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!
Monday, May 25, 2009
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.
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!
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