It's pretty clear that I heart homeschooling.
I do not think everyone should homeschool or learn at home in the exact same way. What I love about learning is that we can individualized the process for each child based on their needs and wants.
When we first started homeschooling during the preschool years, I made many, many mistakes (and hopefully learned from then by now!). I freaked out during kindergarten and sent him to public school, afraid I could not be so radical to go against the grain. But now that we have homeschooled for years, it has become our family's lifestyle. And it so warms my heart.
Here are 15 ways homeschooling warms my heart:
1. My children have a voice in their education.
Although I plan 90% of our home learning, Aidyn exercises his thoughts and opinions on curricula, our daily plan, outside classes, and his views on our book selections regularly. He's pretty much on the school board. I love that he owns his education and knows that it's his to use and grow from.
2. Hearing my child read aloud is the most beautiful sound to me.
I adore driving in the car and hearing Aidyn's voice read aloud from the backseat. I loved when he read in short, quick little syllables and how he progressed to more fluid reading. I love hearing when he uses a bookish cadence when he reads, or stops the story to comment on something with vigor.
3. My little one is immersed in the lifestyle of learning.
Jack, now 14mo, has been in the thick of our home learning since day one. He's been in my wrap while I write on the board, snuggled in my arms while I read history books to his brother, playing with geometric shapes while we do math at the table, and tagged along on several field trips. Now that he's walking, he toddles to our alphabet chart and babbles out his own lessons (where did he get that from?) and pretends to write lessons on the wall.
4. No subject is scary.
Home is comfortable. In our home, we've tackled some pretty intimidating topics: chemistry, Shakespeare, Latin, The Odyssey, square numbers, ancient history, The Aeneid, poetry, cursive, Norse mythology, and other subjects that would have sent me in a mild panic in public school. But Aidyn has loved and embraced each of these seemingly difficult topics. When we study Shakespeare and poetry in more depth when he's in high school, these tasks will not be mammoth and terrifying. There have been many times he has heard a reference to Odysseus or the Trojan horse and piped up with enthusiasm that he knows that person or thing.
5. My child will surprise me with the best comments.
On a field trip to the river, Aidyn said out of nowhere, "This day is adventure!" When we were thinking of something fun to do, he suggested, "Let's take Jack on a walk and look at all the trees and leaves and talk about how they are different and changing." After watching the film Robinson Crusoe after just finishing the novel, he quipped, "Eh, the book was much better." I love those expressions of his because they are unexpected and remind me that he does care about learning.
6. I can lovingly serve healthy meals.
I don't make Pinterest-worthy meals, but I love that I can make healthy, hearty, and wholesome meals, and through that, my children can learn the importance of nutrition.
7. Learning leads us on "rabbit trails" and we can meander and explore as far down the path as we desire.
Our plans are not chiseled in stone. Often a topic ignites curiosity and off we roam to explore it. Yesterday, for example, after reading about basalt and a rock formation known as Devils Tower, we watched a YouTube video showing someone driving to Devils Tower in Wyoming, something I had never heard of before. I love the constant reminders that there is much to learn and discover.
8. Every story we hear helps to build my children's hearts.
Because we are home, we have the time to learn from Beowulf, King Arthur, Jane Goodall, and the many protagonists and antagonists in the stories we hear. We can look at their choices and form our own opinions and goals. We can observe various aspects of the human condition, practicing empathy and understanding.
9. Playing outside often leads to beautiful discussions and the care of nature.
Yes, many times my kids just want to swing on the swings, jump in the trampoline, and zoom down the slide, but often they hold and observe a pine cone, balance a pill bug on their finger and worry about it, run their hands on the trunk of a tree, and delight in looking at clouds.
10. Poetry teatimes create magical, warm moments.
We light candles, decorate the table, set out some delicious goodies, and fill the air with poetry. It's a beautiful experience.
11. We celebrate holidays with depth and reverence.
Okay, we don't always remember every holiday, but when we plan ahead we delve into a holiday and read books to breathe life into it. We have read beautiful Irish fables on St. Patrick's Day, historic texts for Thanksgiving, and so many warm and sweet Christmas stories. We tend to read in the season we're in, which helps us feel connected to the rhythms of the world.
12. My children explore a wide array of interests and hobbies.
Aidyn has an interest in sewing that I would never have guessed. He's been able to take classes in sewing and express more interests that might seem out-of-the-box. Usually when he chooses something surprising, it warms my heart because I know he's using his authentic desires to learn.
13. I can admire and empathize with their efforts.
If they were away, I might mostly see their grades, their final achievements, but at home, I can witness Aidyn struggling to get through a difficult math problem or sound out a terribly long word. I can express my admiration of their effort by saying, "Wow, that problem was a bear, but you did it!" It's not always about grades but powering through the tough stuff that warms my heart.
14. Being together makes me feel whole.
We can snuggle if need be. Pile on the couch under blankets with a book. Aidyn and Jack can play on the floor or trampoline together in the middle of the morning. Grandma can accompany us on field trips. Dad can oversee science projects. Neighborhood friends can join us for parties. We have time to be together and that warms my heart.
15. We can share in memories of my youth, and I can cycle my culture back to them.
We have spent mornings watching Bob Ross paint beautiful pictures, listened to Mister Rogers sing "It's You I Like," smiled at old Disney Silly Symphonies, read R.L. Stine for fun, and have even had whole weeks where we "went back to the 80s" and played Nintendo and lived the life of an 80s kid.
There are so many more ways that homeschooling warms my heart. As they pop up, I will add to this list and hope that it grows and grows. I want to hear about your homeschool and how it warms your heart. Please feel free to share in the comments so I can follow you!
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Showing posts with label how we homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how we homeschool. Show all posts
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Thursday, October 29, 2015
20 Ways to Be the Best Homeschool Parent {According to 9-year-old Aidyn}
I interviewed Aidyn about what it takes to be the best homeschool parent, in his opinion. I sat down next to him with a notepad and invited him to dish.
So if you'd like to glean a little wisdom from my fun (and honest!) son, please read on. All bold points are his suggestions verbatim; I may have added some insight, explanation, or excuse to save my reputation!
How to Be the Best Homeschool Parent {According to Aidyn}
1. Take them on field trips.
Okay, he has a point here. Field trips rock! He loves them because they get him out of the house and physically moving. I love them because they often fulfill a range of "subjects." Zoography, reading (the placards and signs), geography, physical activity, science, and math can all be accomplished in a trip to the zoo.
2. Have fun.
Well, yeah. But sometimes I really need this reminder.
3. Throw parties.
As an introvert who relishes quiet time, this one is hard for me. But we've thrown skeleton parties and book-related parties, and they've always been a smash with memories that live on longer than any textbook lesson.
4. Have poetry teatimes.
This beautiful family ritual was prompted by the lovely Julie Sweeney Bogart from Brave Writer. We don't always have the fanciest teatimes or the freshest homemade goodies (sometimes a box of cookies from Safeway is all I have), but the mood is always warm and festive and flowing with poetry.
5. Take them to the park.
Everyone loves running around and climbing like a monkey, right?
