onto the computer, and I think I am more OK with the fact his handwriting stinks, because his paragraphs were AWESOME! He used commas in a series properly, identified run on sentences well and fixed them, and the page was well laid out and he used good, varied sentencing. Today, some of the connections in his brains finally put it together and he is writing well, espcially for age 10 -- and well on his to even better! While the paragraphs are still a bit short (we are still working on the never-ending development issue), what he does have reads well.
By the time he is done with this paper on dogs, it will be a 16 paragraph essay on the difference groups and types of dogs and their distinguishing features, plus a report about a trip to the vet and the importance of basic dog care and grooming. We are well on our way to becoming a writer. And if he needs to use a computer because he can't read his own writing, then so be it.
Excellence in Writing
As an English prof, writing is important to me. I have been working with Aden for a few years on his, and while last year had some good success on putting together essays, his overall paragraphing and use of detail left much to be desired.
This year, we had two breakthroughs that have made a huge difference. The first is we learned Aden has a minor writing problem common to young boys called dysgraphia. A few modifications to his writing program and how we do some of his schoolwork, and what a difference! No more complaining about writing! The handwriting is becoming legible! I am geeked!
The second is a discovery, a departure I decided to take since we are with the charter school and I wasn't paying for it. I only got the student guide, not the whole program, but really that is all I need since I kinda know what I am doing already. The program is called Excellence in writing, and it similar to Writing strands, only a bit more all inclusive, I think. It addresses notetaking and informational writing more than just paragraph development in the earlier writing. I am using it with both my 4th grader (at a bit of a slower pace) and my 7th (more expectations, of course). We have the "Ancient Civilizations" writing book and "Medieval' one as well, since we are studying western civ for history this year - it helps keep with the whole unit study idea, which I love.
This week served as a cumulation of 3 weeks of work - one large paragraph each week. That is where the program works. Previosly, getting Aden to write more than 3 sentences (longer ones at that) or creating what looked like a full paragraph was like pulling teeth! As a result, to write one page for school involved 5-6 paragraphs at best, which is VERY problematic! However, this program really went over what is needed detail-wise for Aden, and with the addition of being able to compose on the computer, his three paragraphs were then converted into a 1 and 1/2 page essay! Plus, the paragraphs are well done, use great langauge and varied sentencing, and good punctuation.
But it does not stop there. He then had to do a short write up on Atoms for science (he prefers science, so I am trying to have more writing with that instead of most with history, as I have in the past). Once again, he wrote a big fat (or should I say "phat"?) paragraph (1/2 a page) and then illustrated the bottom with the electron cloud. *sob* I am so proud . . . It is all coming together.
So for those of you looking for a writing program for reluctant writers, give Excellence in Writing a try!
The Twilight Zone of Math
Today we, particularly my son, entered a new era in learning. First, some backgroud.
From grade 4-6, math was a bit problematic. His 3rd grade math fell apart a bit at the end, and I discovered that while it taught him in a unique way, it skipped quite a bit and didn't teach some elements that are really necessary for upper level elementary math. So we tried Saxon as a "get back to basics" but I didn't know how to use the program well, and so Aden struggled with that. Then, to cure our Saxon problem, we tried MCP math, which was better but still led to an overabundance of tears. That is what math had become in our house - tears.
We tried several methods and positive thinking to get through math, and we did math first thing so it was over and done. First, me looked at math the way Edison looked at the lightbulb. He says he didn't fail, he just learned 2000 ways NOT to make a lightbulb! I took that approach to math, and when he got several problems wrong, I didn't ask what he did wrong, but what did he learn in that exercise. That helped quite a bit, but we still had tears, struggles, and a big math anxiety.
For 6th grade we switched to Singapore math, which did help him as well. However, we still had tears when it came to reviews and word problems. We steadily worked through it, even though he still told everyone, including himself, that he was bad at math. I did not want that mentality to drag him down, so for 7th grade, we modified the strategy a bit.
We continued using Singapore to finish out the elementary set (6B is high six or average 7th) and our Keys to . . . curriulum that worked well the previous year to teach him fractions. This year it is decimals. But I threw in some other things - I picked up a variety of math software/activities for cheap. I also picked up a Spectrum math workbook (7th grade review that includes pre-algebra) to cover any gaps, and I found great websites called "your teacher" and the "Khan Academy" that provide free videos on how to do the math we were studying. Working on order of operations? He watched several video clips to walk him through the process. I also learned that much of out 7th grade math fit the bill for "pre algebra" so if things go well, we will start him on algebra next year. That was my plan - if things go well.
So here we are at the middle of 7th grade. And I don't know if it is the extra math actitivies, the video clips, or just something in his brain turned on, but Aden gets math - really gets it. To the degree that, this morning, it was mommy crying over math (out of pride) and NOT her son!
This morning is a morning that will go down in infamy for us. This morning, my son easily solved some complex word problems, and even took one problem a step further and figured out what fraction of each in addition to the total that the problem requested. And he did it all in his head! Well, most of it anyway. And I had to ask him how he did that, because it wasn't in the teacher's guide, and I didn't know. I would not have been able to solve that problem that my son did while staring out the window.
So I paid him $2 - one for each of the problems he solved in his head on that page. While that seems like I am paying him for grades, he just learned two things today. That he IS good at math - real good - and that math can be lucrative. What better lessons are there?
Baking Soda and Vinegar always work - even on a bad day!
Between moving into a new house and all the trappings involved therein, teaching another course at NU, and homeschooling, sometimes life gets the best of me. That is why we have "bye-week."
I comandeered this term when my son was in rocket football - it's the week your team does not have a game - the one week off. I took this idea and use it for our homeschool. At the end of each unit we work on, we have a bye-week to complete projects, play catch up, finish essays, whatever. It is less rigorous than a typical week, and the kids love the semi-break it provides.
This week, though, it was more than scholastically necessary; it provided me with a mental health/catch up week as well! I was able to do some cleaning, painting, wall papering, and decorating in the new house. Then, since I was beat, I was able to nurse my headache yesterday and today with light projects with this kids instead of hours of hands on work. Yesterday it was the paper mache King Tut - today we paint it!
Further, the bye week gives us extra time for those fun science experiments, and even though my head is killing me, I can alway rely on baking soda and vinegar for a bang with the kids! Today, we blew up a balloon with baking soda and vinegar - and it made a "heavy" balloon filled with CO2. Who knew? It made a cool experiment, especially since the kids ran like startled deer when the balloon actually began to inflate; they were waiting for it to explode! Not quite, but they were rewarded with a huge foam mess on the counter for their efforts, and a balloon full of air that was heavy. How cool is that?
When you have a headache, you can always count on baking soda and vinegar to work! 