One-Sixteenth

August 21, 2008

Week 2 - This Is Too Easy

How odd. This is really too easy.

This was our second week with TOG, and so far, so good. This week everyone read about the Mayflower, the Pilgrims, and the Native Americans who worked with them. It was very low-key. The older boys did their assigned readings - we even did the geography work. I read Three Young Pilgrims to the little kids, as well as the section on King James I in Kings and Things (H. E. Marshall). TOG does not schedule Kings and Things; it's my own addition. It's too delightful to skip.

The older boys did their Latin - Aidan wanted a change, so we're doing Henle. Really, there's no point in my saying what Latin curricula we use. We use one of three or four, depending. So for now, he'll use Henle. Both boys did Greek. Connor attended his writing class. I started Aidan, Lachlan and Griffin in Susan Wise Bauer's Writing With Ease, each at his own level. Aidan did lessons in Right Start E, Griffin in Singapore 1B, and Lachlan in Singapore 1A. Connor finished through Book 2 of the Iliad.

No one was overburdened with work, and we all had plenty of free time.

On most days, the big boys start their work around 10 a.m. The little boys prefer to play all day. Sometimes we don't do their work until 5 or 6 p.m. Tonight it was after dinner.

Monday we had a field trip:

It was our first time to use the Metro to go downtown.

We got as far as the WWII monument. On the way back to the museums, Connor jumped off a tree, landed badly, and sprained his ankle. That cut our trip short, as I had to support him while he hopped back to the Metro station, through the station, through the next station, and out to the car. It took us three hours to get home, with the hopping. It was not fun.

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August 17, 2008

More on Tapestry of Grace and Planning

I still shake my head as I type the words.

Rose asked how much planning I'm doing. Actually, I'm up to my eyeballs in planning, but I think that's just because I'm figuring out the system, and how to mesh their system with my system. They have everything very nicely laid out, but I must also have 1) my own overview of what I'm doing in a week, with not only TOG but everything else, and; 2) some assignment system for the two older kids so that they know what they are doing.

I'm experimenting with a couple of different spreadsheets for my own weekly overview. TOG has nothing to do with this - I always do some kind of weekly overview. However, now I have to fit TOG into it. I now begin to see why people make TOG workbooks for their kids. If I copy the pages for each child, I can just circle the appropriate reading and geography assignments and go. I can also add in the history questions, and any maps or activity pages (usually coloring pages for the younger set). Karenciavo seems to be the TOG notebook queen, and I assume I will succumb to the desire for those sexy Levenger Circa notebooks. (How sad it is that I can use the adjective "sexy" for a notebooking system.)

I have been using Pageflakes to give the older boys their assignments. They like this a great deal. I think it's a bit of a pain, but I can't think of any better options. Pageflakes lets me give them a reading list for the week, as well as daily assignments. I just have to remember to update them every week.

For years I journaled our homeschooling, using a paper planner for a basic idea, but only writing in it what we did, instead of what I planned. Now, I need an actual planner. A flexible, good planner for the Mac doesn't exist. I'm hoping Jeff will write one. It's on his list. In the meantime, I use Pages and Numbers to make up weekly sheets that tell me what each child is meant to work on in each subject on each day. I used a chart drawn up in Pages last year, and I'm experimenting with one in Numbers this year. (I'm doing this because Susie did the gruntwork of making the layout, and making it TOG compatible, so I don't have to. Ha. I mean, thanks, Susie :)

But what this means is that I'm simultaneously putting assignments into Pageflakes, making workbooks, and creating detailed plans in both Pages and Numbers. I am deep into planning Heaven or Hell, depending on your point of view. The upshot of this is that I do not yet know how much planning TOG will really require of me.

In the comments, KathyJo noted that it might be easier for a non-Christian to deal with the religious content, than a Christian of a different flavor. That may be true. I want to note that the worldview used in TOG is specifically one of providential history. If that is not your cup of tea, you are warned.

Here are some examples of Christian content we've seen this week. We had one question that asked the student to discuss John Smith's character, to think about whether or not he had the qualities of a good leader, and whether he should have been in charge of Jamestown ... and why we thought God allowed him to be the leader. That's an example of a question that's easy to modify. We simply do the first part, and ignore the second.

The student is given some Bible verses, and asked to use them to think about and discuss Galileo's positions, and why the Catholic Church was so threatened by his views. When we have the time, I don't mind at all doing an exercise like this. This can be a very interesting and informative exercise, and I want my kids to know how Christians think, and what the Bible says.

However, at the high school level, you encounter questions like: "What specific events in the story of Jamestown obviously show God's Providence at work?" And next week, at the Dialectic level: "In what ways did God provide for the Pilgrims?" Those will have to be tossed out wholesale, while I attempt to not gag.

But later on: "Using the Bible, define the qualities of a hero." Okay, we can define the qualities of a hero based on our own yardsticks. We can even compare our definition of a hero to a Biblical definition.

So it varies. There is still much we can use. Some of it we can use to learn about Christianity and Christians. And some of it will be kicked out the door.

We had our first end-of-week discussion today. It should have been on Friday, but, well, it was today, in the car on the way to and from the mall. (Captive audience!) It went really well, and was fun. Of course, encouraging Connor to discuss history is like encouraging a politician to talk about himself. Jeff enjoyed it a great deal. We particularly liked the fact that teacher's notes led us to discuss how the colonies were funded by joint stock ventures, and what that meant and how such companies work. All in all, a good discussion like this, with the whole family, is worth the price of the curriculum for me.

And oh, oh, I think the best moment for both of us was when we were discussing money and value, and Jeff asked the kids what "value" is, and Aidan responded: "Oh! Oh! Heinlein talked about this in Starship Troopers!"

Ah, the indoctrination is going well.

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August 15, 2008

Week 1 - What are we doing, again?

Week 1, folks. Yes, we've started back to school. This year I am teaching first, second, fifth and seventh grade. And the first grader is mightily resistant. Mightily.

But, we're back into it. Every day the older two did math, Latin and Greek. Every day the younger two did math, and either phonics, copywork or grammar.

There has been one little change. We've decided to try something new. I haven't been happy with history since my oldest finished all of Story of the World. Yes, he can do history independently, but 1) I like it better when we do the same topics at the same time; and 2) his independent work was becoming something easy to dash off, which was not my goal.

So we're trying out - and these are the words you thought you'd never hear on this blog - we're trying out Tapestry of Grace.

(Shhh! Don't tell anyone!)

For those of you who aren't homeschoolers, or who have never heard of this, Tapestry of Grace is a history-based curriculum plan for teaching one topic of history at a time to various levels of children. It's a very nicely laid-out plan. It is both meaty and flexible, and leads the older children to deeper and deeper levels of analysis.

So why would I say that you'd never hear of me using it? Well, it is heavily Christian. Heavily. It is called Tapestry of Grace, after all. The teacher's notes and many of the questions for students assume a Biblical worldview. If we continue to use this program, I will have to toss out their entire philosophy component, and at least half of Year 1, as unusable for us. Some of it contains so much Biblical worldview that we're not going to be able to pick it out or overlook it.

It is also an all-encompassing curriculum. It can take up your whole week, every week. i don't want to spend that much time on history. On the other hand, it is time to ramp up the difficulty for the oldest, and TOG's plan seems to do that for me nicely.

It also moves really, really fast. This one week covered what, with Story of the World, we would have taken six weeks to do, and we'd have had more world history thrown in.

Still, so far, I like the plan, I like the questions, I like the way it all comes together. I can always slow down when I want to, and take advantage of those times when we will not be able to use the TOG material.

It does feel odd, though to be using it. So, stay tuned to see how a pagan family uses Tapestry of Grace. I bet the publisher will love it.

So, we did week 20 of unit 3, year 2 (in TOG-speak that's Y2U3 Wk. 20, for LG UG and D), which covers the first English settlements in America. TOG recommends large amounts of reading and for some reason, my kids did it all. I'm flabbergasted. Usually, I assign and they weasel. But they read it. All. Connor even gave written answers to questions about the readings (in his usual, concise, way). And we did those nifty maps. Everyone read different books, but they were all about the same topics. We were all able to talk about the same events and people, with each kid having slightly different information.

I was not planning on using TOG's literature component, but it turns out that they schedule many of the books I was going to use anyway. I'll just throw out the ones I don't want to use, and add in others.

So far so good, but I remain skeptical and open to chucking the whole thing. It does have decent resale value.

I bought Writing With Ease to use for my two little boys. However, did I mention the youngest one's resistance to all things school? It will take some time to get into a rhythm with them. Which is fine.

Along with all the TOG reading, Connor is reading the Iliad this year. We're going to watch videos from the Teaching Company to supplement. We've got all year. If this turns out to be doable for him, we'll read the Odyssey, too. If not, if we take all year to do the Iliad, that's fine.

Hmmm. It felt like we did a lot. Now it doesn't seem like so much. We still had time for a day with Grandma and Grandpa, and we only did review today. Today we also did some science (gasp!), and art (gasp!). I know. We're just crazy, aren't we? And we watched a NOVA about Galileo.

Meanwhile, Connor discovered Asimov, and Aidan discovered Heinlein. We are proud parents. But, er ... it is kind of tricky finding Heinlein that is going to be, well ... I'm not sure about a 10 year old reading Stranger in a Strange Land. He found Starship Troopers, and fell in love, but I steered him towards Have Space Suit, Will Travel after that. Connor is reading the Foundation series. Did I mention that I'm thrilled?

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August 12, 2008

Homeschooling Goddess

Yep, that's what I am.

Check these out for proof. Peanut-butter ball dough maps of the U.S. Are they learning geography, or is it just a sugar rush? Who knows? They look cool, though, don't they? Oh, you don't know, because I haven't shown them to you? I put them all here rather than have four big map images here on the blog. Don't ask me why it works that way, it just does. I could stop it, but I'm not interested in trying. I'll put just a couple of shots here.

The map itself is made, as I said, of peanut-butter ball "dough." The rivers are red Twizzlers. The green sprinkles indicated the plains. The chocolate chips are the mountain ranges, the blue icing represents lakes, and the M&M is Washington, DC.

And here are the boys working on the project:

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June 12, 2008

Planning For Next Year

I've been mulling over our next school year. I'm not really happy with the way the last couple of years have gone. And so, I'm considering some changes.

First of all, I'm ditching my beloved Classical Writing for awhile. As much as I love and believe in the program, we need a break from it. I need someone else to work with my children for awhile, so we're planning to use some online classes from Home2Teach.

Second, I'm facing up the reality of teaching a child whose brain is just not going to work with my LCC philosophies. I firmly believe that studying quality narratives is far superior to reading a textbook; however, Connor actually retains more information, and has a better grasp of the big picture, when he reads the history encyclopedia. I can't do that. If I read the encyclopedia, my brain dumps the information as fast as I read it. It must be his father's DNA.

So, I'm dumping my lovely reading lists, and letting him do WTM-style logic-stage history. This involves him reading sections of our history encyclopedia; when he comes across something that piques his interest, then we pause there for him to find and read additional materials. Then we move on. There you go.

For the little boys, for writing, I am doing whatever Susan Wise Bauer says. I did not follow her recommendations for my older two, and I don't much like the results. I've gone back over her material, and I can see that it makes great sense. The younger kids are getting the full treatment in that area.

I am coming to realize that although I believe in and identify with the version of classical education outlined in the LCC, SWB has the better grasp of educational development of young people. For most things, this hasn't mattered. For writing, it has. So I think we're backing into The Well-Trained Mind for awhile, to see if her ideas and methods help us over these rough spots. In reality, we use what works best, no matter what it's called or how it's labeled, as long as we reach our goals.

So, for Connor's 7th grade year, we are planning:

Algebra I with an older Dolciani text. Jeff is teaching this, not I! The text is a bit beyond me, and will need someone who actually understands math to teach it.

Latin, continuing with the Galore Park Latin Prep series, and Lingua Latina.

Greek with Elementary Greek and this nifty, free resource.

Writing with Home2Teach; we might still do some grammar, and we'll use Megawords for spelling.

History the WTM way, early modern, 1650-1850, with an emphasis on American, and probably Virginian, history. Lots of field trips.

Literature - I hope we'll tackle the Iliad. Other than that, early modern selections, to include "Johnny Tremain," "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch," "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin," Perrault's fairy tales, Grimm's fairy tales, Washington Irving stories, Poe, "The Witch of Blackbird Pond," "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." We might read "Common Sense." We'll see. This is all assuming I can get their noses out of Orson Scott Card books. I guess eventually, they'll run out. We are not tied to this list; we'll read what we can, and use books on CD for some. My focus will be on the Iliad, and, if we get to it, "Common Sense."

Science - ....

I have to decide whether or not to add Spanish. I want to. The kids want to. If only it required no effort on my part!

Aidan will actually be doing the same history and literature (probably not the Iliad, though if he wants to try it, he's welcome), and maybe even the same writing, switching out where necessary for his abilities. Same Latin, but slower. He's actually ahead of Connor in Greek. He'll be finishing up Right Start E, and moving into Singapore 4, for math. He'll be in 5th grade, but I suspect he'll be happier using "Story of the World" rather than the history encyclopedia.

Lachlan and Griffin will be doing "First Language Lessons," SWB's "Writing With Ease," Right Start B, and "Story of the World," and listening to lots and lots of fairy tales, myths, and tales of Egypt and Pirates, as always.

And piano ... though the boys have asked that I teach them this next year, so that we can use the piano money for swimming lessons instead. We can do that. I know I can teach them, but I hope I can help them maintain their enthusiasm. And Scouts, and hopefully we'll find a First Lego League team, and did I mention the field trips?

I'm tired already.

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May 20, 2008

Meanwhile, the younger children ...

... are teaching themselves to read via playing Munchkin.

It will be interesting to see the differences between them, and the children who learned via Calvin and Hobbes.

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If you want your children to do any schoolwork ...

Don't hand them Orson Scott Card novels. I don't think I've seen my older children since Sunday, when I handed them "Speaker for the Dead" and "Ender's Shadow."

Posted by lynx at 8:43 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

March 28, 2008

Weekly Report

This will be interesting, because it feels like we spent most of the week alternately glaring at each other and looking out the window only to yell "What? It's snowing again?"

Yeah, snow. At least three times this week. Last night we had four inches dumped on us. At least it's sunny today. Soon, I believe, the traditional Michigan spring rains will set in. Sun is scheduled again in June.

I'm not complaining, though. Honest. I'd still rather this than tornado sirens.

Anyway. Math. Aidan made it to lesson 85 in Right Start E, despite much grumbling about division. In fairly typical Aidan fashion, he refused to be taught, but figured it out himself. Lachlan did lesson 41 in Right Start B, and Griffin spent the entire week on Lesson 75, adding two two-digit numbers with a sum greater than 100. That was a tough lesson for him, and we'll probably either have to keep working on it next week, or take a breather and do something else for awhile.

Grammar - Griffin completed through lesson 55, and Lachlan through lesson 12, in First Language Lessons. Lachlan's lesson involved me reading "The Lion and The Mouse" to him, for him to narrate back.

Me: What did the Lion think about doing to the Mouse?

Lachlan: Nom, nom, nom, nom ....

Greek - I don't really know where we are in Greek. I made assignments, but Aidan worked ahead and Connor did not quite finish what was assigned. I forsee more private tutoring in the future. These combined classes never work out for us. I think Aidan has launched into Week 4, and Connor is somewhere in Week 3.

Latin - Connor completed through 6.17 in Latin Prep, doing very well, He always amazes me with how well he remembers vocabulary. Aidan and I read through half of Cap. II in Lingua Latina (we're moving quickly right now because we've done these chapters before); Connor tagged along.

We only did history once this week - Story of the World, the Diaspora. Plus, Connor read several chapters of The Story of Europe. We did watch the Kevin Costner "Robin Hood." My goodness, why didn't any of you warn me? That was far worse than I remembered.

For science, we watched a documentary about dinosaurs, and one about volcanoes. We also watched "Alien" and "The Time Machine." Does that count? Aidan really liked "Alien." I'm sure we're terrible parents.

Aidan is still reading Just So Stories, and Connor is reading The Two Towers. Griffin and I read many Greek Myths ... I think the last one we read was about Io. Just two chapters of The Long Winter - this wasn't a good reading week, as you can see. Griffin and I are also reading lots of Jack Prelutsky, though Lachlan has temporarily regressed to Sandra Boynton.

I also started Connor back into Classical Writing today, with Week 2 of Homer B. Instead of the workbook model, he's rewriting the scene in which Deagol finds the ring and then meets his death, in medias res.

Here endeth the week.

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March 25, 2008

How To Know You're Doing it Right

My 10 year old came to me, before I had breakfast, and asked to do Latin.

Honest.

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March 21, 2008

Return to the Weekly Report

My husband requested that I keep doing our weekly reports; if nothing else, they give him a guide to go by should I be ill, or, gods forbid, worse. So on that cheery note ... ;-)

I have finally figured out the best, easiest and smoothest way to get through school tasks with the little boys: First thing in the morning, I gather up ALL our school books, math manipulatives, workbooks, copybooks, everything; I dump it all on the kitchen table, and we just work until we're done. (For the little boys, that's 30-45 minutes of work, altogether.)

This week Lachlan did up through half of lesson 35 in Right Start Math Level B. This is a cool lesson. It has the student build three four-digit numbers with base-10 cards, and add them together. The point of the lesson is to teach the concept of trading, and it works amazingly well. He finished through Lesson 8 in First Language Lessons, and the first half of his handwriting workbook. He also played on Music Ace, and learned to make pysanky eggs.

Griffin worked up through half of lesson 75 in Right Start B. This lesson involves adding 2-digit numbers with sums over 100. This was very hard for Griffin, and we'll probably spend a few days on it. He finished through lesson 50 in First Language Lessons, and the first half of his handwriting workbook. He's into the long "u" sound in Phonics Pathways. He also played Music Ace for hours on end, and listened to me read from Chapter 19 of Story of the World ("A New Kind of King"), a couple of chapters from The Long Winter, and myths 27-32 from Atticus the Storyteller's 100 Greek Myths* ("The Starry Hunter," "The Terrible Feast," "The Dolphin Messenger," "The Bee of Wisdom," "The Robber's Bed," and "The Sharp-Eyed King.") He colored some coloring pages and did some map work for history. He watched a documentary about dinosaurs, and made some pysanky eggs by himself. He worked very, very hard on a tough piano piece, and made amazing progress.

Aidan finished through lesson 82 in Right Start E, which involved finding remainders. This was very easy for him. He also did exercises 7 and 8 in Singapore 4A, dealing with estimation and factoring numbers. Factoring is new to him, but I think he's got it. He did the Singapore exercises because he was in a bad mood, and preferred to go work in his room away from people, than to do a lesson that required human interaction. A wise choice, I think.

He completed through exercise 5.4 of Latin Prep 1, which involved a short reading of the story of Niobe. You would think that a kid whose mother has read him both Atticus and D'Aulaire's Greek Myths would have some idea of who Niobe was, but no. He did well, but he really very much dislikes it when they throw words at him he has not encountered before, even though they also provide a glossary right there, on the same page, right next to the work he's translating.

Aidan also listened to my reading from SOTW and The Long Winter. He read Diane Stanley's Saladin, and some selections from Just So Stories.

Connor worked through Exercise 6.12 in Latin Prep 1, this week covering questions and pronouns in the accusative. He read more of Lord of the Rings, and all of Geraldine McCaughrean's El Cid.

We're taking a break from Classical Writing right now, but both older boys are working on creative, descriptive paragraphs. They also both completed through week 2 of Elementary Greek.

I worked through Cap. 8 of Lingua Latinaand week 4 of EG, and continued reading 1066: The Year of the Conquest.

We made the pysanky eggs as a family, and celebrated our spring holiday on Thursday. We also watched "2001: A Space Odyssey" this week, a family favorite, in honor of Arthur C. Clarke.

Tonight we're going to watch the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood. (Yes, I know, I know, but I can't ever pass up Alan Rickman as the Sheriff.) I'd like to get a movie about the Crusades, but don't know which are good. How is "Kingdom of Heaven?" How is the Charlton Heston version of "El Cid?" How is the Terry Jones series on the Crusades? Or the History Channel's "The Crescent and the Cross?"

* A million thanks to Poppins for leading me to this book, many moons ago. It is still my favorite way to introduce the Greek myths to children.

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March 17, 2008

Greek!

We've finally taken the plunge, and have started learning Greek.

My wishes are to teach the boys Attic and/or Homeric Greek. However, I've bombed out in my Homeric Greek course. And after a great deal of thought, I figured that it's better to use the easy Koine course I can buy, than the difficult Attic or Homeric course I'd have to work out myself. And so, we have started Elementary Greek.

For those of you who are considering Greek but are afraid, be of good cheer: Elementary Greek is easy. The lessons are short. Very short. Which is good. So I can give my kids very short lessons in Greek, and feel that we're doing Greek. I'm totally fine with that.

The downside is that all in all, the program is a bit dull, on the same level as Latina Christiana: It's mostly vocabulary and grammar, with little translation. I would prefer something more on the lines of Galore Park's Latin Prep series, but no such thing exists. Galore Park is working on a Greek program, but it will not be available in the near future. So.

The other downside, from our perspective, is that Elementary Greek specifically teaches you to read the Bible. All the memory work is Biblical. That's fine, I want my children to be familiar with the Bible. However, alongside the Bible verses, I think we're going to learn some of these. Look at that list. There are 147 of them. Ten Commandments are certainly easier to remember.

And hey! We're learning Greek!

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February 18, 2008

Un-Weekly Un-Report

Where did the weekly reports go? Well, I got bored.

I still enjoy reading everyone else's reports. I was just bored of mine. In fact, I was bored with our homeschool, in general. Which means, of course, that my students were bored, too. Our days had become full of me making sure boys stayed on-task and completed assignments. The assignments were increasingly never completed anyway, and we were not having any fun.

I'm all about the education; however, I don't see the point in doing this if we don't enjoy what we're doing.

I chatted with a local homeschooling mom last week. We both bemoaned the fact that as homeschoolers, we are supposed to have so much freedom and flexibility, but then we make boxes for ourselves. I've always affirmed that a quality education does not have to take all day, and here I am, taking all day.

Enough, already.

We're continuing with math and Latin, of course! And soon I intend to start Greek. Everything else is up for grabs. I officially no longer care what they do or do not in terms of history, science, whatever. We have some ground rules: computer games and fluffy TV do not come out during the day. I may still assign reading at my discretion (mainly because the boys tend to enjoy my reading assignments, and don't generally see them as "work").

They're probably going to spend the first two weeks painting Warhammer models. However, Connor has requested to learn about physics, so we'll do that. