Sunday, November 22, 2009

Unit Ends

We spent last week trying out the new math program and doing the final projects for our unit. The kids had a lot of fun making posters explaining the three laws of motion and "catching dreams" for the BFG.

The ALEKS program has been a huge success so far. Both of the kids love the independence it provides and the immediate reinforcement for mastering problems. In four hours of work both of the kids mastered over 30 concepts. That pace scares and amazes me! That's at least 10% of a year's curriculum in 1 week. Apparently, I've been holding them back even the way I'd been teaching math.

It has also been working well to give them a weekly list of tasks to complete. Even though I was sick two days last week, they got everything done without me pestering them.

They're looking forward to the programming class their dad will be teaching Monday and Tuesday. I'm looking forward to taking two days off!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Links for reading and math

I've found the links that were suggested to me at NAGC. This is for finding age AND level appropriate books. Thank you to our local librarians for helping us locate this site!

The other is an online math program called ALEKS. If you are using it for home school math there are sites that will allow you a one month trial period instead of the 48 hours they give on their site. I'm not endorsing the product, because we have not used it yet. I will write up a review after we have tried it out for a month or so though. Just reading about it has me excited. Let's hope it lives up to my expectations.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

NAGC

I was very lucky to be able to attend the National Association for Gifted Children's national convention here in St. Louis this weekend. The tone for the day was set by an amazing young woman who performed her poem "Well". I knew from that moment it was going to be a good day. Here's Ms. Phillips reciting her poem at the 2009 MSA. Trust me when I say it's worth a viewing and have your kids watch it too.



I learned several things that were helpful, and reinforced the idea that we're on the right track. I met several people in the gifted field who offered their help and gave me lots of ideas including a new math program to try, and a searchable database for books that use age AND reading level to sort. One of the most interesting things I learned was really something that my intuition had already told me. That is that gifted children for some reason will not retain knowledge that they already know if they're forced to continuously repeat the task. I found this out through math drills I was making the kids do. Aiden (who's strength is math) was getting worse as each day went on while I was making him do fact quizzes. At least I learned quickly, and after about a week of doing the quizzes I stopped. Thanks to Heather's advice we're back to quickly progressing through math and he's doing fine now.

It was also interesting to see that over half of the parents in one of the seminars geared toward highly gifted kids were homeschooling their children. All of the mothers I talked to after the seminar had too much difficulty with schools, and their kids were thriving at home. I also found out that of the parents whose children were either of high school age or older only one of the kids out of about 6 graduated from high school. The rest of them tried a semester, went back to homeschooling, and started college early.

Due to some discussions I had, we're trying something new at home. The kids are going to have a weekly list of tasks that must be accomplished by Friday night. I'm not going to structure the days for them. Instead they can do the things on their list whenever they want. This way if they're enjoying working on the science stuff, they could spend all day with science if they wanted. Zoë has already told me that she's planning to do her math every day so she doesn't end up with 5 math assignments to do on Friday. How great is that! An eight year old who recognizes that math is her least favorite subject and she's better off doing it in small pieces instead of overwhelming herself. That is priceless knowledge!

It was wonderful to be surrounded by over 2500 people who care about educating our most neglected group of children. I feel refreshed, reassured, and armed with new knowledge. Now I just need to find some time to sort through all of the information I got and start saving for some of the amazing summer camps they have at colleges around the country.

Problem Solving

Friday was our first problem solving day. Four of our other friends from the gifted program were able to join us, and we had a great time. I think the kids learned a lot, and I learned that EVERYTHING they do takes them less time than I anticipate. I started to get worried when 10 minutes into things Zeke and Haley were already done with 3 problems, and the others were on their third. They worked on logic links puzzles, brain teasers, giving directions to a partner to have them build something without looking at it, and discussed a Mars exploration trip and all of its challenges.

They came up with some great ideas to solve some of the issues of a trip to Mars. They wanted to make the astronauts live together in a similar sized area for about two months before the trip to see if they would get along. They couldn't decide if it would be a co-ed exploration, because as Ella pointed out, if they're gone for about 4 years, you could have babies in that time. Heather and I smiled at that. They also decided that they would take 5 astronauts and they should each have a different profession and would then be trained to be an astronauts. If I remember correctly they wanted a doctor, and engineer, 2 scientists (one physicist and one to study the planet), and a pilot.

I enjoyed watching them work on the lego structure assignment. It was very interesting to see how the different pairs worked together. For Zoë and Ella it was so important that they understood each other that they would hold up the piece they were working on and ask the other person if they were putting it in the right spot. I don't know Ella very well, but I can guess that she's a lot like Zoë in that it's very important to her that she gets things right and does what people ask of her. This was different from Haley and Zeke how liked the challenge of seeing if they could build it with just the other person's verbal directions. They were both a little surprised that the other person didn't build exactly what they were told. I didn't even get a chance to see what Aiden and Maddie did, because they were finished too quickly. I could hear Aiden giving some directions as I was walking around the other groups, and he told me that neither one of them were very close in their builds.

After all that we played a space trivia game. I was surprised how much each of them knew about space. All in all, it was a lot of fun, the kids had a good time, and next time I'll need to plan even more things to do!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Projectiles and Giants

Today we continued with our force and literature units. The kids had a great time testing projectiles (what kid doesn't look for an excuse to throw things!) and learning how to measure angles. They also seem to really be enjoying The BFG.

Math was very slow for Aiden this morning. He seemed like he was getting bored with things. Even though he only had 10 problems to do, it took him over 90 minutes! Hopefully as we get into harder things he'll be more interested. We have a little bit to cover with fractions and common denominators and then he'll move on to the 6th grade book.

Zoë is starting the beginning steps for long division. She asked me today why I keep giving her problems with the square root of 64 in them. I told her as soon as she memorized the answer I'd stop giving her the problems! She's also working on her report on solar energy for jet. It's turning out very good. It's not due until the 13th, but she's determined to finish it on Thursday so she won't have to worry about it anymore.

As a final note I thought I'd share a random quote from Aiden. As we were driving to my Aunt and Uncle's house to have brunch on Sunday he says (from what appears to be nowhere) "you know, I still find it hard to believe that there aren't a google of atoms in the universe. You'd think there would be."

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Wrapping up Philly and starting Taekwondo

Today we finished our Philly entry into the newly created "Field Trip Scrapbook." The kids did a great job with it! I think this will end up to be a wonderful keepsake. They divided up 13 different topics/places that we went, wrote a paragraph about each place, and found pictures to go on the page. They're excited to show it to their friends tomorrow at bubblegum day and with our family this weekend.

They have also both finished their taekwondo essays. We told them if they wanted to take lessons they would have to write an essay explaining why it was important to them to learn taekwondo. Tom and I were both amazed at the thought they put into the essay, and how well they expressed their ideas. Zoë even researched things on the Internet and provided a short history! I'm going to make them present their essays to the master so he knows how much thought they've already put into wanting to learn the martial art. So now we'll be adding taekwondo lessons to our schedule!

Here's an excerpt from each of their essays:

If I can't do something I'll keep trying. This will teach me perseverance. ... I will try my hardest, follow the rules, and always be respectful.

I will learn self-defense, balance, and self-control by taking taekwondo. ... I will be the best sportsman I can be.



Today was parent teacher conferences with the JET teachers. Of course they had nothing but great things to say about the kids. Aiden's teacher pointed out that she could see a big difference in him since we've started homeschooling. She said that his focus is better, he has more control, and he's become a wonderful leader in the class. Zoë's teacher said that she will tackle any problem, and gets along very well with all of her classmates. We're very proud of both of them!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Philadelphia

We just got back from our 5 days in Philadelphia. It was a fantastic time! We spent the entire time seeing as many sights as we could fit in. It was wonderful to see some of the things we had been studying about. An incomplete list of the things we saw included The Constitution Center, Independence Hall, The Franklin Institute, The Museum of Natural Sciences, Fireman's Hall, Elfreth's Alley, the Liberty Bell, City Hall, the first public library, the American Philosophical Society, Franklin's grave, the US Mint, City Tavern, and a lot more! Needless to say we're all a little worn out.


Thank you, thank you, thank you to Nana for making this happen and continuing to spark more ideas. We can't tell you how grateful we are to have her support, help, and ideas! I don't think I could have even thought about homeschooling if it wasn't for my mom.





On the plane ride home I decided that we're going to start a Field Trip Scrapbook (for lack of a better term). Each child will have pages to work on explaining what we did each day and how it fit into our studies. They can include pictures we took, brochures, postcards, pictures they found from the web, or anything else they can think of adding. The key will be at least a paragraph about each place. As they get older there will be more writing assignments. Then I'm going to keep them all in a big book that we'll add to anytime we go on another field trip.






I also decided that next field trip will include some kind of scavenger hunt where they have to find some information. Aiden was notorious for not bothering to read the signs (of course he is 6), but that might help him take his time and look for the information on his own. That will mean a lot more prep work for me before we go, but I think it will help improve the trips. I have this vision of them carrying around a clipboard and writing down facts from each place we go. Don't worry, this is only for field trips, not vacations! No clipboards at Disney World.




