January 2014 week 1

Back to school time!  My perfectionism wants me to go back and recap the months of October-December where I wrote nothing for this blog.  I'm not going to give into that pressure, but just start again.  Like Flylady says:  You are not behind!  Just jump in where you are!

This week we started a new, more simplified schedule.  In the morning we start with a devotional, do math, writing, exercise, read aloud literature, then history, geography or science, and finish up with computer technology..  After lunch Noelle does all of her independent work, which includes spelling, grammar, literature, typing, Spanish, piano practice and chores.

For devotionals we are learning to lead music, memorize the current song we are singing in co-op (which this month is "Quickly I'll Obey"), memorizing all the Articles of Faith (finished up #10 this week) and reading from the Book of Mormon.

In math we continue to study multiplication facts, review addition and subtraction facts, and worked on time telling concepts this week.  Converting from analog to digital and back again is now easy for her, but the concept of elapsed time and the idea of quarter-to an hour and quarter-after an hour still need work.

In writing, Noelle had a huge breakthrough this week.  Writing has always been a struggle for her--getting ideas from her mind onto paper seemed impossible.  This week we have been using a program called Utah Write in preparation for the state's required 5th grade writing test called the Direct Writing Assessment (DWA).  She submits essays on pre-determined subjects and receives an immediate score based on fancy algorithms that tell her how she is doing in several areas like organizing ideas, spelling and grammar, sentence structure and variety etc.

For exercise, since it is January and snowy and very cold, we stay in and do fun things like Wii Fit or Just Dance Disney for the Wii.  On Friday she joined me in my 30 minute walk at home DVD--she didn't like that one as much.

Read aloud literature is still Swiss Family Robinson.  We took a long break over the holidays, and I'll be surprised if we finish this thing before the end of 5th grade.  I purposely found the edition considered to be as close to the original as possible, and it is no easy read.  But we are finding much that we do enjoy about it.  I'll be interested to watch the old Disney movie version of it after we read it.  I remember loving the movie but the older I get the more I realize how much Disney has manipulated real stories sometimes to the point that they are absolutely false.

For history we didn't do anything this week.  I hope to get back into her Landmark History book next week.

For geography all we did was look at our co-op geography books, do a little practice on filling in state names on blank maps by region, and get an assignment to do a report on something related to Indiana for next week.

For science we just did our co-op chemistry lesson.  We learned about these categories:  atom, element, molecule, compound and mixture.  We built molecules with gummy bears and toothpicks and learned how to group them as compounds and mixtures, and then found real life things like sugar and peanut butter which fall into those categories.

For computer tech we began a unit on Microsoft Excel.  I've never been trained on this program and it is a mystery to me.  We just did a little exploration and learned about workbooks, cells, and how to use the alphabetize and auto sum features.

In the next couple of months we will have a science fair with our co-op and we are planning a trip to Virginia in February to visit family and possibly visit Mt. Vernon and some other D.C. sites.

September Wrap Up

I have drafts for Weeks 2 and 3 waiting completion: details, photos, miscellaneous perfections.  I will leave that perfectionism aside for now and do a quick wrap up for the month.

5th Grade

Language Arts:
We are enjoying reading Swiss Family Robinson.  I have fond memories of the Disney film from my childhood.  I wanted to read the original.  Suprisingly, I found that there is no definitive original as this book has been translated, retranslated and reworked many, many times.  The version I found is said to be a reproduction of the first English translation.  Noelle and I are finding much of it difficult to understand, as our vocabularies are severely limited in comparison to the author and the English translator in the 1800's.  But we are getting the main ideas, learning some things along the way, and enjoying the narrative.

Noelle's independent reading has been Laura Ingalls Wilder's On the Banks of Plum Creek.  Again, I have fond childhood memories of the TV version but have never read the originals.  I am a sad product of my generation.  If I have time I hope to read them for myself.  I'm happy that Noelle is enjoying books about a time and place much different from her own.

We are currently using Spelling Workout level D and Wordly Wise level 3 for spelling and vocabulary.  These subjects continue to be a bit of a challenge for Noelle but she is making steady progress.

Writing has typically been a subject Noelle does not enjoy.  We continue to work at it, trying lots of different topics and projects.  This past week she found a project she really enjoyed in the form of a humorous fictional short story.  She is writing it and illustrating it and we look forward to its completion this week and will likely share it with extended family.

Math:
We are still working on learning all of the multiplication tables.  So far she has mastered 1's, 2's, 3's, 5's, 9's and 10's.  We will start 4's this week.  Other topics this month have included pints and quarts, teaspoons and tablespoons, feet and yards, area of a rectangle, solving for the unknown and an introduction to order of operations.