6. Help them do school by drawing pictures to make things easier to understand.
Sometimes a fun illustration of a glacier plowing through a mountain like a bulldozer makes things easier to understand. And more exciting! (Side note: I'm a terrible artist, but it results in some funny cracks about what I'm drawing)
7. Play outside.
I'm sensing a theme developing.
8. Give them thousands of snacks, yummy snacks, like cupcakes and cookies.
I promise I give him fruit and veggies, too! Really!
9. Give them fun things to do like drawing, coloring, and reading.
Aww.
10. Do Spelling Power, math, and reading.
I'm glad he covered the basics.
11. Put on Reading Rainbow.
"I can go anywhere!" "I can be anything!" Who doesn't love that?
12. Fall asleep watching an afternoon movie.
I promise I've never fallen asleep during afternoon movie time and neither has he! But we do get comfy and relaxed.
13. Take them shopping for colorful school clothes.
I guess the ritual of school-clothes shopping isn't lost to homeschoolers.
14. Have 80s Saturdays.
I know that might sound confusing, but occasionally we have turned back the clock and had 80s Saturday mornings (just for fun!). I make a YouTube playlist of 80s cartoons and slip old commercials in between, and we stay in our pajamas watching retro cartoons, eating junky cereal, and playing with 80s toys I scrounged from thrift stores. We do the 80s because it's the decade of my childhood, but we've "gone to" the 70s before, and you can easily pick any decade and go there.
15. Take them to Disneyland.
He's definitely my child. But Disneyland can be very educational! We've done so many unit studies inspired by Disneyland themes. The possibilities are endless.
16. Take them to the apple farm and museums.
Of course.
17. Jump in the trampoline while doing school.
This is not something we've done before, but he really wants to try this!
18. Go on walks and look at leaves, bushes, and trees.
Aww.
19. Tickle and squash and wrestle.
Sometimes it's helpful to be reminded that we are homeschooling, not schooling at home, and home is a place to cuddle, be silly, and roughhouse every once in a while.
20. Build a fort.
Everyone loves forts.
Here's some that I would add (from a homeschool mama perspective) because I've learned how important they are and need the reminder:
So if you'd like to glean a little wisdom from my fun (and honest!) son, please read on. All bold points are his suggestions verbatim; I may have added some insight, explanation, or excuse to save my reputation!
1. Take them on field trips.
Okay, he has a point here. Field trips rock! He loves them because they get him out of the house and physically moving. I love them because they often fulfill a range of "subjects." Zoography, reading (the placards and signs), geography, physical activity, science, and math can all be accomplished in a trip to the zoo.
2. Have fun.
Well, yeah. But sometimes I really need this reminder.
3. Throw parties.
As an introvert who relishes quiet time, this one is hard for me. But we've thrown skeleton parties and book-related parties, and they've always been a smash with memories that live on longer than any textbook lesson.
4. Have poetry teatimes.
This beautiful family ritual was prompted by the lovely Julie Sweeney Bogart from Brave Writer. We don't always have the fanciest teatimes or the freshest homemade goodies (sometimes a box of cookies from Safeway is all I have), but the mood is always warm and festive and flowing with poetry.
5. Take them to the park.
Everyone loves running around and climbing like a monkey, right?
6. Help them do school by drawing pictures to make things easier to understand.
Sometimes a fun illustration of a glacier plowing through a mountain like a bulldozer makes things easier to understand. And more exciting! (Side note: I'm a terrible artist, but it results in some funny cracks about what I'm drawing)
7. Play outside.
I'm sensing a theme developing.
8. Give them thousands of snacks, yummy snacks, like cupcakes and cookies.
I promise I give him fruit and veggies, too! Really!
9. Give them fun things to do like drawing, coloring, and reading.
Aww.
10. Do Spelling Power, math, and reading.
I'm glad he covered the basics.
11. Put on Reading Rainbow.
"I can go anywhere!" "I can be anything!" Who doesn't love that?
12. Fall asleep watching an afternoon movie.
I promise I've never fallen asleep during afternoon movie time and neither has he! But we do get comfy and relaxed.
13. Take them shopping for colorful school clothes.
I guess the ritual of school-clothes shopping isn't lost to homeschoolers.
14. Have 80s Saturdays.
I know that might sound confusing, but occasionally we have turned back the clock and had 80s Saturday mornings (just for fun!). I make a YouTube playlist of 80s cartoons and slip old commercials in between, and we stay in our pajamas watching retro cartoons, eating junky cereal, and playing with 80s toys I scrounged from thrift stores. We do the 80s because it's the decade of my childhood, but we've "gone to" the 70s before, and you can easily pick any decade and go there.
15. Take them to Disneyland.
He's definitely my child. But Disneyland can be very educational! We've done so many unit studies inspired by Disneyland themes. The possibilities are endless.
16. Take them to the apple farm and museums.
Of course.
17. Jump in the trampoline while doing school.
This is not something we've done before, but he really wants to try this!
18. Go on walks and look at leaves, bushes, and trees.
Aww.
19. Tickle and squash and wrestle.
Sometimes it's helpful to be reminded that we are homeschooling, not schooling at home, and home is a place to cuddle, be silly, and roughhouse every once in a while.
20. Build a fort.
Everyone loves forts.
Here's some that I would add (from a homeschool mama perspective) because I've learned how important they are and need the reminder:
- Chill out.
- Enjoy them and allow them to help you grow.
- Embrace the discomfort (hate parties? Throw them anyway).
- Never underestimate the power of a food break, a coffee break, a retreat-to-our-separate-areas break, a bath break, an outdoor break, a movie break, etc.
- Everything counts. Even if there is no worksheet to prove you did anything.
- Never call yourself a perfect homeschool parent; never call yourself the worst.
- Never underestimate the power of a back rub (for both of you!)
Thursday, September 18, 2014
~A Day in the Life~
Homeschool bloggers, at one time or another, write a day-in-the-life post, even though most days look nothing alike. I guess I should finally show what a day-in-the-life looks like around here, even though we, too, always change our days.
Current stats:
Aidyn: 8 years old, 3rd grade, and currently obsessed with Minecraft
Me: 8 monthshuge pregnant and really just trying to make it to 3:30pm every day (when the husband gets home and cooks dinner and FORCES me to rest)
Homeschool style: Mostly classical, eclectic, with a dash of FIAR
Homeschool philosophy: Set up a strong foundation (enjoyably!), literature-rich, get messy, facilitate learning, support a healthy relationship, and have fun (!)
What we're using (basically): Saxon Math, Brave Writer (Partnership Writing) and BWL (Poetry Teatime Tuesdays, Wednesday Afternoon Movies, Friday Freewrites and all the other stuff) Spelling Power, Story of the World: Volume One (ancient history), Adventures with Atoms and Molecules (chemistry), Song School Latin, Typing Pal Online, and mountains of books from the library.
Classes: Recorder (music) class (1x a week), character class (1x a month), Grade 3-6 science class (1x a week), Pre-engineering Lego class (1x a week), K-8 fun study hall club (biweekly).
Let's do this.
5am~ Rise and shine (for me). I usually get up between 4am and 5am becauseI'm crazy like that I'm a morning person. I enjoy a severely watered-down teacup of coffee (and dream of the non-pregnant day I will drink a jug of coffee) and traipse around in internetland. I check Facebook, email, secular homeschool forums, Pinterest (if the mood so strikes), and any random Goggle search prompted by a leftover wonder (how do you ease devastating mid-night leg cramps during pregnancy again?).
Sometimes I have a window for catching up on all my terrible shows, and other times I sit in the rocking chair and read a nice book in beautiful silence, or I might do some creative writing.
I need mornings to recharge and ground myself before a homeschool day.
7am-ish~
Aidyn staggered downstairs early today and flopped on the couch. He had breakfast while we watched "Mythic Warriors: Theseus and the Minotaur." Then Aidyn watched a Muppet Babies episode of Greek myths while I took a shower.
Around 8:30, Aidyn dashed upstairs to play some Batman video game (modern mythic warriors, right? We'll go with that.)
9am~
We start math. I usually make a quick snack to share (today it was cinnamon and honey apple slices)
.
Aidyn:
writes the date, answers some questions ("what date will it be in eight days?" "what day of the week is it?" "how many days in one week? two? three? four?" "what are the months of the year" etc.), makes three number sentences for the number-of-the-day, counts a random collection of money and records it, solves a problem-of-the-day, answer some clock questions, and counts by 5s, 10s, 100s, and odd and even numbers forward and backward.
Today's lesson reintroduced him to sums of ten. He drew two large circles on a piece of paper. I gave him ten counters, and he placed them in the circles in different combinations. I wrote out each combo on the chalkboard. Then I wrote out all eleven combinations and purposefully left one addend blank for him to solve.
10am~ Break
Aidyn ran around the house, playing with an Indiana Jones mini-gun, and had some kind of epic imaginary war.
10:20am~
Spelling Power!
I retested Aidyn on words he had previously misspelled and studied. He only missed one! Then we studied the one word (nice). With each missed word, I write it on the board, he reads it, we break it into parts (by syllable or sounds or some other pattern), he recites the letters in the word (twice), he spells it aloud with his eyes closed, he traces the word on the board, and then finally he respells the word without looking at it.
Then we moved on to our spelling activity (it changes every day). Today, we made a huge list of words that rhyme with "nice." I was expecting simple words, but he blurted out words like "slice," "thrice," and "vice" among others.
THEN, he had the best idea (totally on his own). He suggested I hide the word "nice" somewhere in the house for him to find, and if he finds it he gets a prize. So I took him up on the offer...
I made twenty "nice" decoys, words that rhymed/resembled "nice" and Aidyn's misspelling "nise" to throw him off. I hid the real "nice" on our globe over Nice, France.
10:45am~
We're using the Partnership Writing program through Brave Writer, and this month's writing project is Secret Codes. During this first week, we've been playing with picto-words. We had made a key of picto-words, and yesterday I wrote him a letter using our code words.
Today, Aidyn wrote a picto-coded letter to his grandma and, from what I heard, hid it somewhere in her room.
11:00am~
While he was occupied, I hid all my "nice" decoys through the living room and kitchen. Only one hidden slip of paper had the real word written on it. When I called him, he charged down the stairs and searched endlessly for the real "nice" card.
He eventually found it, and now I owe him a toy next time we go shopping. :)
11:15am~
Word games.
We played with a MagnePoem set to create some original poetry, just for fun.
11:30am~
Chemistry!
Today we did chemistry experiment #3: do hot molecules move faster than cold molecules?
I posed the question, and while we debated it out, Aidyn wrote the question in his chemistry notebook. At first, he guessed that cold molecules would move faster because they're cold (he reenacted how his body shakes in cold weather).
He labeled one glass "hot" and another "cold" before I filled them up with hot and cold water, respectively. At the same time, he plopped one drop of red food dye in the hot water while I squirted one drop of blue dye in the cold water.
We watched the blue dye immediately sink to the bottom while the red dye spread all over pretty evenly. Aidyn concluded that the hot molecules spread faster than the cold. We talked about how if you're near a bakery, you can smell the warm deliciousness baking inside, and you can always smell a warm dinner coming out of the oven, but you never pass an ice cream shop and say, "Mmm, that ice cream smells delicious!" (unless they're baking waffle cones). And now we know it's because hot molecules travel and spread faster than cold molecules.
Afterward, we used a spoon to stir each glass. The hot water barely needed any stirring. We talked about how hot tea spreads in the cup more quickly than iced tea.
Aidyn recorded his findings and included illustrations in his chemistry notebook.
12:00-12:30~
Lunch
We both had chicken and cheese sandwiches before loading up in the car for his afternoon science class.
1:00-2:00pm~
Aidyn attended a science class with 3rd-6th graders. From what he told me, they each received a packet of questions and needed to visit different science stations to answer the questions (on insects, ants, bees, and metamorphosis). Then they divided into teams and played a Jeopardy-style quiz game based on the questions.
2:00-2:30pm~
On the way home, Aidyn read a book about piranhas (he's been interested in them lately), and the backseat was filled with "oooh"s and "ahhh"s.
We also listened to some good ole Harry Nilsson songs, particularly these three:
"Me and My Arrow"
"Are You Sleeping?"
"Think about Your Troubles"
2:30pm and onward~
Once we got home, I crashed on the rocking chair to recover. Aidyn zoomed upstairs and, from what I can only imagine, played in his room. Once 4:30 came around, Aidyn went outside, scooter in hand, to play with his neighborhood friends.
4:30p-ish-7:45pm~
When the husband got home, he cooked dinner (salmon, rice and veggies). While he was cooking, I watched a Not-Back-to-School lecture online by Julie Bogart (creator of Brave Writer). The husband overheard most of the presentation, and I'd pause every once in a while to talk with him about it.
As per usual on Wednesday evenings, the husband and I watched "Face Off," a Syfy show about special effects makeup artists. Aidyn played outside with his friends and checked in every ten minutes or so. There's a gaggle of about three to seven kids out at a time, and they all ride bikes and scooters, play with oversized yoga balls, run around like crazy and get sweaty and dirty. Typical stuff.
8pm~
Once it's dark-dark, Aidyn comes in from playing and does the back part of his math sheet from earlier (takes him about five to ten minutes). Because the husband gets up early for work and I get up earlycuz I'm crazy like that, we both go to bed. Aidyn stayed up and watched "Goosebumps" on Netflix for a while before he fell asleep.
And that was our day!
I'm not sure I would say it was typical, except that we typically do different things every day. Most days we practice Latin, copywork, and dictation, but I followed Aidyn's interests this day to play his "spelling word hide-n-seek game." We also had an afternoon class; otherwise, we would have read a chapter from Story of the World.
But all in all, this is a normal day (in our current lives).
Thank you for reading!
Current stats:
Aidyn: 8 years old, 3rd grade, and currently obsessed with Minecraft
Me: 8 months
Homeschool style: Mostly classical, eclectic, with a dash of FIAR
Homeschool philosophy: Set up a strong foundation (enjoyably!), literature-rich, get messy, facilitate learning, support a healthy relationship, and have fun (!)