I've also started thinking of a list of other places in America we will go over the years. So far I have Mt. Rushmore and the Indian Reservations in the Dakotas to study some Native American history, the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone for geology (let's see if I can remember any of that from college!), of course Washington D.C. for American government, Houston for NASA, maybe Boston for the American Revolution, somewhere for the Civil War and some kind of archaeological/paleological dig. The last one will take a bit of looking into, but I'm sure I can find something. If you have any other great ideas, feel free to comment. Guess I better start saving money now!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Philly here we come

Last week was extremely busy. On Monday we were able to go visit Gigi (the kids' great grandmother) and pick pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. The rest of the week was busy with school and lots of rainy weather. We're about halfway finished with The BFG, which everyone is really enjoying. Both kids are progressing quickly in their math studies and several days last week did more than one lesson a day. They're also busy working on an essay about why they want to take Taekwondo. This has to be finished and presented to the Master before we will sign them up.

This week is our week off. Early Wednesday we're heading to Philadelphia for a field trip. The kids have researched all the places they want to go and we're all looking forward to visiting Ben Franklin's hometown! We even get to attend a reception at Constitution Hall and can go to an art exhibit opening if we want. Hopefully, we can fit everything in!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Design Challenge

We all had a great time at the Design Challenge at the science center. There were lots of other kids there (50-60 per session) from different schools and most of them seemed to be around 10 years old. Aiden and Zoë had no trouble meeting each challenge. They were given a piece of foam track (1/2 of a piece of foam pipe insulation), a cardboard toilet paper roll, masking tape, a tin can, and 2 marbles. The first challenge was to create a ski jump making sure some part of the track was touching the ground. Once the marble landed in the can two times in a row, they could move on to the second challenge. The other challenges were to make a longer "jump", make a track with a loop, and finally to design a track with at least two sets of hills and valleys. We all ran out of time on the last challenge, but they would have finished it if they had a few more minutes. They just got the marble into the can for the first time when time was called.

I got to play the roll of tape dispenser. I refused to help them in any way except giving them pieces of tape, and twice when they were having problems I did say "remember Newton's first law of motion" and they would quickly rearrange things without any other assistance. I was very proud of their teamwork, determination, and ability to use what we've been learning. They really are amazing!

After the challenge we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the science center. We could have spent all day in their new lab doing experiments. If you haven't been to that part, you really should check it out! The experiments are all on touch screen computers with clear directions. Neither of the kids needed help. Aiden created DNA using wheat germ and Zoë solved a crime by figuring out which pen was used to write a ransom note. There were probably six other experiments that they could do, but we were running out of time and hadn't eaten lunch yet!

If I was ever questioning our choice to home school, it's days like that I'm reminded how different the kids are and how they are much better served being at home and learning at their own pace. It seemed like every new thing we did that day opened my eyes to their abilities, how much they've learned, and how I actually make a good teacher for them. Sure, I constantly feel like the house is a mess and I have a giant list of things to do, but overall we are a much happier family now, and that is much more important.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Physics is Fun!

Last week we finished up our unit on magnetism and electricity as well as finished reading Ben and Me. The kids had a great time planning a birthday party for Ben Franklin as their final project for the book. They came up with games to play and each wrote an original song to sing for Ben. Aiden was completely thrilled to get an opportunity to write a song. He ran upstairs to the piano and started picking out a tune while Zoë and I stayed downstairs. Within a few minutes he had the tune written on grand staff paper and came down to write the words! The song starts out "Please help us again, make more contraptions Ben" and goes from there.

Now we're reading The BFG by Dahl and studying force and motion. I signed the kids up for a design contest at the Science Center as part of their SciFest 09. Tomorrow they get to go and design roller coasters and compete against other teams. We're all looking forward to that!

Aiden has decided that physics is his favorite kind of science. He thinks that any science that uses force, energy, motion, matter and lots of math (not to mention roller coasters) is the best thing in the world. I wonder if he's going to change from wanting to be an aeronautical engineer to an astrophysicist soon.

I'm really proud of both of them for working so hard on their math. They've both become very independent while doing their problems each day. All the time I spent picking out problems for them and showing them how to figure out which lesson each problem came from really seems to be paying off, and they seem to like being able to look back and answer their own questions. The key is just making sure we do math first thing in the morning!

I solved our math book issue by finding a used copy online. I wish I thought of doing things like that more often! Of course you run the risk of getting a raw deal, but it worked out perfect this time. The book looks as good a new and I saved about $30.

Monday, September 28, 2009

The Empress of Fall

We've made another addition to our daily schedule starting this morning. After seeing some research that has been done regarding morning exercise and increased test scores, we've started taking a walk with the dog every morning. Not only does it help to get everyone's brain moving, but it shows the importance of daily exercise, helps the dog out, and seems to put us all in a better mood.

During our walk this morning the kids picked up different colored leaves. When we got home Aiden put his in order from most alive to most dead. Zoë decided she was going to make a crown with hers, so she could be "the empress of fall." She decided queen wasn't grand enough. :) The school bus passed us midway through the walk and we all breathed a sigh of relief that they didn't have to get on board!

Math went a lot better this morning. Everyone worked hard on their problems independently. I was worried that I might have been helping too much, but after seeing the work they did on their own, that isn't the case. A few times they looked back in the book to figure out how to do a problem, which is really the only help I was giving them anyway. The only issue I have now is that I need to buy a second book or have them do math at different times. I really hate to buy a second copy when Aiden will be done with it in about 6 weeks though. Guess I should crunch some numbers and find out if copies are cheaper.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Magic House

Today for our field trip we went to The Magic House. We had not been there in several years, and I'd forgotten how wonderful that place is! We spent almost four hours (and could have stayed longer) looking at everything. The kids had so much fun they couldn't decide what was their favorite part. I would say it was hands down the best children's museum I've ever been to.

It was a lot of fun to see them using what they've learned and even sharing it with other people. They really enjoyed the magnet and electricity rooms, and it was apparent to me that they have learned a lot from the unit so far. They didn't need any of the explanations that were written to tell me what was happening, and often provided more information than was even given.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Problem solving day

We've decided that once a month we're going to have problem solving day. I've invited Heather and her kids to join us, and just ordered some books from the Critical Thinking company. The idea came to us Friday night. I was looking through the catalog and they had some sample exercises included that the kids and I were working on. (Yeah, not how most people would spend their Friday nights, but we like it). The book is full of logic based problems requiring lots of different thinking to solve.

I've started gathering different problems the kids will be working on. We're going to do math story problems, logic problems, moral dilemmas, at least one science experiment, and discuss general problem solving tactics. It should be a lot of fun. Our first day is scheduled for October 30th. The kids don't have JET that day because of parent-teacher conferences, so it works out perfectly.

If anyone has any problems they'd like us to work on, send them my way.

Long overdue update

We have been so busy I haven't had the energy to put anything in writing. Last weekend we had an excellent visit with Tom's Uncle and his family. They were the perfect house guests. One, they didn't stay in the house (they set up their pop up in the yard). And two, it was just nice to have people to communicate with without any expectations of entertainment. They also got to spend a morning with us doing school. The kids had a lot of fun doing experiments with electricity together.

For the past four days I've been mulling over solutions to two roadblocks that we're encountering. First is math. All the workbooks have entirely too much repetition and way too many problems for a six and eight year old to do at their ability level. So I spent all day yesterday going through lesson by lesson picking out specific problems for each child to work on each day for the next three weeks. Also, I made up a game using math facts for us all to play (instead of just boring flash cards). These aren't math facts like 3 x 4 = ?, but are things like "what is the formula used to find the area of a circle" or "what is the least common multiplier of 3 and 5?" The idea came from a fantastic list that Heather sent me, Thanks, Heather! Hopefully, playing this game often will help them with their problems.

Another issue with math is that I feel like they need to be more independent while they're working on their problems. In order to accomplish that I'm going to show them how they figure out where each problem came from in the book. Then they can look back on their own if they don't remember how to do something. After they finish their problems, then I can sit down with them and discuss anything they got wrong.

Our second roadblock is an emotional block. I've known for sometime now that whenever Zoë starts learning something new that she thinks is difficult, like a new math lesson or a new song on the piano, or if she doesn't know the answer to something, she can sometimes shut down completely. She will throw herself onto the floor, hide under a table, and refuse to communicate at all. Aiden occasionally does this too, but it is a more frequent behavior with Zoë.

It breaks my heart when this happens. If I have patience at the time, I can talk them out of it, and get them back to work. The problem is that the more this occurs, the less patience I have dealing with it. It's not their frustration with learning something new that bothers me, it's the inability to communicate what's going on. I simply can't help if they can't tell me what they don't understand or how they're feeling.

I think that this is tied somehow to an idea that they have that people love them because they are "smart." So if they don't know something, that means they aren't that smart and therefore people love them less. Of course that simply isn't true, but if you've spent your entire life hearing from strangers and people you know things like "wow, you're really smart" it starts to be absorbed. I've done a lot of research on this idea, and have been working hard to avoid statements like that, but I cannot control what others say to them. Ultimately, why it happens doesn't matter though. I need to find a way to change the behavior.

