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November 26, 2007
Connor Math Work 2007/11/26
Connor has finally gotten the first chapter of Dolciani pre-algebra, on expressions, equations, precedence, inverse operations, properties of expressions and so forth. So the next step is chapter 2, which is negative numbers, exponents, absolute values and scientific notation. Connor has done all of this except possibly scientific notation, so I'm first going to give him the chapter review (p. 78), and if he gets that all right, the chapter test. If he gets those almost completely, I'll fill in the gaps where he has a problem; otherwise, I'll move on to chapter 3, which covers rational numbers.
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November 21, 2007
I Can Has President?
In the spirit of lolcats, Jeff is taking on the 2008 election.
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November 19, 2007
Connor Math Work 2007/11/19
I think he's finally got it — well, almost. Connor is still having problems with precedence. Not seeing it or understanding it — he does that — rather with the notation. But he's really, really close.
Today his work is Pre-Algebra (Dolciani, et al) p40 Chapter Review 1-6 all, 7-19 odds only; p41 Chapter Test all odd problems and problem 30. It's thirty problems, of which only about 4 or 5 should be hard for him. If he sails through this, we go on to positive and negative numbers, which Connor should fly through.
It's been frustrating that he has been working so slowly. I have decided to stop depending on him to get things done when they're assigned, and instead will set aside time for Connor to do his math. That way, it won't take him 3 days to get a lesson completed.
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November 18, 2007
Christmas Pudding
I've threatened to do this for years.
This year I'm making an old-fashioned, steamed Christmas Pudding, based on the recipe in Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels. I mixed it up yesterday (a gluten-free version, of course!).
First, I mixed together two cups of gluten-free breadcrumbs (from a previous batch of half-decent gluten-free drop biscuits), a cup of white rice flour, half a cup of brown sugar, half a teaspoon of salt (hmm, did I remember to add the salt?), and spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. To this mix I added a cup of currants, a cup of raisins, and a cup of sultanas, some lemon zest, and 1/3 candied citron. (And if I do this again, I'll skip the citron. It's disgusting.)
I also added a little orange juice concentrate. I think that traditional puddings involve nuts, but I don't like to tempt fate.
When you mix all that up, you get something like this:
Then, to be really authentic, you've got to use beef suet. Mmmm, yummy beef suet. Here is what two pounds of beef suet looks like:
This stuff is truly disgusting. It gets rubbery and melty and gross quickly, so you have to grate it into your concoction while it's still half-frozen. Work quickly. Trust me.
I used a quarter pound of suet, and then added three eggs and half a cup of brandy:
Mix it all up really well, with your hands.
Then comes the steaming. You are instructed to put your pudding in a greased pudding basin; you tie a cotton cloth around it, with cotton string, and place it in a boiling water bath. Steam for at least five hours. Since I don't have a pudding basin, I just used a large ceramic bowl. I think the bowl was too big.
When it was finished steaming, mine looked like this:
I have no idea what it's supposed to look like at this stage.
I poured another quarter cup of brandy over it, covered it tightly and tossed it into the fridge. It will stay there until Christmas, at which point we'll steam it again before serving, douse it with more brandy and light it on fire.
Who wants to join us?
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In Which We Checked Boxes
That's what we did this week: We checked boxes. By that I mean that pretty much everything on our lists got done, but I was directly involved in little of it, and there was no discussion, reading aloud together, or shared learning experiences. Sometimes, though, life gets in the way and you check boxes. Or take a vacation. Or pretend to take a vacation.
Monday we had piano (and an Intelligent Design lesson). Tuesday we juggled two doctor's appointments in two different places, at the same time. Wednesday I was out all morning at my own doctor's appointment, and slept all afternoon. Thursday is always taken up with karate and drama classes. Friday I finally ran all the other errands that needed running.
What boxes got checked? Well, Connor occasionally deigned to do math - not a lot, mind you, and certainly not all that he was assigned. We're still working out the kinks of being responsible to Dad for math.
A couple of assignments in History Odyssey, including one written summary - check. (Although I think he skipped the math assignments and the timeline). A couple of chapters of King Arthur - check. A couple of chapters of Tom Sawyer - check.