What we're using (basically): Saxon Math, Brave Writer (Partnership Writing) and BWL (Poetry Teatime Tuesdays, Wednesday Afternoon Movies, Friday Freewrites and all the other stuff) Spelling Power, Story of the World: Volume One (ancient history), Adventures with Atoms and Molecules (chemistry), Song School Latin, Typing Pal Online, and mountains of books from the library.
Classes: Recorder (music) class (1x a week), character class (1x a month), Grade 3-6 science class (1x a week), Pre-engineering Lego class (1x a week), K-8 fun study hall club (biweekly).
Let's do this.
5am~ Rise and shine (for me). I usually get up between 4am and 5am because
Sometimes I have a window for catching up on all my terrible shows, and other times I sit in the rocking chair and read a nice book in beautiful silence, or I might do some creative writing.
I need mornings to recharge and ground myself before a homeschool day.
7am-ish~
Aidyn staggered downstairs early today and flopped on the couch. He had breakfast while we watched "Mythic Warriors: Theseus and the Minotaur." Then Aidyn watched a Muppet Babies episode of Greek myths while I took a shower.
Around 8:30, Aidyn dashed upstairs to play some Batman video game (modern mythic warriors, right? We'll go with that.)
9am~
We start math. I usually make a quick snack to share (today it was cinnamon and honey apple slices)
Aidyn:
writes the date, answers some questions ("what date will it be in eight days?" "what day of the week is it?" "how many days in one week? two? three? four?" "what are the months of the year" etc.), makes three number sentences for the number-of-the-day, counts a random collection of money and records it, solves a problem-of-the-day, answer some clock questions, and counts by 5s, 10s, 100s, and odd and even numbers forward and backward.
Today's lesson reintroduced him to sums of ten. He drew two large circles on a piece of paper. I gave him ten counters, and he placed them in the circles in different combinations. I wrote out each combo on the chalkboard. Then I wrote out all eleven combinations and purposefully left one addend blank for him to solve.
He then did a 45-second timed addition sheet before doing his math page for the day.
10am~ Break
Aidyn ran around the house, playing with an Indiana Jones mini-gun, and had some kind of epic imaginary war.
10:20am~
Spelling Power!
I retested Aidyn on words he had previously misspelled and studied. He only missed one! Then we studied the one word (nice). With each missed word, I write it on the board, he reads it, we break it into parts (by syllable or sounds or some other pattern), he recites the letters in the word (twice), he spells it aloud with his eyes closed, he traces the word on the board, and then finally he respells the word without looking at it.
Then we moved on to our spelling activity (it changes every day). Today, we made a huge list of words that rhyme with "nice." I was expecting simple words, but he blurted out words like "slice," "thrice," and "vice" among others.
THEN, he had the best idea (totally on his own). He suggested I hide the word "nice" somewhere in the house for him to find, and if he finds it he gets a prize. So I took him up on the offer...
I made twenty "nice" decoys, words that rhymed/resembled "nice" and Aidyn's misspelling "nise" to throw him off. I hid the real "nice" on our globe over Nice, France.
10:45am~
We're using the Partnership Writing program through Brave Writer, and this month's writing project is Secret Codes. During this first week, we've been playing with picto-words. We had made a key of picto-words, and yesterday I wrote him a letter using our code words.
Today, Aidyn wrote a picto-coded letter to his grandma and, from what I heard, hid it somewhere in her room.
11:00am~
While he was occupied, I hid all my "nice" decoys through the living room and kitchen. Only one hidden slip of paper had the real word written on it. When I called him, he charged down the stairs and searched endlessly for the real "nice" card.
11:15am~
Word games.
We played with a MagnePoem set to create some original poetry, just for fun.
Aidyn's poem. He insisted "sea" meant "to see."
My poem.
11:30am~
Chemistry!
Today we did chemistry experiment #3: do hot molecules move faster than cold molecules?
I posed the question, and while we debated it out, Aidyn wrote the question in his chemistry notebook. At first, he guessed that cold molecules would move faster because they're cold (he reenacted how his body shakes in cold weather).
He labeled one glass "hot" and another "cold" before I filled them up with hot and cold water, respectively. At the same time, he plopped one drop of red food dye in the hot water while I squirted one drop of blue dye in the cold water.
We watched the blue dye immediately sink to the bottom while the red dye spread all over pretty evenly. Aidyn concluded that the hot molecules spread faster than the cold. We talked about how if you're near a bakery, you can smell the warm deliciousness baking inside, and you can always smell a warm dinner coming out of the oven, but you never pass an ice cream shop and say, "Mmm, that ice cream smells delicious!" (unless they're baking waffle cones). And now we know it's because hot molecules travel and spread faster than cold molecules.
Afterward, we used a spoon to stir each glass. The hot water barely needed any stirring. We talked about how hot tea spreads in the cup more quickly than iced tea.
Aidyn recorded his findings and included illustrations in his chemistry notebook.
12:00-12:30~
Lunch
We both had chicken and cheese sandwiches before loading up in the car for his afternoon science class.
1:00-2:00pm~
Aidyn attended a science class with 3rd-6th graders. From what he told me, they each received a packet of questions and needed to visit different science stations to answer the questions (on insects, ants, bees, and metamorphosis). Then they divided into teams and played a Jeopardy-style quiz game based on the questions.
2:00-2:30pm~
On the way home, Aidyn read a book about piranhas (he's been interested in them lately), and the backseat was filled with "oooh"s and "ahhh"s.
We also listened to some good ole Harry Nilsson songs, particularly these three:
"Are You Sleeping?"
"Think about Your Troubles"
2:30pm and onward~
Once we got home, I crashed on the rocking chair to recover. Aidyn zoomed upstairs and, from what I can only imagine, played in his room. Once 4:30 came around, Aidyn went outside, scooter in hand, to play with his neighborhood friends.
4:30p-ish-7:45pm~
When the husband got home, he cooked dinner (salmon, rice and veggies). While he was cooking, I watched a Not-Back-to-School lecture online by Julie Bogart (creator of Brave Writer). The husband overheard most of the presentation, and I'd pause every once in a while to talk with him about it.
As per usual on Wednesday evenings, the husband and I watched "Face Off," a Syfy show about special effects makeup artists. Aidyn played outside with his friends and checked in every ten minutes or so. There's a gaggle of about three to seven kids out at a time, and they all ride bikes and scooters, play with oversized yoga balls, run around like crazy and get sweaty and dirty. Typical stuff.
8pm~
Once it's dark-dark, Aidyn comes in from playing and does the back part of his math sheet from earlier (takes him about five to ten minutes). Because the husband gets up early for work and I get up early
And that was our day!
I'm not sure I would say it was typical, except that we typically do different things every day. Most days we practice Latin, copywork, and dictation, but I followed Aidyn's interests this day to play his "spelling word hide-n-seek game." We also had an afternoon class; otherwise, we would have read a chapter from Story of the World.
But all in all, this is a normal day (in our current lives).
Thank you for reading!
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Our First Poetry Teatime {Brave Writer}
We enjoyed our first poetry teatime today.
I lit a candle, baked some sugar cookies (from a premade mix), and whipped up some orange hot chocolate.
I lit a candle, baked some sugar cookies (from a premade mix), and whipped up some orange hot chocolate.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
The First Three Weeks of Third Grade: What We've Been Up to
Knocking on wood, but these first three weeks of third grade have been amazing. We both transitioned into our new routine pretty effortlessly. Our first day of third grade went well; the Minecraft shultute, pancakes and gifts were a huge hit.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
3rd Grade {Sanity} Schedule
I recently posted our 3rd grade curriculum goals, and, to be honest, the long list majorly kind of freaked me out. A few weeks ago, I outlined a new schedule for third grade given the new changes this year, most importantly our baby boy set to arrive at the end of October!
As Aidyn gets older and more mature, we're leaning more toward a classical learning style though we're still eclectic and flexible.
This year we are finishing up SOTW: Volume One andattempting to finishing SOTW: Volume Two. We'll see how that goes.
We are also continuing to work on language arts skills, especially spelling. Aidyn has become a quick and proficient little reader so I imagine his breadth of reading will expand this year. I sincerely hope he gets bit by a major reading bug.
We are introducing Latin this year with Song School Latin, and Aidyn is actually excited about learning a new language. And not just any new language, but a cool dead new language. We'll try to liven it up as much as possible.
We are also focusing on chemistry and earth science this year (our kitchen table will be a rotating experiment lab), and working on a new big book of Saxon math.
After a very recent move, we're pleased that Aidyn has some neighborhood friends and has resumed his play-all-day-until-we-force-him-back-in-at-9pm habit. After school, the outdoor play with friends will be just the break we both need.
The routine below is more for my sanity throughout the school year than anything else. In other words, it's my buoy when I've waded too far in.
First Half of Third Grade:
Normal Week:
Monday:
Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (SRA textbook activities)
Writing (copywork)
History
Latin
Free Reading
Outdoor play
Outside classes: CrossFit P.E. and Pre-Engineering Lego class
Tuesday:
Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (read-aloud)
Writing (dictation)
Chemistry experiment
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Recorders (school band)
Wednesday:
Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (SRA)
Writing (retelling)
History
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Hands-on science and (once a month) Character class
Thursday:
Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (read-aloud)
Writing (handwriting practice)
Earth science
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Friday:
library, field trip, messy activity, "catch-up" day, movie, etc.
Outside class: (once or twice a month): Study club with K-8th graders
Saturday/Sunday
Finish any read-alouds from the week
"Catch up" with Daddy
Outdoor play
FIAR week: (1x a month)
Monday:
Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Social Studies/Geography related to the book
Writing (copywork from the book)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside classes: CrossFit P.E. and Pre-Engineering Lego class
Tuesday:
Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Language Arts related to the book
Writing (dictation from the book)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Recorders (school band)
Wednesday:
Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Art related to the book
Writing (retelling the book)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Hands-on science and (once a month) Character class
Thursday:
Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Math/Science related to the book
Writing (handwriting)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Friday:
field trip, activity, movie, hike, etc.
Outside class: (once or twice a month): Study club with K-8th graders
Outdoor play
As Aidyn gets older and more mature, we're leaning more toward a classical learning style though we're still eclectic and flexible.
This year we are finishing up SOTW: Volume One and
We are also continuing to work on language arts skills, especially spelling. Aidyn has become a quick and proficient little reader so I imagine his breadth of reading will expand this year. I sincerely hope he gets bit by a major reading bug.
We are introducing Latin this year with Song School Latin, and Aidyn is actually excited about learning a new language. And not just any new language, but a cool dead new language. We'll try to liven it up as much as possible.
We are also focusing on chemistry and earth science this year (our kitchen table will be a rotating experiment lab), and working on a new big book of Saxon math.
After a very recent move, we're pleased that Aidyn has some neighborhood friends and has resumed his play-all-day-until-we-force-him-back-in-at-9pm habit. After school, the outdoor play with friends will be just the break we both need.
The routine below is more for my sanity throughout the school year than anything else. In other words, it's my buoy when I've waded too far in.
First Half of Third Grade:
Normal Week:
Monday:
Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (SRA textbook activities)
Writing (copywork)
History
Latin
Free Reading
Outdoor play
Outside classes: CrossFit P.E. and Pre-Engineering Lego class
Tuesday:
Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (read-aloud)
Writing (dictation)
Chemistry experiment
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Recorders (school band)
Wednesday:
Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (SRA)
Writing (retelling)
History
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Hands-on science and (once a month) Character class
Thursday:
Math
Spelling
Grammar
Reading (read-aloud)
Writing (handwriting practice)
Earth science
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Friday:
library, field trip, messy activity, "catch-up" day, movie, etc.
Outside class: (once or twice a month): Study club with K-8th graders
Saturday/Sunday
Finish any read-alouds from the week
"Catch up" with Daddy
Outdoor play
FIAR week: (1x a month)
Monday:
Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Social Studies/Geography related to the book
Writing (copywork from the book)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside classes: CrossFit P.E. and Pre-Engineering Lego class
Tuesday:
Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Language Arts related to the book
Writing (dictation from the book)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Recorders (school band)
Wednesday:
Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Art related to the book
Writing (retelling the book)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Outside class: Hands-on science and (once a month) Character class
Thursday:
Math
Phonics (Explode the Code)
Read FIAR book
Math/Science related to the book
Writing (handwriting)
Latin
Free reading
Outdoor play
Friday:
field trip, activity, movie, hike, etc.
Outside class: (once or twice a month): Study club with K-8th graders
Outdoor play
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Reflecting on First Grade
At the beginning of the school year, I wrote out some goals for first grade, more as a way to keep us focused than on meeting every checkpoint perfectly. Although we've been learning together from the beginning, this was our first year homeschooling when he otherwise would have been in public school.
I've probably learned more than my little guy has. Not just about everything we studied, but how to present the information so that it appeals to him and grabs his attention in the unique way that he learns.
He has surprised me at every turn. When I would set up an artsy project or a colorfully FUN way to teach phonics, he would show me how he learns things: through kinetically acting out a word, a phoneme, a math problem, a science inquiry, a historical event...
Here he is pretending to be Paleowolf from Jan Brett's The First Dog. We made a cave behind our couch and painted pictures of animals on the wall. He loved snuggling in there and imagining what cave-life was like.
Below are the goals for first grade and what we did with them:
Language Arts
Goals:
1. to be able to read (aloud and silently) books appropriate for first grade
2. to enjoy literature
3. to be able to narrate a story, event, or observation
4. to be able to clearly recite at least 5 poems
5. to be able to write his own sentences, stories, descriptions, and poems
6. to be able to identify phonetic sounds, especially blend sounds
7. to recognize a variety of sight words
8. to be able to understand the use of basic punctuation
9. to appreciate world literature and a multicultural perspective
Our major goal this year was for Aidyn to learn to read fluidly. Prior to first grade, he could read a handful of sight words and easy c-v-c words. In the middle of the school year, he was not progressing as quickly as expected and dyslexia became a concern. But after testing through the school, we found that he is actually ahead (in language skills) than his first grade peers, but his reading was lagging. So I ditched the colorful, fun approach and started using Victory Drills, timed readings, along with real world easy readers (no more cat-sat-on-the-mat).
