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!

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!

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!

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.

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.