We've misplaced Famous Men of the Middle Ages.
Latin - this week we tried out Galore Park's "So You Really Want to Learn Latin?" I didn't like it. It moves as fast, or faster, than Henle, with fewer practice exercises. I think that Latin Prep is a much superior program, as is Henle. I think that I will do my usual trick of bouncing back and forth between Henle and Latin Prep, using one until we get stuck, and then turning to the other for review, reinforcement, and to explain tough concepts in a different way.
And we did another week of analysis in Classical Writing. Folks, the more I use this program, the better it gets. At Connor's level, he is given a sentence. He must then:
1) Mark and diagram the sentence.
2) Rewrite the sentence replacing all the important nouns and verbs with synonyms.
3) Rewrite the sentence with some type of grammar change.
4) Rewrite the sentence in the shortest way possible, while still retaining the meaning.
5) Rewrite the sentence, adding description and detail to make it longer.
This is fantastic practice. A student who becomes comfortable with these exercises will be flexible; he'll be able to write in a variety of ways with ease. This program is worth every penny.
Now, Aidan. Well, Aidan did Latin and math, and read The Hobbit and another Timothy Zahn book. I've lost our Story of the World CDs, so we didn't do history. We didn't do Classical Writing. He had an easy week. There you go. We've lost his Singapore book too, so we're only doing Right Start E at present, working with multiples and equivalent fractions.
Griffin is finally making progress in math. He hit a wall when we tried to add tens and hundreds, but after some patience and working with the abacus, he's getting there. He practiced reading in Phonics Pathways. And that was it.
Science, you say? Ah. Well, coincidentally NOVA this week was about the Devon, PA trial to determine whether Intelligent Design can be taught in public school science classes. Timely, yes? It will be interesting to see what the kids have to say to the piano teacher on Monday. Also timely (but not so much for the kids) is Scalzi's report of his visit to the Creation Museum in Kentucky. Do check out his lolCreashun contest (unless you're one of my dearly loved Young Earth friends, in which case it would just tick you off). My favorite is on the first page with the caption: "Logic: You're Doing It Wrong." Did I mention it's not safe for kids? It's not.
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November 16, 2007
Connor's Math Work 2007/11/16
I had given Connor the problems from Dolciani 1-7, p28, odd problems in parts A and B and all part C problems. The basic topic is inverse operations, and Connor had no problem with simple, one-step examples (part A). Part B, though, flummoxed him entirely, for two reasons: he did not check his work, and he tends to not work the problem completely. For example:
3q + 9 = 27
He sees to divide by 3, and gets q + 9 = 9 — in other words, having divided the first term by 3, he forgets to divide the entire side out. It's mainly, I think, because he won't write out his work; he wants to do everything in his head. Thus, he makes simple, careless mistakes. So I've given Connor all the part B problems to redo, and the part C problems, which he did not do at all.
Steph and I talked about putting aside a given time of day, after work and before dinner, for math with Connor, and I really don't see an alternative. Connor will delay and delay until forced to do the work, and then will rush through it as quickly as possible. Since the lesson explanations are short, averaging about 15 minutes (Dolciani takes things in small chunks), that would give plenty of time for working the problems right then.
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November 12, 2007
Speaking Of Feeling Bombarded ...
I love our piano teacher. She's young, she's sweet, she's fun, she's great with the kids, and they are progressing nicely. She is homeschooled.
And, her fees are cheap.
The one drawback is that she seems to be on a bit of a mission to convince my children (and me) about the Truth and Rightness of creation science.
Oh, boy.
(She didn't even bother to ask, first, if we're Christian. I mean, that's just a given. Duh.)
Posted by lynx at 11:00 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
November 11, 2007
Connor's Math Work 2007/11/12
Right before Halloween, I gave Connor some work on equations (Dolciani p24 part A odd problems and all part C problems). This was a little difficult for him. Well, really it was only the part C problems that were difficult. In those, you have to insert the operation that makes the equation true given the constants provided in the problem. Like this:
x ? 17 ? 13 = 24 ; 20
(For those of you who have forgotten, or never seen, the semicolon followed by a set is the notation for what possible solutions can be used. So in this case, that is directly equivalent to saying 20 ? 17 ? 13 = 24. The solution is +, - — as in 20 + 17 - 13 = 24.)