Science:
I have taken on more than we have time to handle for science.  We meet once a week with our co-op to study chemistry, and I haven't had the time to truly follow up at home and continue the learning as I would have liked.  She has had an introduction to the parts of an atom, molecules, elements and the periodic table.  I also have a 5th grade science textbook that will cover a variety of topics over the year, as I try to meet the state's standards in this area.  So far we have been learning about mass, matter, weight, volume, buoyancy, density, melting/boiling/freezing points, and physical and chemical changes of matter.

History:
We are using Landmark's History of the American People as a guide, and adding in small readers along with it.  We have read about how Columbus discovered America by mistake, and the Puritans settling in Massachusetts.  She read a book called The Lion to Guard Us about three siblings who make the voyage from England to Virginia in search of their father, and has begun reading a book called Squanto.

Geography:
This is the other fun subject from our weekly co-op.  We are currently learning about the Northeast Region of the United States.  Last week Noelle's co-op class made a model of the Memorial Bridge in Connecticut.  Like chemistry, I haven't found enough time to fully follow up with this at home.  We intend to make a states book but haven't quite figured out what we want to put in it.

Technology:
We are using My Tech High as a way to get reimbursement for curriculum and supplies.  They require a technology class.  We are going to learn a little bit about several different software programs this year, and this month we've focused on Microsoft Word.  She also uses a program called Typing Pal to work on her typing speed and accuracy.

Electives and other learning:
Rosetta Stone for Spanish, piano lessons, swimming lessons (overcame some fears this summer and at her last lesson swam laps for 8 minutes), hopefully starting sewing and art lessons sometime during the year, started Girl Scouts this past week, daily chores for money to learn about different household tasks as well as money management skills.

Oh, and we had an awesome trip to DISNEYLAND in the middle of the month.  Not exactly educational, but nice to have a family vacation and even nicer to come home.

Possibly some photos and work samples to follow, depending on my level of perfectionism this week.

Preschool

Ava is 3 and I would love to see her doing more real preschool work.  I intended to make time for her every day for some planned activities.  So far, the only thing she gets is at co-op once a week, and that's more like nursery than preschool for her.  Her vocabulary and language skills are improving all the time.  She makes us all laugh daily and is such a delight to have around.  I love to see her development socially and academically.  She went on her first airplane ride this month with our trip to Disneyland and she did amazingly well.  She loved Disneyland and was happy to go back every day except the last day--and we were all sick of it by then.

Another highlight of this month with her has been our Kindermusik class.  We did Kindermusik together about a year ago, and it was a challenge getting her to sit on my lap, follow instructions, put things away at the right time etc.  But this year it has been a joy for me to have some one on one time with her and she absolutely loves it.  I see my baby growing up so quickly, and I wish each stage would last longer than it does.

Week 1

Saturday night, 10:30 p.m., still trying to finish science we were supposed to do on Tuesday.  More work to do tomorrow to try to finish up the week.  Tired.  Grumpy.

The theme of this week was getting ready for co-op to start at my house.  It was supposed to be exciting not-back-to-5th-grade time and start-preschool-for-Ava time but mostly it was let's-try-to-do-anything-plus-co-op time.

Hmmm.  That sounds like perfectionism.  Instead of reading Swiss Family Robinson every day this week, we only read once.  Instead of completing all the writing, history, science and geography projects I had planned, we only did about 60%.  In an entire week, we had one awesome morning at home, one good co-op morning, some more sporadic school work, and a whole lot of other kinds of work.

This week Noelle worked hard on her school work, when I was available and had work ready for her.  But she also helped me so much.  She cleaned without complaint, asking again and again what she could do next.  (Well, maybe thinking she would get paid for some of the work helped, but still...)  She watched Ava several times so I could either clean, shop, plan, prepare or just drop dead for a few minutes.  Mel and I worked really hard to complete some home improvement projects before co-op started, and I did so much other stuff I can't even remember it all now.  If homeschool is about learning at home, then what did we both learn from all of this?

Even though we didn't do as much as I had planned, our academic learning included the following: we learned about coconuts from Swiss Family Robinson, worked on some multiplication facts and how to find the area of a rectangle, learned about atoms and molecules and matter and mass, talked about country/state/city/capital categories and Washington DC, started Rosetta Stone for Spanish and absolutely loved it, learned some word processing skills, practiced brainstorming and generating quality ideas for writing, achieved 100% on a spelling test, began reading On the Banks of Plum Creek, found Israel on a map, and learned that Bald Eagles eat lambs and piglets.

Upon reflection, I believe we also learned life lessons about service, sacrifice, hard work, procrastination, teamwork, housework, flexibility, patience, forgiveness and gratitude.  And I would argue that those kinds of lessons are worth more in the long run than coconuts and piglets.

Not a bad start to the new school year.

Noelle with her newly made September
calendar and a present from Mom

Ava tells the story of the 3 Little Pigs

First day of co-op: Noelle's class

First day of co-op: Ava's class

Whew!

Not Back to School 2013-2014

This year we had a major change in our co-op with our leader and founder moving on to a new adventure with her family.  This left it to me to host for the coming year, and to run the co-op with the help of another mom.  Getting the house clean, organized and a few home improvement projects done in addition to all the administrative work for the entire co-op and my individual teaching responsibilities and preparation has made for an extremely busy and exhausting summer.  I hope now that most of that work is done we can just start the school year and enjoy it.

On August 26 we had a not-back-to-school family barbecue at the home of another co-op family.  We kept the tradition of the BBQ and the pinata, and added a new fun part of the night where families could share a talent, do a skit etc.  Since Noelle and I don't have any artistic talents that we share, we did a funny demonstration of "language" of ubby-dubby, something I learned watching Zoom on PBS as a child.  Ava told the story of the three little pigs in English, and then I told it in ubby dubby and Noelle translated.

Ava loved the sand box in the back yard

Emma will be joining us this year with Benjamin and Colin in co-op

Noelle, Ava and Mom enjoying the food

Braelynn, Miranda and Noelle of the oldest class

Pinata time!

Ava gave it a good whack

And Noelle's was even better

Week of September 17

Ava continues to surprise me daily with new things she says and does.  This week it was fun to catch her "reading" on the couch like Noelle does.  She loves to go to co-op.  Sometimes I drop off Noelle at the same house we have co-op for a girls' club meeting, which means Ava doesn't get to go inside.  She definitely recognizes the house and gets really upset when we turn around and leave.

Ava likes play time, snack time, art time and music time.  She does not like sit-on-your-shape-and-be-quiet-for-a-story time.

This week for co-op science homework Noelle was supposed to start thinking like a scientist and write down questions.  We were watching a cupcake show and they got an order for gluten-free cupcakes.  Noelle asked "What's gluten?" so we made a n experiment out of it.

We made a batch of cupcakes with regular flour, and one with gluten free flour.  We learned that gluten is a protein that in baking creates a spider web effect to trap air in the dough so it can rise and be light and fluffy. Without gluten, we predicted that those cupcakes would be flatter.

We were right.  The cupcakes on the left are the gluten-free ones.

At co-op this week the kids combined chemistry and art to make t-shirts.  They have been learning about atoms and molecules, density and solubility.  You use a sharpie marker to make a design on a t-shirt.  The ink in permanent markers is not soluble in water, so you can draw on a shirt and then wash it and it will be fine.  The ink molecules are, however, soluble in rubbing alcohol.  So you draw on the shirt, drop some rubbing alcohol on it, and watch the ink spread to make a cool tie-dye effect.  Once that has dried, you set the ink by drying it on high heat in the dryer for 15 minutes.  Then you can wash and wear without affecting the design.

Another exciting addition to Noelle's education this week: piano lessons with auntie Emma!  She has been waiting for this for months and is excited to have a piano teacher who isn't me.  Her first lesson was close to an hour, which is way longer than anything I'd ever done with her.  I asked her afterwards if it had seemed like a long time, and she said "NO!"

Nothing new and exciting in the other subjects.  Just continuing on with the same subjects as last week in Life of Fred math, spelling, grammar, geography, social studies, literature, etc.  Well, maybe nothing new, but definitely fun to be learning at home!

Week of September 10

Co-op

 Here's a photo of Ava enjoying playtime:

Science

And here's a picture of Noelle's co-op science project this week.  They learned a little bit about the periodic table, what an atom is, and how atoms form bonds to make elements.  They used balloons (outer balloon = shell and inner balloon = nucleus) and beads for electrons.

Math

And we must talk about Fred.  One of the ways we are learning math this year is through a series called the Life of Fred.  Noelle enjoys learning anything in story form.  Not story PROBLEM form, mind you.  Actual story form.  Fred comes across real life situations based on the little plot of his story that become math problems.  Noelle would read several chapters a day if I let her.  Right now we are in book 2.  Here's a photo of the book, and of what Fred looks like.  

One of the great things about these books is that you don't just learn math.  You learn about life, too.  For example, Noelle has learned about deciduous trees, how a caterpillar makes a chrysalis and not a cocoon, how constellations are stars that make pictures in the sky, and how to punctuate quotations within quotations.  It's really amazing how much you could teach your child just using these books!  Right now we choose to just focus on the math topics, but I'm considering occasionally re-reading them and finding topics that are interesting for further study.  

Note to moms:  I recommend you always preview the chapter first, before just handing it to your child.  You may want to prepare them for, or skip over, some of the story's subject matter.  

Like the death of the University's groundskeeper, for instance.

Health

This week we continued learning about the human body, and wanted to start by focusing first on the skeletal system. We tried watching a much-recommended Magic School Bus video to introduce the topic, but both of us were bored/annoyed by it, so we turned it off after the first few minutes.  Instead, we pulled out a new set of pictures I got from Costco that illustrate the body's systems.  They can overlap to show how the systems work together.  That was much better.

With Halloween coming up next month, maybe we can do something cool with bones and skeletons.  Hmmmmm.

Reading

Noelle continues to read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.  She also got the books about Houdini from the library and has been enjoying reading about his escaping tricks.  For Social Studies we will be doing some Utah studies, and we are starting with the Native American tribes associated with this area.  She has several non-fiction books about the Navajo Nation, and a fictional story called "The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow" about a Navajo girl.  Together, we continue to read "The Wind in the Willows," and have also begun reading "The Landing of the Pilgrims" and hope to have that finished about the same time our co-op does a Thanksgiving re-enactment.  

Week of September 4

The OCD in me is jumping up and down with glee

This is our second year homeschooling.  I still don't have it all figured out, but I have it WAY more figured out than I did this time last year.  We've tried and changed lots of different things.  We've changed the way we schedule our day, how many subjects we can do in a week, different kinds of curriculum, different ways of scheduling the year...I could go on.  But this week, we started with a very pretty shelf and lots of things planned.  I can't even tell you how happy it makes me to look at that rainbow of folders.

Little Passports

One of Noelle's favorite things to learn about is geography.  I signed her up for a monthly subscription to Little Passports.  The first month you get a small cardboard travel suitcase.  Inside is a postcard from your two new friends, Sam and Sofia.  Also a boarding pass which gives you a website access code to games, and a passport and some other fun papers.  Each month afterwards for a year, Sam and Sofia go to a different country and send you a postcard to help you learn about the area.  Noelle loves this!

Math games

Math is a hard one for me to figure out.  We tried Saxon Math last year, level 2.  Didn't quite make it all the way through.  I'm not ready to give up on it, but she's supposed to have all her addition facts memorized and be able to do math fact sheets in under a minute before moving on.  We've been stuck there a long time.  But  I'm happy with how much she has remembered over the summer, and I think we'll be moving forward shortly.  

Another math we've tried recently which Noelle likes much more is the Life of Fred series.  I'll do a post about it later, but basically it's math in story form.  Fred is a five year old professor at KITTENS University.  You follow his life and every time he has a real life need for math, you learn a concept.  It's awesome.

 

This week we are waiting for the next Life of Fred book to come in the mail so we are playing math games and doing math fact sheets every day.  Noelle loves the games.

"This is a book I will actually read in my FREE time!"

Thank you, Usborne.  For health this year we will start with a study of the human body.  Noelle is easily grossed out, creeped out, freaked out, or any other number of -outs you can think of.  So looking at pictures of actual muscles, bones and blood is out of the question this year.  I'm on a quest for interesting, informative and non-gross pictures.  This Usborne lift the flap book is a good start.

"I can't believe I get to read NARNIA for SCHOOL!"

Noelle will be reading lots and lots and lots of books this year.  She reads 30 minutes a day from an approved literature list (approved by me, that is).  Her first choice was The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.  And she has read the same book every day for a week.  This is a girl who likes to have 15 different books going at the same time.  Not so much with this book.  She also reads 30 minutes a day for a time slot we call "student led learning."  This is a time when she gets to learn about anything she wants.  We currently have books about Houdini on reserve at the library.  She also listens to a 30 minute literature read-aloud with me.  This week we read Twelfth Night from Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare.   Noelle liked it, but thought it was extremely confusing!  We also started The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.  There's lots more to talk about with reading, but this is already a ridiculously long run-on paragraph.

Noelle takes a turn being the teacher for Ava

Fridays are jammie days.  So Noelle is in her jammies and taking a break from her own learning to work with Ava on her ABC's.  Noelle writes one letter at a time and Ava yells it out.  She knows all of her letters, lots of shapes (she actually said triangle and rectangle today), and lots of numbers.  Smarty pants.

"K!!!!!!!!"

I write the letters, she says them and underlines them.

Playing with our family photo memory game. 

"Where's Mama?"  "There it is, I found it!"