I thought Victory Drills would be dry and boring... where's all the color and pizzazz? But he LOVED the black-and-white approach so I'm more than happy to accommodate.
Since using Victory Drills, his reading has exploded. He can now read many sight words, phonemic blends, long vowels, digraphs, etc. Not only that, but he is more excited to read for himself, though he still won't pick up a book and read without encouragement, but that's okay.
I am thrilled that he enjoys literature. We read many rich stories from a home- and multicultural perspective. We learned about cave life and friendship with Jan Brett's The First Dog. We traveled to modern day Egypt with The Day of Ahmed's Secret, ancient Egypt with Magic Tree House: Mummies in the Morning, all around the world for How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World and to the ice lakes of Canada in The Very Last First Time. We learned about New England's coastal towns and how to paint jellies when we read Night of the Moonjellies and all about diligence when we shared Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.
We read several warm holiday books including Cranberry Thanksgiving, Cranberry Christmas, Great Joy, The Polar Express, The Christmas Reindeer, among others.
We cuddled together for long stretches of time with Geronimo Stilton, Magic Tree House, and Goosebumps books.
We read many poems, folk tales like "The Five Chinese Brothers" and fairy tales like "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Rumpelstiltskin," and "The Pied Piper of Hamlin."
If anything, this year we brought so many beautiful stories to life in our home and sparked a current of wonder for all the other stories and tales that await.
History and Geography
Goals:
1. to learn fascinating stories and events from the past
2. to have a basic understanding of the chronology of history
3. to learn about early people and civilizations as well as world religions
4. to learn about early America
5. to recognize famous symbols and figures (e.g. the flag, White House)
6. to have a basic understanding of his own community
7. to learn map symbols and terms, directions on a map, location of continents and oceans and some rivers and lakes, including local bodies of water
8. to be able to describe at least 3 nature walks or 3 vistas
9. to understand basic directions in terms of his own location, where the sun rises and sets, etc.
With history and geography, we started with Story of the World, but it felt a little out of reach. The muck of details was too much for Aidyn, who preferred only the basics. As such, we blended history in with the literature we read. We read stories about cave people and early civilization, ancient and modern Egyptians, India, Africa's savanna and rainforest and community in Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and Katy and the Big Snow. In November, we learned about the pilgrims crossing the Atlantic on the Mayflower, and in February we learned about Abraham Lincoln's childhood.
All during the year, we explored our world map by plotting pictures in places that were represented in our reading. We have pictures for India, the Great Barrier Reef, New England, Ungava Bay in Canada, England, France, Sri Lanka (the pear-shaped island!), Jamaica, Italy and Norway.
Science
Goals:
1. to understand the scientific process (question, hypothesis, test, conclusion/new hypothesis)
2. to feel comfortable with science experiments
3. to learn about living things and their environments, including habitats, diets, simple classifications, the food chain, diversity, and effects of habitat destruction
4. to understand the basics of the human body, major body systems and parts
5. to understand the basics of matter, electricity, astronomy, and the earth
6. to collect and identify at least 5 plants (wildflowers, leaves, etc) and describe them and say where they can be found
7. to be able to identify and describe at least 6 types of birds
8. to be able to describe the habits of at least 3 animals he observes daily (pets or outdoor animals)
It took less than a week to discover that the science textbook provided to us was way too boring and hands-off for this little scientist. Instead, we blended science in with everything else. We took many nature walks (and sketched insects and trees), conducted several messy science experiments, invited Bill Nye on our TV regularly, laughed at many Beakman's World shows, and watched nearly every episode of Magic School Bus.
He made water tornadoes, made water bend with static electricity, played with the effect of weightlessness,
simulated crater collisions with his moon dough, experimented with centrifugal force, did the sink or float experiment for the gazillionth time, observed his own pets (including his often-shedding leopard gecko), visited the zoo, and gently handled insects.
I am so happy that science is something he lights up for, looks forward to, and gets carried away with. He always has more questions than I have answers to, which gives us lots of practice to look things up, investigate for ourselves, and hypothesize (just not always in that order!).
Math
Goals:
1. to learn basic addition and subtraction facts
2. to understand place values
3. to feel comfortable with basic fractions and "math language" (more than, less than, greater than, equal to, etc.)
4. to classify objects by size, function, color, shape, etc.
5. to recognize number patterns
6. to read, write, and count from 0-100
7. to count by twos, fives, and tens
8. to comfortably use signs +, -, <, >, and =
9. to use bar graphs and picture graphs
10. to understand the basics of money value, measurements, and geometry
I'm happy to report that Aidyn has met each of these goals, except we haven't formally worked with measurement (with a ruler) or geometry. Addition and subtraction came pretty easily to him, as did most of the other math skills, but we learned that he does not care for the busy, colorful math pages. He prefers the black-and-white straightforward math pages, and if I "test" him, he gets excited about getting the best score in the quickest time possible (who IS this kid?). So next year we are switching to Saxon for a good ole year of black-and-white math.
Handwriting and Spelling
Goals:
1. to improve his penmanship and control of a writing tool
2. to be able to spell at least 20 words without relying on "sounding out"
3. to feel comfortable writing
He still writes like a doctor, but his penmanship is slowly but surely improving. I could proclaim that all this writing practice has helped his handwriting, but I think I owe much credit to his Nintendo 3DS. His fine motor skills have improved as well as his spatial reasoning. He has never been a "Let's color!" type of kid (he actually dislikes coloring), so I had a difficult time finding something minute he could work on to exercise those fine motor muscles.
At this point, I haven't been drilling the spelling tests because I want him to build confidence in himself in a writer, even if every other word is misspelled. He used to stick with "I like this. I see that." type of sentences, so I needed to help him express himself more in writing. Setting rules on writing at this point would've killed any creative freedom. Now he writes longer, funnier sentences like "The sandbeast is native to the desert" (as I scratch my head and wonder what the heck a sandbeast is).
His favorite writing activity is if I give him two words (the more bizarre the better) and let him form a sentence or two with them. He dislikes dictation/copywork, but doing it has helped him understand the basics of punctuation.
At the beginning of this year, I wouldn't have said that he was "comfortable with writing," and now I would say that he is definitely having fun with it.
Art and Music
Goals:
1. to appreciate art and music
2. to understand the connection between art and people
3. to recognize different shapes in nature and art
4. to recognize the use of texture and style in different art forms
5. to experiment artistically
6. to be exposed to a wide range of art and music
7. to understand the basic elements of music
8. to see various works of art in person
9. to attend and hear a musical performance, play, or concert
For a guy that doesn't care much for coloring and probably wouldn't pick up a paintbrush on his own, he grew so much in his artistic abilities. All year we attended a parent-child art and craft class where we made cute projects together, like a Christmas wreath from rice, a "mouse" mouse pad, a V-Day necklace, a gingerbread house, and more.
For half the year, he took a more sophisticated art class at a local gallery and experimented with many different tools and techniques including ink, charcoal, fancy-shmancy paint, watercolors, and more all while studying a specific artist.
At home, we had many art projects, including the jelly paintings,
Physical Education/ Health
Goals:
1. to move his body every day whether in play, for sport or exercise
2. to achieve new abilities and routines (sit-ups, racing games, martial art moves, etc.)
3. to feel accomplished/healthy after movement
4. to equate movement with health and fun
5. to be able to discriminate between healthy and unhealthy choices
6. to continue to practice good hygiene and construct personal health goals
7. to be able to identify healthy food and their basic nutritional worth (i.e, oranges have vitamin C, which helps me from getting sick/ eating carrots is good for keeping my eyes healthy)
Except in times of sickness, Aidyn played outside and inside every day. We're lucky that his 20 closest friends live all around us, so there is always someone to play with. Aside from regular stuff, like riding bikes and playing tag, Aidyn was in a karate class for most of the year. He liked it at first, but halfway through he started wanting something more active. He pushed through to almost the end, but next year we are signing him up for a tumbling class.
Halfway through the year, we enrolled him in a PE class with other homeschoolers, and this is by far his favorite class. They play sports, do strength training, leap on trampolines, and run through obstacle courses.
In our day-to-day life, he has grown in good hygiene practices and continually makes healthy choices. Recently he asked if we could learn about food and the power of food, so we started learning about all kinds of fruits and why they are good for our bodies. All throughout the year, he has been helping in the kitchen:
Making Chicka Chick Boom Boom Sticks.
Busting open a coconut and pouring out the milk.
Making applesauce.
Chopping cranberries for Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread.
Making snowpeople pancakes.
Making a menu and being the waiter during our Moonjellies party.
Making play-dough all by himself.
We've also gone on many field trips this year, including The Bone Room in Berkeley, The Candy Vault in Sonora, Apple Hill in Placer, Disneyland and California Adventures, Forestiere Underground Gardens and the Chaffee Zoo in Fresno, Lancaster (desert) for a race, Charlie Brown Farms, and The Musical Road in Lancaster.
Although it was a very experimental first year, we had a blast! Every single day wasn't peachy, but most days were fulfilling, exciting, and memorable, and there were some days where everything was right in the world, where some science project carried him through to the evening or lit up his face in such a way that he wanted to learn more and do more. We had many snuggly days, reading stories together on the couch, explorative days outside tracking a line of ants or running through a corn field, warm days baking bread in the kitchen, fun-in-the-sun days at Disneyland, and days where we really played hooky and went to a candy shop or spent the day making half a million paper airplanes or building ships out of cardboard.
As we wind down for this year, we're thinking about next year. I've already asked Aidyn to start thinking about what he wants to learn this year, and I've no doubt he will choose some exciting things for us to delve into!
I've probably learned more than my little guy has. Not just about everything we studied, but how to present the information so that it appeals to him and grabs his attention in the unique way that he learns.
He has surprised me at every turn. When I would set up an artsy project or a colorfully FUN way to teach phonics, he would show me how he learns things: through kinetically acting out a word, a phoneme, a math problem, a science inquiry, a historical event...
Here he is pretending to be Paleowolf from Jan Brett's The First Dog. We made a cave behind our couch and painted pictures of animals on the wall. He loved snuggling in there and imagining what cave-life was like.
Below are the goals for first grade and what we did with them:
Language Arts
Goals:
1. to be able to read (aloud and silently) books appropriate for first grade
2. to enjoy literature
3. to be able to narrate a story, event, or observation
4. to be able to clearly recite at least 5 poems
5. to be able to write his own sentences, stories, descriptions, and poems
6. to be able to identify phonetic sounds, especially blend sounds
7. to recognize a variety of sight words
8. to be able to understand the use of basic punctuation
9. to appreciate world literature and a multicultural perspective
Our major goal this year was for Aidyn to learn to read fluidly. Prior to first grade, he could read a handful of sight words and easy c-v-c words. In the middle of the school year, he was not progressing as quickly as expected and dyslexia became a concern. But after testing through the school, we found that he is actually ahead (in language skills) than his first grade peers, but his reading was lagging. So I ditched the colorful, fun approach and started using Victory Drills, timed readings, along with real world easy readers (no more cat-sat-on-the-mat).
I thought Victory Drills would be dry and boring... where's all the color and pizzazz? But he LOVED the black-and-white approach so I'm more than happy to accommodate.
Since using Victory Drills, his reading has exploded. He can now read many sight words, phonemic blends, long vowels, digraphs, etc. Not only that, but he is more excited to read for himself, though he still won't pick up a book and read without encouragement, but that's okay.
I am thrilled that he enjoys literature. We read many rich stories from a home- and multicultural perspective. We learned about cave life and friendship with Jan Brett's The First Dog. We traveled to modern day Egypt with The Day of Ahmed's Secret, ancient Egypt with Magic Tree House: Mummies in the Morning, all around the world for How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World and to the ice lakes of Canada in The Very Last First Time. We learned about New England's coastal towns and how to paint jellies when we read Night of the Moonjellies and all about diligence when we shared Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.
We read several warm holiday books including Cranberry Thanksgiving, Cranberry Christmas, Great Joy, The Polar Express, The Christmas Reindeer, among others.
We cuddled together for long stretches of time with Geronimo Stilton, Magic Tree House, and Goosebumps books.
We read many poems, folk tales like "The Five Chinese Brothers" and fairy tales like "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Rumpelstiltskin," and "The Pied Piper of Hamlin."
If anything, this year we brought so many beautiful stories to life in our home and sparked a current of wonder for all the other stories and tales that await.
History and Geography
Goals:
1. to learn fascinating stories and events from the past
2. to have a basic understanding of the chronology of history
3. to learn about early people and civilizations as well as world religions
4. to learn about early America
5. to recognize famous symbols and figures (e.g. the flag, White House)
6. to have a basic understanding of his own community
7. to learn map symbols and terms, directions on a map, location of continents and oceans and some rivers and lakes, including local bodies of water
8. to be able to describe at least 3 nature walks or 3 vistas
9. to understand basic directions in terms of his own location, where the sun rises and sets, etc.
With history and geography, we started with Story of the World, but it felt a little out of reach. The muck of details was too much for Aidyn, who preferred only the basics. As such, we blended history in with the literature we read. We read stories about cave people and early civilization, ancient and modern Egyptians, India, Africa's savanna and rainforest and community in Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and Katy and the Big Snow. In November, we learned about the pilgrims crossing the Atlantic on the Mayflower, and in February we learned about Abraham Lincoln's childhood.
All during the year, we explored our world map by plotting pictures in places that were represented in our reading. We have pictures for India, the Great Barrier Reef, New England, Ungava Bay in Canada, England, France, Sri Lanka (the pear-shaped island!), Jamaica, Italy and Norway.
Science
Goals:
1. to understand the scientific process (question, hypothesis, test, conclusion/new hypothesis)
2. to feel comfortable with science experiments
3. to learn about living things and their environments, including habitats, diets, simple classifications, the food chain, diversity, and effects of habitat destruction
4. to understand the basics of the human body, major body systems and parts
5. to understand the basics of matter, electricity, astronomy, and the earth
6. to collect and identify at least 5 plants (wildflowers, leaves, etc) and describe them and say where they can be found
7. to be able to identify and describe at least 6 types of birds
8. to be able to describe the habits of at least 3 animals he observes daily (pets or outdoor animals)
It took less than a week to discover that the science textbook provided to us was way too boring and hands-off for this little scientist. Instead, we blended science in with everything else. We took many nature walks (and sketched insects and trees), conducted several messy science experiments, invited Bill Nye on our TV regularly, laughed at many Beakman's World shows, and watched nearly every episode of Magic School Bus.
He made water tornadoes, made water bend with static electricity, played with the effect of weightlessness,
simulated crater collisions with his moon dough, experimented with centrifugal force, did the sink or float experiment for the gazillionth time, observed his own pets (including his often-shedding leopard gecko), visited the zoo, and gently handled insects.
I am so happy that science is something he lights up for, looks forward to, and gets carried away with. He always has more questions than I have answers to, which gives us lots of practice to look things up, investigate for ourselves, and hypothesize (just not always in that order!).
Math
Goals:
1. to learn basic addition and subtraction facts
2. to understand place values
3. to feel comfortable with basic fractions and "math language" (more than, less than, greater than, equal to, etc.)
4. to classify objects by size, function, color, shape, etc.
5. to recognize number patterns
6. to read, write, and count from 0-100
7. to count by twos, fives, and tens
8. to comfortably use signs +, -, <, >, and =
9. to use bar graphs and picture graphs
10. to understand the basics of money value, measurements, and geometry
I'm happy to report that Aidyn has met each of these goals, except we haven't formally worked with measurement (with a ruler) or geometry. Addition and subtraction came pretty easily to him, as did most of the other math skills, but we learned that he does not care for the busy, colorful math pages. He prefers the black-and-white straightforward math pages, and if I "test" him, he gets excited about getting the best score in the quickest time possible (who IS this kid?). So next year we are switching to Saxon for a good ole year of black-and-white math.
Handwriting and Spelling
Goals:
1. to improve his penmanship and control of a writing tool
2. to be able to spell at least 20 words without relying on "sounding out"
3. to feel comfortable writing
He still writes like a doctor, but his penmanship is slowly but surely improving. I could proclaim that all this writing practice has helped his handwriting, but I think I owe much credit to his Nintendo 3DS. His fine motor skills have improved as well as his spatial reasoning. He has never been a "Let's color!" type of kid (he actually dislikes coloring), so I had a difficult time finding something minute he could work on to exercise those fine motor muscles.
At this point, I haven't been drilling the spelling tests because I want him to build confidence in himself in a writer, even if every other word is misspelled. He used to stick with "I like this. I see that." type of sentences, so I needed to help him express himself more in writing. Setting rules on writing at this point would've killed any creative freedom. Now he writes longer, funnier sentences like "The sandbeast is native to the desert" (as I scratch my head and wonder what the heck a sandbeast is).
His favorite writing activity is if I give him two words (the more bizarre the better) and let him form a sentence or two with them. He dislikes dictation/copywork, but doing it has helped him understand the basics of punctuation.
At the beginning of this year, I wouldn't have said that he was "comfortable with writing," and now I would say that he is definitely having fun with it.
Art and Music
Goals:
1. to appreciate art and music
2. to understand the connection between art and people
3. to recognize different shapes in nature and art
4. to recognize the use of texture and style in different art forms
5. to experiment artistically
6. to be exposed to a wide range of art and music
7. to understand the basic elements of music
8. to see various works of art in person
9. to attend and hear a musical performance, play, or concert
For a guy that doesn't care much for coloring and probably wouldn't pick up a paintbrush on his own, he grew so much in his artistic abilities. All year we attended a parent-child art and craft class where we made cute projects together, like a Christmas wreath from rice, a "mouse" mouse pad, a V-Day necklace, a gingerbread house, and more.
For half the year, he took a more sophisticated art class at a local gallery and experimented with many different tools and techniques including ink, charcoal, fancy-shmancy paint, watercolors, and more all while studying a specific artist.
At home, we had many art projects, including the jelly paintings,
the solar system painting,
nature collage, apple stamp painting, and others.
We were all over the board with music, though we didn't focus on any one musician or style. We sampled many kinds of music from classical to kids' songs, his absolute favorite being "The Ants Go Marching," which I'm sure we heard a million times!
Next year, I'd like to focus on specific musicians/styles for more in-depth learning.
Physical Education/ Health
Goals:
1. to move his body every day whether in play, for sport or exercise
2. to achieve new abilities and routines (sit-ups, racing games, martial art moves, etc.)
3. to feel accomplished/healthy after movement
4. to equate movement with health and fun
5. to be able to discriminate between healthy and unhealthy choices
6. to continue to practice good hygiene and construct personal health goals
7. to be able to identify healthy food and their basic nutritional worth (i.e, oranges have vitamin C, which helps me from getting sick/ eating carrots is good for keeping my eyes healthy)
Except in times of sickness, Aidyn played outside and inside every day. We're lucky that his 20 closest friends live all around us, so there is always someone to play with. Aside from regular stuff, like riding bikes and playing tag, Aidyn was in a karate class for most of the year. He liked it at first, but halfway through he started wanting something more active. He pushed through to almost the end, but next year we are signing him up for a tumbling class.
Halfway through the year, we enrolled him in a PE class with other homeschoolers, and this is by far his favorite class. They play sports, do strength training, leap on trampolines, and run through obstacle courses.
In our day-to-day life, he has grown in good hygiene practices and continually makes healthy choices. Recently he asked if we could learn about food and the power of food, so we started learning about all kinds of fruits and why they are good for our bodies. All throughout the year, he has been helping in the kitchen:
Making Chicka Chick Boom Boom Sticks.
Busting open a coconut and pouring out the milk.
Making applesauce.
Chopping cranberries for Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread.
Making snowpeople pancakes.
Making a menu and being the waiter during our Moonjellies party.
Making play-dough all by himself.
We've also gone on many field trips this year, including The Bone Room in Berkeley, The Candy Vault in Sonora, Apple Hill in Placer, Disneyland and California Adventures, Forestiere Underground Gardens and the Chaffee Zoo in Fresno, Lancaster (desert) for a race, Charlie Brown Farms, and The Musical Road in Lancaster.
Natural history store in Berkeley
Up in a tree in Berkeley
with Grandma at the Candy Vault in Sonora, Ca.
Nature walks.
Apple Hill in Placer, Ca.
Apple-picking at a U-Pick Farm.
Disneyland/California Adventures
Bowling alley.
Chaffee Zoo in Fresno, Ca.
with Grandma at Forestiere Underground Gardens.
5k race at the Jethawks' Stadium in Lancaster, Ca.
Charlie Brown Farms in Littlerock, Ca.
Another Disneyland trip.
As we wind down for this year, we're thinking about next year. I've already asked Aidyn to start thinking about what he wants to learn this year, and I've no doubt he will choose some exciting things for us to delve into!
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