Anyway, other than that, he seemed to grasp it. Now I'm not so sure. After going through the next lesson, on inverse operations, he seemed to constantly not get two things: you cannot do something to one term in an expression without doing it to all terms in an expression, and you cannot do something to one part (side, in this case) of an equation without doing it to all parts.
Let me make that more concrete: he said that the first simplification step for a=2a-5 was to subtract a, giving 0=2a-5. Then he tried to divide by 2, giving 2a/2 -5 on the right side...um, no. So I talked him through the rule several times, each time with a different example, and hopefully he gets it. We'll see tomorrow, as he does the Dolciani 1-7 problems on p28, evens from part A odd problems, part B odd problems and all part C problems. OK, this will likely take him 2 days, but we'll see.
Oh, and if you're wondering why the delay, it was because of the week eaten by the Lego robot competition.
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November 9, 2007
I'll Corrupt My Own Kids, Thanks
We've finished reading "A Wrinkle in Time"; our new bedtime reading is "The Golden Compass."
If you just gasped in horror, this message may be for you:
Please, please don't send me any more email about how evil this book is and how it will corrupt our children. I am not interested in either your attempts at censorship, or your hysteria.
I bet you wouldn't take it kindly if I set up an email campaign to inform concerned Pagan parents (and I assume that's all of you) about the grave threat "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" could pose to our children's worldview, would you?
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In Which the Week Was Eaten By Legos
We really didn't do much school work this week. Our First LEGO League competition is tomorrow, so most of our week was display prep. Wish us luck. If you're very lucky, I might take and post pictures.
Now, I will ramble disconnectedly:
•Have I mentioned how happy I am with Galore Park Latin? Because I am. Very happy. Really, really happy. It's as good as Latin Book One, only with better pacing and more practice. I'm so happy that I plunked down the cash for their higher-level Latin series, and their Spanish program. When I get more money, I will give it to them in return for science and British history materials.
•I am also, so far, very happy with Lightning Literature. We're using this in a very low-key way (sort of how we use most programs). I like the reading selections (it starts off with "Rikki Tikki Tavi" and "Tom Sawyer"), especially as they're pieces which are good, but are not on my radar. The pacing is good, and the assignments are not all stupid (as they are in most lit programs for junior high).
•When we weren't doing FLL stuff, Aidan had his nose perpetually stuck in his latest Timothy Zahn book. I'm not even sure he stopped reading to eat. Ever.
•We survived Lachlan's sedation and massive dentistry, and he did not turn out to have any rare genetic disorders. This time.
•My children have discovered YouTube. Want to know what they watch there? Apparently, people make videos of the computer and video games they play. And my kids watch them. This is just weird.
•Folks at Scouts are apparently feeling comfortable enough with me to start asking questions about homeschooling. "Why do you do it?" (Which I don't answer in complete honesty - not until I know you better and know that you're not going to take everything I say as a personal affront.) "Do you have a teaching background?" (Well I do now, don't I?)
The question that left me gaping was this: "When you teach your kindergartener, how do you make sure your older son isn't listening in on the stuff he's already done?"
For crying out loud. I forget that in general, people really don't think things through before they ask questions. Of course I answered him kindly. But who the heck cares if my older students listen in on lessons with my youngers? Does it matter? Why? Did I miss something? Will it drain their brains? Push out room needed for more advanced material?
Does it ever hurt to review material? Have you ever noticed that when you read books meant for young children, you can still learn something new?
I don't mind the questions, it's just that sometimes I can't figure out quite where they come from.
Anyway.
I can't wait until this next week is over. I'm scheduled for my EDG or EGD, or whatever it is, on Wednesday. After that, I still don't know which state we're having Thanksgiving in. But I do have a plan for making gluten-free/dairy-free/egg-free pumpkin pie and dressing. Who wants to come for dinner?
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November 8, 2007
"See, there's this great warrior in Scandinavia ..."
So, how does one pitch "Beowulf" to the movie studios?
Angelina Jolie as a nude lizard? I don't know that I'm going to hold my breath for this one. I am an English major, and I do know the story.
(Hat Tip to Mark)
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November 7, 2007
Why I Can't Watch "House" Before Bed
Last night I dreamed that when I took Lachlan in for his dental work, they informed me that he has a rare genetic disorder that is incurable and will cause his brain to deteriorate.
(FYI, we're taking him for massive dental work on Friday, complete with sedation. For Lachlan. It's totally unfair that they don't offer sedation to the parents, as well. I bet they'd do better business if they whiffed some of that nitrous oxide into the room when it's time to pay the bill, don't you?)
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November 3, 2007
Week 13 - Not Boring
The specifics were in my nifty pdf last week, so I won't rehash them here. We actually did most of what was on the list. We were good up until Wednesday, as you might expect. After that, well. ...
There was one specific and noteworthy change. I've been playing around at Ancestry.com, tracing my family tree. Ancestry.com offers you a nifty little button which, when you click it, gives you a list of your famous ancestors. (It doesn't work for me, however, because they insist on giving me the ancestors of someone who is NOT ME, and I haven't figured out how to fix it!) We discovered that Connor (and all his brothers) is the 8th cousin three times removed of William Avery "Billy" Bishop, Canadian WWI flying ace. (Connor's 10th great-grandmother, through his father's line, Sarah Loomis, was Billy Bishop's 7th great-grandmother.) At any rate, this sparked his imagination, and he requested to be let off of his normal history assignment to research Billy Bishop. Uh ... yes, please do!
Frankly, if you find your study of history lagging, try genealogy. We've found ancestors who lived in England during the time of the Battle of Bosworth Field. (Nicholas Steere, born 1457 in Surrey, England) (If you believe one line, we have ancestors who go back to and include Brian Boru. This is also a good lesson on taking information you cannot verify with a huge grain of salt.) We've definitively found that one of my ancestors built the Merrimac.d One of my (okay, distant) ancestors is the only individual with whom the U.S. government ever made a treaty of peace (I'm kind of proud of that one). One of Jeff's was a drummer boy at Antietam. The kids can trace where and when our various families came to America, and learn about why they might have done so. Tidbits of information like this make history personal, and light a fire under the kids (and Mom) like you would not believe.
(Side note: My Pandora station just played Madonna. I may have to fire Pandora.)
Anyway. I promised you Not Boring, right? Well. This was the week we almost moved to Virginia. We were Virginia bound at the beginning of the week, and it was all off by the end of the week. It was certainly not a boring week for me. The upshot of the upheaval is that we will be moving, but now we don't really know where or when. We bought packing boxes today. I'll start filling them, and we'll see what happens.
I'm still working on next week's school schedule. Next week we have two doctor appointments, three orthodontist appointments, and two dentist appointments, one of which involves sedation (sadly, not for the parents); so I'm not very sanguine about our schoolwork for the week.
Zoe: You sanguine about the kinda reception we're gonna get?
Mal: Absolutely. What's sanguine?
Zoe: Hopeful. Plus, point of interest, it also means bloody.
Mal: Well, that pretty much covers all the options, now don't it?
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November 1, 2007
This Is Just Not Right
Halloween. I prefer to just give them the candy and tell them to go for it. Sit up all night and eat it. Candy for breakfast? Sure thing! Just EAT IT, and then it will be GONE.
So what did they do? They ate some. And then stopped.
They ate some more today, realized that it gave them a stomach ache, and made them feel weird and not good, and then stopped.
Argh. So yes, this is good. It's nice that they are old enough that they can actually recognize, for themselves, the effect all that sugar has on their bodies. This is a Good Thing.
Except that there is still CANDY in the HOUSE!
I'm about to have to resort to underhanded tactics. I'm glad that they recognize that eating at bunch at once is maybe not so good for them, but I cannot have the stuff hanging around for weeks either, slowly dribbling through their systems, building up their tolerance. No, no no no. And no, I'm not eating it.
Silly children.
This year we had a Power Ranger, Harry Potter, a Sith Lord and his Dark Apprentice. The highlight of the evening was when the dark Jedi ran into Obi Wan on the street. Apparently they all shouted: "YOU!" and brandished their lightsabers. And no, I did not take a single picture. Bad Mommy.
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