So I'm working on ways to avoid the emotional shut down. I talked a little bit with Zoë about it this morning and she had some ideas that we're going to try. I also know that the problem is worse if she's tired or hungry, so we're going to structure the day so that she's doing the things she thinks are the most difficult first. I know this will be a slow process, but we'll get there.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Jam packed short week

Tuesday was our second reading party day. The kids worked hard to earn all their beads and did several challenge problems to finish out the jar. Everyone read all day, and Aiden spent some time writing scary stories to read around the campfire for this weekend. Wednesday and Thursday were a blur of magnets, electricity, and more Ben Franklin. Friday was another JET day.

This weekend we have some family camping in the yard, and they're going to be able to spend the day with us Monday during school. We're all really excited to share our learning style with others, and help spread the word that there are other ways to educate children that don't involve large institutions.

I'm back to having more math problems. Apparently this subject is just going to give me lots of trouble. Drilling basic math facts is not working. They are bored to tears with it, and I'm losing them. So I'm going to give the Saxon math another try and just go through each day and star certain problems for them to work on. That way I can tailor their needs and forgo unneeded repetition. I'm still wishing there was some magic math fairy that would wave her wand and the perfect curriculum would appear. Maybe when I find that fairy, I'll run into the laundry fairy and make a deal with her too!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Friday already?!

The week has just whizzed by! We have been so busy with the new curriculum and all the other things we're doing that I've barely had time to breath. I can't believe all that we've gotten done in 5 days.

The kids are really enjoying reading Ben and Me by Robert Lawson. We're getting to discuss historical fiction, Philadelphia and inventing. Several of the lessons have had them invent their own things, which has been a lot of fun. We're really excited to learn that Nana will be taking us with her to Philadelphia next month, so we'll get to see all of the things we're learning about!

Science has revolved around magnets. Several of the experiments we've had to do turned out interesting. A couple of times we didn't like the things they had us do, so the kids worked hard to improve the experiment. One in particular had them try to build a boat that you could move without touching by using a bar of soap and magnets. After discovering that the bar of soap wouldn't float, they came up with using plastic eggs with a magnet inside instead. I loved watching Zoë decide which magnet she was going to use inside the egg. In the end she decided the bar magnet worked best because she pointed out that the poles on it were further apart, so the egg would move and not just flip over trying to attract to the magnet in her hand. Aiden was busy deciding which magnet should be held in the hand to move the "boat." In the end he decided the rare Earth magnets we have are the best since they have the strongest magnetic field.

This weekend is filled with family, the Japanese festival, taekwondo, friends for dinner, and then a reading party on Tuesday. This time Tom has taken off the day from work and will get to join us during the reading party. Everyone's excited, and I'm sure we'll be a the library for a while this weekend getting lots of books.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

LONG days

Both yesterday and today have been extremely long days. Despite the length the kids have managed to complete every task without complaint. Not once have I heard "I don't want to do that." In just two days we've done 5 experiments with magnets, learned about Ben Franklin, the 13 colonies, Philadelphia past and present, worked on Spanish, writing, typing, spelling, math facts for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, discussed the idea of force and power both in nature and government, and practiced piano. Zoë has also gone to art and PE. Whew!

I've been impressed with both Aiden and Zoë's ability to think through and use reason while doing their experiments. They could figure out exactly why things weren't working or their data was not the same. They both found ways to figure out which pole was which on their different magnets, and Aiden correctly assumed which materials would conduct magnetic force and which would produce a shield. What's great about that to me is I was completely wrong! Home school certainly is making us all learn things.

My challenge now is to decide if I'm having them do too much, or find some way to decrease the amount of time we're spending in class. Yesterday, we didn't complete everything until 2:30, and today it was after 3:00. That's with very little goof off time in between. Snack and lunch only took 30 minutes total and we started classes at 9:00. That's as long as a public school day, but none of it is wasted time! I guess as long as there is no complaining, I won't change things. It will just make our weeks off that much nicer. Of course it means I have absolutely no free time until about 7:00 pm, but that's probably better than a full time working mother, and I get to spend my time surrounded by people I love not lousy co-workers.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Japanese Night

Japanese Night was a huge success. Everyone had a great time seeing what the kids have been working on for the past month and trying some new foods. It was fun watching Great Grandma try sushi for the first time. She said that she liked it. The kids both told me this morning that they had so much fun last night. I think they enjoyed being the center of attention and showing off all the things they had learned. If I could just get them to remember the phrase "constitutional monarchy" things would be perfect. For some reason those words have no resonance to an 8 and 6 year old. Go figure!

After hours of unsuccessfully trying to burn our kabuki play onto a cd, I've finally given up and just uploaded it to YouTube. You can watch the short here. At dinner last night they handed out a program that went with the play explaining the true story of the 47 ronin and the differences between a real kabuki performance and their adaptation.

We also had a table full of all the art projects they worked on for the unit including kabuki warrior masks, clay dishes, origami swans, good luck eggs, and their book of haiku. They were able to show everyone their PowerPoint presentations on samurai and Tokyo as well. It really was great to be able to share some of our knowledge and let the family know how hard they've been working.

Tomorrow we hit the pre-made curriculum. I've spent all morning getting that together and into the lesson plan. We'll be starting with magnetism and electricity and reading Ben and Me for science and literature. Piano lessons also start back this week. I have a feeling it's going to be very busy this week, and there will certainly be some adjustment crankiness from all of us. On top of all that I'm taking Taekwondo lessons 3 times a week, and Tom's family is coming into town Friday for a camping weekend in our yard. Yikes!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Our "week off"

Despite the fact that we don't have classes this week, things have been very busy. In addition to Zoë having art and PE yesterday, we also spent all of the time in between working on art projects. Both Aiden and Zoë completed the math challenge problem, and today we visited the art museum. We were all sadly disappointed with the complete lack of art from Japan. They had two small rooms that were supposed to be dedicated to Japan, but several of the pieces were from China and the ones that were from Japan were mostly modern works of art. Although it was all very beautiful, everyone was sad we didn't get to see any older Japanese art (especially no samurai swords or armor). In order to make the trip have some learning involved we spent some time discussing light sources in paintings, Greek and Egyptian mythology, and architectural differences of houses in the late 1800s America. Of course you can't be that close to the loop and not have lunch at Fitz's. So we headed over there for lunch and a root beer float.

Tomorrow we're spending the day filming the play. Hopefully, I can get it all edited and uploaded by Friday afternoon. They've been working on their lines for the last few days, though I'm sure we'll have to stop the camera a few times.

The kids got to meet their JET teachers last night. Aiden will have Mrs. Battle again (hooray!), and Zoë will be in Ms. Kell's class. Everyone's looking forward to returning to JET. Zoë's first unit will be on power (which fits right in with out unit at home), and Aiden will be having a "left brain luau" with science and math. I'm not sure what that will entail since they're not allowed to cover core material in gifted classes in our state, but I guess we'll see. They're both happy to have some friends from Mystery Camp this summer in their classes too! I'm looking forward to having Fridays to catch up on documentation and housework. Well, maybe not looking forward, but the free time will be appreciated.

Friday, August 21, 2009

The flight home

Today was technically our last day of the Japanese unit. We have a few things to finish creating next week, and we're going to make a trip to the art museum to see the Japanese art. The kids have certainly learned a lot in the past 3 weeks. They've studied the arts, language, history, geography, and government of Japan. They've also learned about samurai and the shogun era, and have spent the time doing their math with an abacus. They have created a lot of works of art, a kabuki play, and have planned a Japanese meal. Most importantly though, they've had a lot of fun while learning. We're looking forward to sharing everything with the grandparents next weekend.

I get to spend next week preparing for our units. I have lots of new ideas and thoughts on how to address some issues that have popped up, and I'm looking forward to working things out. We're going to be doing math completely different for a little while for one thing. Both kids are at a point now with math that they really need to have mastered the basic facts in order to progress at their capable pace. So I've made charts for each of them and each day we're going to take 4 basic fact quizzes. When they can finish all 400 problems in 20 minutes, we'll go back to using the math books. Until then, though they're capable of doing the work, it's too time consuming and they lose interest quickly. I know that won't be the case when they've mastered the basic facts. Then I bet they'll start flying through stuff.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Kabuki

This week we've been focusing on Kabuki Theater. We watched some youtube videos of Kabuki productions and learned all about the history, styles, and costumes used. We also made our own Kabuki warrior masks which the kids are going to wear during their play.

They decided they wanted to do a jidai-mono style kabuki play (meaning historical) about the 47 ronin. This was a great idea, and they spent the morning learning about the story of the 47 ronin and writing the script for their play. They have adapted the story, but are going to put the real story in the program they're making to hand out at the show.

I can't believe that we've almost finished our unit on Japan! Next week is supposed to be our week off from classes, but I think we're going to have some art projects to finish in order to have everything ready for Japanese Night. I'm really going to make an effort for this to be the exception though. I think we all really need the week off since they've worked through the summer. Hopefully, it will be easier to maintain 3 weeks on, 1 week off when we're working with the curriculum from MBTP. Of course it's not that weeks off are really off...we'll still have piano, JET, and art and PE for Zoë.

I'm a little concerned about our schedule starting next week, but I'm sure we'll fall into a plan. I just don't think there's anyway we're going to have everything done by noon. They usually end up surprising me at how fast they can finish things though, so maybe I'll be wrong.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Research projects (Aug. 12)

Yesterday the children started their research projects as well as finished up with our literature part of the unit. Aiden is researching Tokyo, and Zoë chose samurai. They've finished gathering facts over the last two days and will be putting together power point presentations the rest of the week that they can share with their grandparents on Japanese Night.



Also, today they worked on 2 challenge problems. We started a new thing recently where they can earn 10 beads for each correct answer they get to a challenge problem. When I first introduced the idea, they read the problem and decided it was too hard and they didn't want to bother. Of course that defeats the whole point of a challenge! So today I sat down with them and let them slowly work through both problems. I realized it wasn't fair of me to think they would automatically know how to do these, so I showed them some ways to break the problems down and make them easier. They were so proud of themselves when they got the answers and earned 20 beads! Now I need to find new challenge problems. If you're curious this was one of the ones we worked on:



In the following addition problem AB + AB + CC = ABC, the three letters, A, B, and C represent three different digits. If A cannot equal zero, determine the value of each letter.

I got this problem from the math contest webpage. Thanks, Heather, for showing us that!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Haiku and abacuses

Today we started working on our book of Haiku. The children had fun creating these. Zoë wrote 5 today, and Aiden wrote 2. We're going to put them all together in a nice scrapbook that I bought so we can share them with everyone at the end of our unit.

I also found out Zoë's school schedule today. She's going to be taking art and p.e. at the public school. Art will be on Tuesday mornings and p.e. will be on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. It may end up being a lot more running around, but hopefully it will be worth it.

I've finally convinced Aiden to go to school for art and p.e. too. Now I just need to call his school and set that up. Unfortunately, they won't be in the same building because K-2nd is at one school and 3rd-5th is next door. More running around I suppose.

Abacus work is getting easier. Zoë struggled to finish her homework last night, but things went a little smoother this morning. Aiden took a little bit to get the concept of adding, but he's off and running with it now. Tomorrow we're going to learn subtraction.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Trip to Japan

Today we started our unit on Japan. We have so much to do that I'll be surprised if we can fit it all into one month! We started the day learning how to count to 10 in Japanese, looking at pictures that I took on my trip there many years ago, locating places on a map and learning how to use an abacus. They were surprised to learn that the abacus wasn't just for fun. I bought real ones and they struggled in the beginning to understand that some beads meant one and some meant five. I'm sure by the end of the week, this won't be an issue and I won't hear anymore complaining, but that part of the morning did not go smoothly. I'm pretty sure at one point I said "what, did you think I wasn't going to challenge you to think this whole time?" To which they hung their heads in same and mumbled "no."

We have a lot of things planned for the unit which will end with a Japanese night at our house complete with a kabuki production, haikus, and of course sushi for dinner. They both seemed really excited to start the unit. I'm just happy to be done planning and into the execution stage. Someday, I'd really like to take them there. In the meantime we'll just learn about it and write to our Japanese penpals.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Vacation

We spent last week visiting my parents in Ohio. The kids got to stay an extra week at the grandparents without their nagging parents, so they won't be back until Monday. Everyone had a great time at Cedar Point for two days, seeing the new Harry Potter movie, and just enjoying time with Grandma and Grandpa. Hopefully, I won't have to do too much deprogramming when they get back.

I've been spending the week doing all those things that pile up in the house and preparing for our August unit on Japan. I've ordered real abacuses (I hope that's the plural) that we're going to learn how to use as part of math. We're also going to study samurai, ninjas, and of course history, language and geography of Japan. I still have a lot of reading and prep work to do, but I'll be ready before August rolls around. I haven't quite decided what their final project will be, but it might include another newscast and a viewing over a traditional Japanese meal with some of the family.

This summer has brought lots of travel for everyone and I've been able to see some of Tom's family that we rarely get to visit with. It has been so wonderful to see the interest that everyone has in what we're doing with the kids. I spent a while last Saturday chatting with Tom's cousin Kristen about homeschooling. It's funny how just having these discussions with people reinforce our decision to home school. When you're in the middle of all the work, it's easy to forget why you chose to be there in the first place. Talking about it with other people is a wonderful reminder, and really seems to re-energize me to continue. Despite the struggles, we really are doing the best thing for their education.

Lots of people have started to volunteer to teach something to the kids. I'm going to have to get together some kind of schedule and make sure this gets done. I think it's a great idea that they're exposed to different teachers. Everyone does things differently, and they need to know how to adapt. My mom is going to teach a course on American Government. Their grandpa Jim wants to teach some geography. Tom will be teaching a course in basic programming and logic skills the week of Thanksgiving. I know I'll certainly enjoy sharing some of the teaching burden! So if you're interested in teaching a class, let me know and we'll work something out.

Lastly, Happy Birthday to our Zoë!!! She's 8 years old today.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

More coasters!

The kids had so much fun doing roller coaster math that I had to come up with more problems for today. I think I'm enjoying it as much as they are. They have a chart with each roller coaster's stats. Part of the lesson was learning how to locate the information they needed. Here was today's lesson: (the numbers for trusses and support beams are made up, but everything else is real)

1. Trusses are used to support roller coaster tracks. If a truss is placed every 10 feet, how many trusses were used to build the Ninja?

2. Each truss has 50 support beams that are used to build the truss. How many support beams were used to build the Ninja?

3. How many more support beams does Evil Knievel have compared to the Ninja?

4. Each car of the Magnum holds 6 people. If there are 6 cars in a train, how many people can ride per train?

5. The Magnum is about 2 minutes long. If there are 3 trains running at once, how many people can ride the Magnum in an hour?

6. Cedar Point is open from 10am to 11pm on Saturdays. How many people could ride the Magnum each Saturday if every train was filled to capacity?

7. Each train on The Corkscrew has six 4 passenger cars. The ride is 2 minutes long and runs 3 trains at a time. How many people can ride the Corkscrew in an hour?

8. Mom and Dad get in the line to ride Top Thrill Dragster. The sign says it is a 90 minute wait from the point they get in line. If it takes 2 minutes and 30 seconds to ride the Millennium and 18 minutes to get back on the ride, how many times could Aiden and Grandpa ride the Millennium before Mom and Dad get on Top Thrill Dragster?

9. Zoë and Grandma don’t want to ride either of those roller coasters. Instead they decide to drive the bumper cars. If the bumper cars run for 2 minutes and have a 5 minute wait, how many times could they drive a bumper car while waiting for the others?

I was afraid that these might be too difficult for them, but they did a great job! My favorite part was Zoë made up her own problem for #7. She was reading the problem out loud and added "the ride is not working today, so how many people rode it". We took a snack break at that point, and got a good laugh out of it.

Also, Aiden met his goal of typing 20 words per minute today, so we all met our family goals and earned Guitar Hero World Tour. We spent some time this afternoon rocking out together. Now we need to find some new long term goals and something else to work toward.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Roller coasters on the brain

Last week we took the kids to Six Flags. They had earned their tickets through the read to succeed program at school, and the school was nice enough to save their tickets even though they're no longer enrolled. We had a great time. Both Aiden and Zoë are over 48" tall now, so they were able to ride a lot of the rides. Although Zoë was apprehensive about riding the Ninja, she got on it anyway and had so much fun that we rode it twice. She seems to have a healthy amount of fear.

Aiden is a different story. Frankly, he scares Tom and I to death. He showed absolutely no fear whatsoever. He rode everything he was tall enough for, and was slightly disgruntled that he couldn't ride The Batman. At one point Tom took the kids down the speed slides in the water park while I watched and waited. Zoë chose to ride one of the curvy slides, but Aiden insisted upon waiting for the tallest, straightest slide. I watched all the people coming down the slides and Aiden was by far the youngest and shortest to come down during those 20 minutes. Tom told me later that everyone in line was shocked he wanted to go down and couldn't believe he was only 6.

I think some amount of fear is a good thing. It can stop you from doing stupid things that we shouldn't even be contemplating. It can help us find limits to our abilities. At the same time fear can be limiting. If we're too afraid to try something, we may never know what we're capable of doing. As with most things, problems arise at either extreme. My concern is that so far Aiden seems to be an extreme. I'll be much happier if next week he decides that the Millennium Force (a 310 feet tall, 93 mph, 82 degree drop roller coaster at Cedar Point) is too much for him. Otherwise his lack of fear might be too much for me!

Since all everyone can think about is our upcoming vacation and the trip to Cedar Point, I made up our own story problems for math today using facts about different coasters. The kids had a great time comparing all the different roller coasters and answering the story problems. When we finished class for the day, they headed up to the artroom to draw designs of their own coasters. Zoë said she was designing one that would be three times taller than the Millennium, but she wasn't going to ride it. She would have a team of testers ride it and tell her how it was. I'm hoping Aiden won't be on that team!

Monday, June 29, 2009

Another reading day, please!

Well, the deck is covered in books, a hammock, pillows and a fort, but I think the reading party is finally coming to an end. The weather couldn't have been better! It was really a great day.

Zoë has just stopped reading for the day (near 5 pm). She took a break for lunch, but otherwise she has been reading non-stop since 7 am. She thinks that she has read over 15 books today. Aiden spent all morning reading, and around 3 he started getting stir crazy. He read 4 books and a bunch of Artemis Fowl. Needless to say I think the Reading Party was a big hit! Now I need to take them back to Barnes and Noble and the library to turn in their reading lists.

It was wonderful to hear one of them giggle to themselves about something they read, then run over to share it with me, or in Zoë's case, hail me from her throne on the hammock. We took a break to grab some lunch from the evil empire (I promised they could have a Happy Meal), and have an afternoon snack, but otherwise we read all day.

The morning started out interesting when we found a surprise resident trying to build a nest in a muffin pan in the drawer under the oven. The rodent perpetrator was promptly set free outside. Good thing they wanted muffins for breakfast, or who knows when I would have found him! He's lucky the snake is still too small, or he would have been breakfast for Diamond instead of relocated. Maybe now the kids will listen to me when I tell them to shut the door behind them.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Reading Party Here We Come

We finished out our week of eclectic learning. Aiden is back on the typing bandwagon and working hard to learn how to type at 20 wpm. He's certainly frustrated that it isn't something he can learn in one day. It's nice to find a challenge for him.

They're both doing well with their daily writing sessions. They've produced lots of stories, poems, and the beginning of a graphic novel. The hardest thing about it for me is not editing anything. At this point I'm not even making suggestions for improvement. They will get enough of that when we're working on the projects with our curriculum starting in September.

Today after school they realized they were 11 beads away from their reading party. After lunch they asked me if there was anything they could do to earn the rest of the beads so they could have their party on Monday. They decided they would get one bead for each room that they cleaned. Hooray!! As I'm writing this, they have 2 beads left to go. Tomorrow we'll head to the library to get stacks of books for Monday morning. I'm excited for them. They've worked really hard and have both done an excellent job quelling the "I don't know" answers. I think they only lost 2 beads the whole time for using those words. Now I need to find something to read too!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Olio of learning

The last few days have been rather uneventful. The kids seem to have gotten back into the groove of morning classes quickly, although I have had to explain several times why we're not taking the week off since it's technically our 4th week of school. After I told them we have most of July off, they weren't upset and have worked very hard.

In typical Aiden fashion he's already taken his spelling test for the week. I found some 5th grade spelling lists that they're working on. I was astounded that he quickly learned to spell achieve and acoustics among others.

Zoë has been devouring books. She's finished The Westing Game and is ready for the discussion on Thursday. She reads at the grocery store, as she's eating lunch, and while she's walking around the house. She finished both the library and Barnes and Noble's summer reading programs weeks ago.

They're both learning to read music now, and seem to enjoy that part of piano practice. We've also started a new system where they have to write everyday for 20 minutes. I don't care what they write, and I don't edit any of it, but I spend time telling them what I liked most about the work. I just want them to get used to sitting down everyday to get something on paper. They really took to the idea of setting a timer and we've incorporated that into Spanish, reading and spelling practice too.

They have almost earned their first reading party day. It looks like probably some time next week we'll have our party. They saved the beads they earned during Mystery Camp and yesterday we were going to add them to the jar. Aiden put his in with a sour look on his face and Zoë didn't even want to add hers. I knew right away what they were thinking, but pretended to have no idea why they were upset. Aiden said that he didn't want to use the beads from Mystery Camp because they were smaller than our beads and that would mean that they'd have to earn more before they could get their reading party. Zoë didn't want to add the beads because she was afraid that the next time they were working toward a reading party they would have that many more they'd have to earn. I gave them both an extra bead for thinking and communicating and let them count out the same amount they'd earned from our beads. They were thrilled!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Lizards and Diamond

After a weekend at my Aunt and Uncle's in Springfield chasing skinks, Aiden decided that he wanted a pet lizard. As soon as we got home, he ran over to Grandma's to try to catch a lizard. Of course the neighborhood kids all thought this was a great idea, and soon there were four of them running around trying to catch a lizard.

As I was sitting out on the deck relaxing from a lack of sleep and a long drive home, the kids come running back with their jar yelling "we caught it, we caught it!" All four of them are talking excitedly at the same time and are so happy with themselves. This is when I discover that "it" isn't a lizard at all. It is a baby king snake. Great...now what do I do. Snakes don't actually bother me, but I'm not sure I want one as a pet. I was okay with a lizard, they eat bugs.

So I try to think of a way out of this without actually saying no. I tell Aiden that he can't just keep a snake in a jar. What do they eat? How big will it get? What do they need to survive? It wouldn't be fair to take a baby snake out of the wild and make it into a pet if you didn't know how to care for it. He says okay and the four kids run inside to the computer room and start doing research. The little boogers come back with all kinds of information! Now I'm stuck. They did the research, they got the habitat ready, and now I have to say it's okay to keep him. My only hope is that when it actually comes to feeding the snake they won't want to do it. It's too small to eat even pinkie mice, so the mice will have to be cut before we feed him.

A few days later we head to the local pet store to buy frozen mice to feed to the snake. I'm trying the whole time not to be squeamish about this. I've dissected frogs and fetal pigs in biology for pete's sake. I should be able to handle a tiny mouse. We tried to feed him that night, but apparently he wasn't hungry. So I told Aiden that if he doesn't eat something by Monday, we'd have to let him go so that he could fend for himself. This was on Wednesday. On Friday we're getting ready to pack the kids up for a week at Nana's. While I'm busy doing laundry and such, Aiden decided to feed the snake on his own. He cut up the mouse and fed the snake all by himself. Maybe I should have acted squeamish about the mice!!

So now we have a pet snake named Diamond that could grow to be 6 feet long and live for 20 years. Sometimes I hate the Internet and the ease of which information can be found!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Mystery Camp

Last week was Mystery Camp with two other families with highly gifted kids. I can't even describe how fantastic it was to see these six bright young minds at work. When I think about the potential in that room, I am amazed!! It has been so wonderful to have a group of kids together with similar odd senses of humor, amazing reading abilities, and seeing the joy on their faces at being challenged to think. They all worked very hard, and I'm proud of each of them.



I have learned a lot from Mystery Camp too. Of course I've had to learn about the lessons that I taught (Amelia Earhart and the Mary Celeste), but more importantly it was an eye opener. I have never been one to compare my kids to others, but last week, that was difficult. After some thought (and some enlightenment from Tom) I realize why that changed last week. I have never really had anyone to compare them with. They're my only kids, and I assumed that's how all kids were. When they started school, I realized they were different. But they were still so different that it was like comparing apples to oranges. At Mystery Camp I have for the first time been able to see them with other similar children. That wouldn't be such a big deal if I wasn't wired to see ways toward improvement so clearly (it is after all why I chose to be a therapist).



Like all human beings, we have flaws, or places in our lives that could use some improvement. It wasn't until the middle of the week that I was able to stop looking at the negatives and focus on Zoë and Aiden's strengths. By Friday I had a solid plan of attack to help them make some small improvements, and also was able to see things in perspective. For example, Aiden tended to have a hard time paying attention while people were reading out loud the first day. My first assumption was that he just didn't want to sit still. When I actually talked to him about what was going on, I discovered that the older kids were reading too fast for him to keep up. So once he got lost he just didn't bother to try anymore. After knowing that it was easy to help him keep up and he did much better the rest of the week.

This week they're staying at Nana's and going to Zoo Camp. They're learning about all kinds of different animals and animal conservation. The highlight of the week is Thursday night when they get to spend the night sleeping outside at the zoo. Both of them seem really excited about zoo camp and want to do it again next year.

I've been spending the week getting the house back in order, running errands, preparing for our solstice party, and reading.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Surprise Visit with long lasting effects

We had a surprise visit today during school time from Tom's uncle John who lives in Chicago. The kids were so excited to show him our classroom and some of the things they had been working on. They pumped his head full of volcano facts and played some piano for him.

It's interesting how one surprise visit can have such an effect. Because he wanted to see what the kids had been up to, they enthusiastically gave him a tour of the classroom. Their obvious excitement made me feel even better about our decision to home school and the job that I've been doing. This feeling gave me more patience during our lessons later that day, and in turn the kids got a lot done and enjoyed working hard. So despite the fact that I was mad at myself for somehow sleeping through my alarm this morning, we had a great day.

Thanks for the visit, John. It made us all smile!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

And we're off...

Today was a busy day. We spent the first part of our morning reviewing all the challenges we have for ourselves during the summer (i.e. summer reading programs, short story contests, piano practice goals, etc.), then introducing the new math system, and lastly discussing our new reading day incentive program. The kids were thrilled to learn about reading day. We spent a while talking about what kinds of things are good behaviors and how they might earn a full jar. Then we talked about those 3 horrible words "I don't know," and how we can avoid saying them and hence losing beads from the jar. They both had excellent ideas and at least twice I saw them working hard to change "I don't know" into something more helpful. They really did a great job today.

Math was a little longer than I hoped. This is one of the issues with having 6 and 7 year olds working from 4th and 5th grade levels. Even after only doing the even problems, they both spent over an hour (Aiden 90 minutes) on their math assignments. I'm sure this will improve, but right now they were doing a lot of new things since I didn't know exactly where to start them in their new curriculum. Zoë was working on reading mixed numbers from a number line and Aiden was working on transformations of geometric figures.

After finishing piano, spelling, Spanish, and writing, we ate lunch and went to the pool. An hour after we got to the pool it started to thunder so we decided to pack up for the day. Hopefully, this is how most of the summer will go (without the rain interruption). Now if I could just get back to getting up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym, everything would be in order!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Our first day

Today starts the 2009-2010 school year for us. The kids decided that they wanted to attend their public school's Olympics Day. The school was very accommodating, and the kids should enjoy the games and time with their old friends. It was definitely an odd feeling to take them back there, and I certainly don't miss doing that every day!

I'm set to hit the ground running tomorrow with a new math curriculum, the Spanish program loaded onto the computer, spelling lists already entered into spellingcity.com, a year's worth of lesson plans finished, and all kinds of ideas of fun things to do. Since we're doing some work through the summer, we only have to spend 3 hours a day on school things, and can spend the rest of the afternoon at the pool. I've also started a new system where they can earn a reading day and pizza party (thanks to Heather for the great idea!) Hopefully, this will curb some of the antsy behavior and stop them from immediately answering "I don't know" to a question all with the added bonus of being excited to spend the day reading. Of course it's not that I expect them to know the answers every time, but I do expect them to learn to communicate what things they understand, and what route their thinking is going. I'm going to spend some time in the morning talking about this with them and helping them find better answers than "I don't know".

It's looking to be a really fun school year. I'm very excited to see how far they progress.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Our Time Capsule

We have had a very relaxing and fun weekend. Lots of entertaining and lazy time with or without friends around. Today we're putting everything together for the time capsule and burying it if the weather allows.

The kids did a great job gathering items for the time capsule. We had one problem and lost all of our data while trying to save, but I've found everything again and we're ready to go. They had to find things to represent several different areas of our culture including jobs, homes, entertainment, transportation, food, and something personal. They found pictures of everyone's ipods, found lists of top selling books, music singles, movies, and tv shows to represent entertainment in our culture. For homes they decided to use a blueprint of our house. For food we got a menu from our favorite place to eat (McGurk's), and put in copies of some of our favorite recipes. They also found pictures of the cars we drive, and have all taken a picture by "the Hamlet tree" to include to show how both they and the tree grow over the years. Both the kids had to write a letter to include talking about what was going on in our world now, and make some predictions about what things will be like in the future. Zoë did an excellent job of summarizing many current events such as housing foreclosures, job loss, poor economy, wars. I'm amazed at how much they must pick things up just from having npr on in the car or listening to dinner conversations. Well, that and I really do include them in our conversations and make sure they understand what is being discussed.

Now I just need to work on something to include!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A time for reflection

Although the kids have JET on Friday, tomorrow is our last day for the year. For the past few days I've been feeling very discouraged about my ability to continue this and if they're actually learning anything. So today I sat down and went over some of the things they have worked on in the last 3 months. Wow, what an amazing feeling that has been! Here's a very small summary of what they've accomplished since Valentine's Day.

Aiden has one more chapter left in the fourth grade math book (which he probably won't have to do because it's measurement, and I doubt he'll score below 90% on the pretest). That means technically he's done 3 years of math in 3 months time. He has read at least 5 chapter books, learned 4 songs hands together on the piano, built countless machines using legos, kinexs, or marble runs, learned about photosynthesis, force, friction, inertia, momentum, done at least 15 science experiments, learned 100s of facts about volcanoes, learned about ancient Greece and Rome, studied WWII and can tell you how the war started, completed 5 beautiful art projects, has asked thousands of questions... The list goes on and on. My fantastic homeschool tracker couldn't even keep track of all the things we've done!

Zoë is only a few chapters behind Aiden in math. I couldn't possibly count the number of books she's read since February (she gets about 6 books a time at the library), studied Ancient Egypt Greece and Rome and the Middle Ages, written several short stories, learned about several famous people including an in depth look at Benjamin Franklin, learned about the California Gold Rush, built dioramas, created her own civilization called "Pixia", written and preformed in several skits/plays, created 100s of craft/art projects, also knows all about volcanoes, made us laugh 100s of times with her witty humor, and really seems to have a much better sense of herself and her abilities.

Not only have we done all of these things and much more, but somehow we've managed to keep the house relatively clean, continue a social life, and had lots of time to just play. Of course we have run head on into several road blocks, but in the end we have navigated around them. I am completely overwhelmed at all we have done when I reread through this post. I'm not even sure why I've been having feelings of doubt. Perhaps it's the perfectionist in me that can always think of one more thing that could be done instead of focusing on all that has already been done!

Overall, I couldn't be happier with their progression. My only real goal for the past 3 months was to undo the negative things they had learned in public school, and get them back to being excited about learning. Even if we had done nothing else, at least I can say we have certainly met my goal of being excited about learning. The rest is really icing on the cake to me. I'm looking forward to seeing what they accomplish for the 2009-2010 school year. Imagine what I can do with them for an entire year!! Anyone know any good math tutors? At this rate I'm going to need one.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Everything can be a learning experience


Somehow last night turned into a giant physics lesson. Don't tell the kids though, they thought they were having fun! We pushed back all the couches and built a giant marble run (16 meters long) in the living room. It included lots of test runs and discussions regarding how to improve the track. In the end we had a working marble run (as long as you used the lighter marble). They pointed out you couldn't use the heavier marble because the force of gravity was stronger on the loop since it weighed more, and that's why it wouldn't complete the circuit. We also spent a little time discussing how the company that made the parts could have improved them. Our biggest complaint was the lack of weight in the bases for the uprights. As you can see from the picture we had to weigh the bases down with books. So if you're ever designing a toy like this, keep that in mind.
Regardless of some of the flaws, we had a great time. Some days it can be completely overwhelming to challenge the children, but then we have nights like last night that remind me why we're doing this in the first place!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Winding down, though LONG winded

Things are starting to wind down for the year here. Yesterday, we finished the unit on matter and movement culminating in a wordless skit the kids put on showing different forces and balance. They had to come up with 3 different ways to pantomime push, pull, gravity, balance and friction. Two of my favorite parts were Zoë as the human balance with boxes on her hand, and watching Aiden keep track of Zoë eating a balanced diet of pretend food. I just love that given free reign to formulate the skit, Aiden came up with a balanced diet to represent the idea of balance. The kids practiced the skit a couple of times, then preformed it last night for Tom and me.

We're also starting the final project for the unit on change. We've taken the curriculum's idea of a time capsule and expanded on it. Today we spent some time discussing what important parts of our culture we should include in the time capsule. This is going to be a lot of fun, and all four of us are going to put some things in it. My hope is that when the kids are grown, and (hopefully) have their own children, we'll dig it up and look through it. I guess the key will be burying it in a spot we can find in 20+ years!

Today in math we made lists of the steps for multiplying multiple digits (for Zoë) and long division (for Aiden). It dawned on me that these concepts would be easier if we spent some time listing out each step. It did seem to work. Zoë did a great job with her problems overall, she just needs to remember to add anything carried over. Aiden continued to befuddle me by being able to do story problems in his head, but struggling with the mathematically written version. If he's not a visual-spacial learner, then no one is! Either way it was a vast improvement over yesterday's math lesson, and we got donuts for a morning snack to celebrate their hard work.

I've received the samples from Saxon for their middle grades math curriculum. Meh... My initial thoughts are that it is entirely too repetitive for Aiden still, but maybe Zoë would like it. Part of me (the lazy part) wants to just order it and say tough. It would be so much easier to just hand them their book and say "do today's lesson." I just don't think that will work well with children who grasp the big concepts so quickly. I think part of me is scared they might miss something if I don't use a curriculum. Of course the reality is that we are using grade based math workbooks, so I really don't think they'll miss anything. Maybe it's more that I can't wrap my head around the idea that some people don't need to work as hard to learn basic math concepts. Perhaps I've forgotten what I felt like at their age.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Improvement

Fortunately, no visits to the principal were necessary this week. After laying down the law on Monday, everything has gone smoothly. Tuesday and Wednesday were extremely busy and productive. We've built diorama's from ancient Greece and Rome. Studied Alexander the Great, learned about gladiators and Roman cities, and compared and contrasted Greek and Roman civilizations. We've also studied gravity as a force and friction, and built mobiles with geometric shapes to learn about the center of gravity of different objects.

Aiden is ready to move on to the next math concept of long division. After a little confusion with multiplying 2 digit numbers on the first day, he's learned the ideas and is doing well. Zoë is finishing up her final test and will be ready to start multiplying 2 digit numbers on Monday. They're both moving very quickly through the concepts. Their memorization levels can't keep up with how quickly they master the ideas. I'm guessing after a summer of TimezAttack this won't be an issue though.

Yesterday everyone got to get a fun book to read at the library. The kids spent the afternoon with their books reading in the tree. It was really cute. Zoë is actually reading a fantasy book that I just finished. I can't believe she's able to read it, but we've been having discussions about it, and she doesn't seem to be having any problems (with the exception of pronouncing names, but who doesn't have that problem with the fantasy genre!). Aiden found a series of books by Cornelia Funke that he's enjoying. Oh, and he lost his two front teeth last week!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Missing Patience

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but this morning I lost all of my patience. Zoë was in tears and Aiden was hiding under a blanket as I laid into them about their inability to at least pretend they were thinking and paying attention. After a string of "I don't know" answers, jumping on the furniture and flailing limbs, I made everyone sit down in the middle of the floor and laid out some expectations.

I know that I'm over-sensitive to Aiden's "active" lifestyle, but I had just had enough! I told them both if they wanted to continue not thinking or listening they should just sit in public school classes for 7 hours. I know I expect a lot from them, but they are capable of much more. I listened to all of their complaints, helped them find solutions, but in the end told them if they couldn't behave I would start doling out more punishments and taking away rewards. Needless to say, we're all looking forward to the week off at the end of May.

Things weren't all bad. We're spending the afternoon at the library researching Ancient Greece for Aiden, and the Roman Empire for Zoë. We talked about myths and learned about Narcissus and Pandora. We also discussed force and did an experiment throwing objects. In math Aiden has started learning how to multiply 2-digit numbers and Zoë was working on probability. She's about ready to move up to the next math book now.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

Friday, May 1, 2009

More testing

I'm still stumbling over where to put Aiden for math. He's been spending most of his math time for the last 2 weeks continuously doing tests or pretests. I've been looking through the Saxon stuff again, but this time for the middle grades. I'm going to request a sample and see how that turns out. The younger stuff was entirely too repetitive for either Zoë or Aiden, but maybe they've gotten past that for the middle school grades.

I still have a little bit of lesson planning to do for the next school year, but that's looking good so far. My challenge will be to figure out how to get each of the children to think on their own. Having them do the same curriculum requires a lot less time, but it can cause some lazy thinking. I find it interesting that already if a math question is asked, Zoë won't answer, but if it doesn't involve basic math skills Aiden won't answer. Of course this isn't true every time, but certainly a majority. I have a few ideas to balance this, but I'm sure more will come up as time goes on.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Organizing

In addition to our normal school days, I've been spending the afternoons organizing things for next year. I've decided to start the 2009-2010 school year on June 1. This will enable us to do 3 weeks on then 1 week off throughout the year, while still meeting Missouri's annual 1000 hours requirement.

Aiden took his final test in math yesterday. We were happy with his 92%, but more importantly I was amazed that he sat still for an entire hour answering all the questions. That's a lot to ask of a 6 year old, but he wanted to keep going. So in less than 2 months, he's done an entire year's worth of math. At this rate by Christmas I'm going to have to find math textbooks and start him on pre-Algebra!

Zoë took her math mid-term yesterday, and also did very well. Today she did 2 1/2 chapters and is well on her way to finishing her book too. She had a little difficulty comparing fractions today, but it clicked for her after a few problems. She was pretty frustrated, but finally worked through it.

Both of the kids are working on balance, force, motion, and friction; as well as researching an ancient civilization. Instead of doing separate lessons, I've just grouped them together and have them both doing the same thing for science/social studies. This seems to work much better.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Learning, learning and more learning!

I have been so impressed with the kids desire to learn new things recently. Both Zoë and Aiden have taught themselves a new song on the piano this week (Aiden learned 2). Zoë has developed her own civilization called "Pixia." It has it's own alphabet, customs, occupations, etc. They've been having a great time playing in the yard pretending to be in their made up civilization.

Aiden has been diligently working on math pre-tests. We have an arrangement that if he gets 80% or higher on a pre-test, he can skip the chapter. He has yet to be even below 90%. In the last 2 days he's skipped 5 chapters. This was after getting a 93% on the midterm test. He seems much more motivated to continue to progress since I instituted this policy. I still can't believe all the things he already knows how to do!

We had a great time yesterday playing with Haley, Maddie, and Hunter. It's so great to have another family on the same page! Heather is filled with so many great ideas, and she continues to motivate me all the time.

Now if I could just find someone to do all the household chores, things would be perfect (for now anyway)!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Mondays

Today was a rather difficult day. No one felt like being in the classroom, so I quickly redid our schedule to include some fun. The morning was spent working on math and writing exercises. Then we went to the library to check out books on Earth for Aiden and Ben Franklin for Zoë. The afternoon was spent baking cookies and listening to a litany of facts from Zoë about Ben Franklin. One of the facts was that Franklin became a vegetarian so he could save money to buy more books. Zoë decided that was reason enough to start public libraries.

The cookies were interesting. They came from a mix and were really more about coloring and forming cookies into any shape you want than tasting good. We had ducks, compound volcanoes, flowers, cookies with names on them, umbrellas, etc. After they cooked everyone got to eat one. Of course Aiden picked his volcano to eat since it took up almost half of the pan. After a few bites he said to Zoë, "you want this? These are crap!" They were tasteless, but they had fun making them and messing with mixing colors.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Praise

I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about the article I posted last and analyzing the praise that the kids get. Fortunately for us, we're believers in the Suzuki method of learning, and the idea of praise is very similar. We find one specific thing to comment on, and one specific thing to improve. This has become a habit with piano practice, but not so much with daily life. So today I really concentrated on applying this idea while we did our school lessons. I was amazed at how quickly it became apparent that this is an extremely successful approach to learning. The kids were both eager to work just a little harder to earn that very specific praise. It certainly takes a lot of energy on my part to do this, but it will be so worth it in the end. Eventually, it might even come as naturally as piano lessons do on some days.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Self-esteem and praise

I found this very interesting article about praise and gifted children today. The gist of the article is they have found that children will try harder tasks if they are praised for their ability to try something and not for being "smart." It goes further and talks about the relationship between praise and self-esteem. I can't even count the number of times I've told the kids "wow, you're smart" after they've completed something! And after having them at home for 2 months now I was beginning to wonder why sometimes they had a difficult time wanting to try new things. I'm going to have to run our own little experiment at home and see how things improve by just changing the kind of praise they recieve.

Today the kids started art classes. They loved drawing African animals and should finish their projects in a couple more sessions. The morning was very busy with classes, and we got a lot done!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Questions

After great piano lessons this morning, we spent the rest of school time working on questions for a book club and an interview with Mary. Last night I registered the kids for zoo camp. They're really excited. They'll get to spend a week in June at the zoo learning about the animals and conservation efforts the zoo makes. At the end of the week they spend the night at the zoo. It should be a lot of fun. I've also been researching foreign language classes. They'll probably end up taking Spanish classes through the St. Charles Home school group. They were the only reasonable priced things I've found.

Aiden has gotten excited about math again. I've been having him work through pretests and told him if he got an 80% or higher on the test we'd skip the chapter. It's amazing how motivated it has made him to take his time and get the right answers. So far we've been able to skip 3 chapters. He's going to start working on the division pretest tomorrow. I wouldn't be too surprised if he can skip that one too. Learning to skip things has been the challenge for me. I'm such a task oriented person that I find it difficult to skip things. I've just adjusted my task to be finding him a challenge instead of completing problems. I think everyone is happier with this change. I'm doing the same thing for Zoë too.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Weekend bliss

We had a fantastic weekend. It was extremely busy, but a whole lot of fun. Friday night we spent playing a game with the kids. Saturday was soccer, cleaning, cooking, and then the 5 Browns concert. Before the concert we got to go back to the green room and meet the 5 of them. They were extremely nice. The kids acted nervous, but all of the Browns asked them questions and talked with them about how long they had been playing piano. The show was by far the best classical preformance I've ever seen. It was delightful to see 5 people so excited about what they are doing. They literally ran to their pianos! Before each piece they spoke to the audience about the song, the composer, and how they felt while playing the song. It was very interesting to hear the details.

My favorite part of the evening was the look on the kids face when the encore began. Since we ordered the tickets sometime last fall all the kids talked about was that they hoped they played "Hall of the Mountain King." I had gotten the set lists about a month before the show and knew that they weren't going to be playing their favorite piece. Aiden almost jumped out of his seat giggling after the first two notes of the encore! Yep you guessed it, "Hall of the Mountain King." We sat mesmerized at the speed of their fingers (we were in the 3rd row). Aiden and Zoë were all smiles and mouths agape throughout the song. It was a perfect way to end the show! If you want more details read Tom's blog.

The other interesting thing I discovered (really it's no surprise) is that the Browns were all Homeschooled. There's a nice little video of them talking about their Homeschool experiences on youtube. I'd love to talk with their parents!


Sunday's meal turned out excellent, and we all enjoyed having company over. Then that evening we got to visit with Tom's Grandma and Aunt at his parents house. At one point in the evening GiGi (short for Great Grandma) pulled me to the side to tell me how proud she was of me for working so hard with the kids and how excited she was that we were homeschooling. I was floored! I am so grateful to be surrounded by people that support our decision! We're planning a trip to her house to interview her about the changes she has seen our country and the world go through. She'll be 93 this fall, and I'm sure she has seen some amazing things. It all fits right in with Zoë's unit on change, so we're really excited about it. Plus, who doesn't love a trip to visit their Great Grandma!

This week has been slightly different because the kids had JET on Tuesday instead of Friday. Today they have a math test (it took them 2 days to do the entire chapter). Everyone is either in the middle of or starting final projects for the end of a small unit. Next week they start art classes with a former art teacher out of her home. I'm also looking for a good way to have them start learning a language. Aiden wants to learn Spanish and Zoë wants to learn Russian. Basically, it's the usual whirlwind of activity around here!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Long days

When I started this blog I intended to make about 3 posts per week. That barely seems plausible at this point. It seems like Fridays are the only days I get a chance to sit down while my brain is still functioning enough to write!

It has been a busy week as usual. On top of schooling I've been trying to get together everything to order for next year, meet with an attorney to make out our will, refinance the house, and try to fit exercise back into my routine. I'm still extremely bitter that about the only time I have to myself is from 5:30-6:30 am! I abhor mornings, but I guess it has to be done.

Aiden is still working on matter. He's also memorizing multiplication tables and created a background for a fictional character. Zoë is wrapping up her literature unit about ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages. We adapted the project in the curriculum to be a movie about some of the differences between now and the Middle Ages. She spent part of the morning working on the storyboard for the movie. Filming should start Monday. She's also doing the character background and multiplication tables.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Heather's house letting the kids play together while Heather and I got the curriculum orders figured out. Aiden and Maddison (5 1/2) played a duet together of Allegro (Aiden's favorite piano song). Maddi was on the violin and Aiden played the piano. The problem was that the songs were in a different key. Although both did a great job playing their parts, together they sounded worse than a horde of dying cats. It was worth the grueling sound to see the excitement on their faces when they finished though. They were both so proud. Zoë and Aiden were happy to see that they have friends who have to practice music too.

Tomorrow starts soccer season and at night we have tickets to see the 5 Browns at Powell Symphony Hall. We get to meet them before the show since we're part of the Suzuki Piano Institute. Apparently, the Browns were Suzuki trained as well. The kids are really looking forward to this. So are Tom and I actually! I think they will like seeing what a group of young people can do on the piano.

Sunday we're hosting dinner for some friends. I've planned a big Italian style dinner complete with homemade focaccia and chocolate cake among 3 other courses. I always enjoy the opportunity to cook for other people, but it is a lot of work! One of these times I'll actually plan something simple instead of these ornate meals that require days of preparation. At least the kids are getting to the age that they can help and not just make a bigger mess of the kitchen.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Insipration

The kids had a fantastic time in Chicago with their Nana. Aiden bought a Venus flytrap plant, which he has been talking about nonstop since returning home. Unfortunately, the dog found it and wondered what it would taste like. Apparently, the answer is not very good, because we found the plant almost whole on the living room floor. I'm still not sure if it survived being in a dog's mouth, but we're trying desperately to nurse it back to health. Fortunately, Nana found a place to order more carnivorous plants and ordered some. So even if it doesn't live, we'll have some new ones to replace it with.

I spent Friday at the Home school expo. Though the curriculum available to look at and the seminar I went to were worthless for our family, it was still worth the $20 fee to feel some reassurance for the route we're taking. I seem to have stumbled upon the perfect curriculum for the kids on the first try, and I got the feeling that I'm WAY more prepared for educating the kids than some other families.

The other thing that has been fantastic is I've found another family in the area that's homeschooling for the same reasons. Heather and I were actually in Moms club together, but I haven't seen her for years. If it weren't for facebook and this blog, I don't think we would have even discovered we were taking the same route. We have some plans to do some lessons together and maybe even have the kids form their own equations team. Two of her children are virtually the same age as Zoë and Aiden, and they're both in JET as well. What's even better is that Heather is a former teacher, so she's full of fantastic ideas! Thanks, Marnie for calling her to let her know we were homeschooling too!

I've decided that next year I'm going to have the kids do the same curriculum for everything except math. Since they're only 16 months apart, there's no reason I should have to split them apart. Also, I need to have Aiden doing less math problems (or at least fewer of the same kind of problems). His ability to grasp the concepts happens so quickly, and he doesn't need the constant repetition. From now on I'm going to do about 5 problems per page. As long as he gets them all right, he can move on to the next concept. Hopefully, this will address some of his boredom.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Plasma...it's not just a fancy TV

After much anticipation we spent the day today studying plasma, dark matter and Bose-Einstein condensate. Yeah, I didn't know what they were either!! Leave it to Aiden to ask questions that require a lot of research. He told me that his books kept mentioning plasma, but didn't tell him what it was. This was nothing short of torture to a precocious 6 year old. So after several Science Friday podcasts, wikipedia pages, and google searches, we discovered what the 3 other phases of matter are. Ask Aiden or do the research yourself if you're interested. Maybe we should get him a summer internship at CERN! Honestly, the hardest part was understanding the research enough myself to put it in terms that he would get. This difficulty was compounded by the fact that we have never discussed protons, neutrons and electrons.

Our day also included a trip to the doctors office. Aiden just wasn't getting any better despite the fact that his fever disappeared. Turns out he has strep throat and an ear infection. The doctor told me with a smile "he must have a high tolerance for pain. I bet it runs in the family." He's probably right. All I could think of was 21 hours of labor with a nearly 10 pound baby and no drugs. Some might call that a high pain tolerance!

Zoë has been going stir crazy with no one to play with. She has spent a couple afternoons helping her grandma in the yard just to find something to do. Sometimes I forget how much fun she is to hang out with. Her wit constantly makes me laugh. I'm glad I've had a lot of time this week to spend with just her. Her intelligence is so much more subtle, that it can be easy to forget how brilliant she is!

I was reminded today that we need to do another family newsletter. I'll whip the troops into line and put one together for everyone. There's certainly no shortage of items to include these days!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Is it really only Wednesday?

I can't believe it's only Wednesday. This has been a very long week. Aiden has been sick since Sunday (though he's on the mend now) with a fever. I'm guessing he got whatever I had. On Monday I just did lessons with Zoë while Aiden slept on the couch. I haven't been able to get much done in the afternoons since I've been taking care of Aiden (this obviously includes blog posts), and things are starting to pile up around the house. Yesterday, we found out that one of Tom's fraternity brothers, Brian, lost his battle with cancer, so we're dealing with those emotions and scrambling to make arrangements to attend the funeral. The one bright spot is that we've been able to have class outside on the deck all week since the weather has been so great.

School today was very busy. Zoë is starting an experiment to find out what water pollution does to plants. We also pretended to be Native Americans and foraged for food outside, made headdresses to wear and read about the Nashau River. Aiden worked on making an alternative ending to Bartholomew and the Ooblek, made our own ooblek out of cornstarch and water (that stuff is weird!), and tried to decide whether ooblek was a solid or a liquid. It's liquid until you apply pressure to it, then it becomes a solid. Strange stuff!

I managed to lose my mother of the year status by completely forgetting the kids were supposed to go to a homeschool program at the science center yesterday. Somehow the date didn't make it onto my google calendar, and things were so crazy with finding out all the news about Brian that it slipped my mind. They were both really mad at me, but I apologized and told them there was always next month.

This weekend they leave for several days in Chicago with Nana. They have plans to go to the Field museum, Museum of Science and Industry, Addler Planetarium, and the Sears Tower. Nana's going to be exhausted! I plan to take at least one day to do absolutely nothing while they're gone. HA! As if I could possibly lay around and do nothing... Perhaps what I mean is that I'll refuse to do anything that looks like a responsibility. The other three days I'll spend cleaning, organizing and lesson planning.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Things are still going very well with homeschooling. I can't believe how much the children have changed in the last month. The drama, tears and bickering have disappeared. They've been replaced by self-motivated, responsible children! I am so amazed at not only their ability to learn, but how seriously they take it. Since they've been at home only one time have I had to remind them of the time, or chores, or piano practice. These are the same kids that would cry and yell when it was time to start piano, or throw themselves onto the piano bench anytime they made a mistake, or feel sick when it was time to leave for the bus.

Part of me feels really guilty about this. Why didn't we think of this sooner? How much damage has already been done? Was I blind to the problems they were having in school (or maybe just too busy worrying about my sick mom to notice the extent of things)? Then I remember that we were aware. I knew there would be problems before Aiden even started school. We met with teachers, counselors, and the principal the spring before kindergarten began. We had him tested, they moved him up a grade, and he started the gifted program. I asked the school to test Zoë in kindergarten, but they talked me out of it. That I certainly do regret, but in the long run it won't matter. So we were doing things, and I can't beat myself up about not making the choice to homeschool sooner. The fact is we're on the right track now, and maybe we wouldn't even be here if we hadn't tried public school in the first place.

As happy as I am now, I have started to notice that I've slowly been letting myself and my needs be put aside. I need to work a little harder to find some things to do for myself, and not just once a week. I've found that as soon as I start feeling an imbalance in the workload at home, then I need to start doing something for me. I'm sure everyone knows that feeling. It's the thoughts of "why should I put those dishes in the dishwasher? No one else does anything around here!" type of thoughts. It really has nothing to do with other people, and everything to do with needing your own outlet or interests to pursue. So I'm going to start finding those things again and scheduling time for just me.