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.
Monday, September 28, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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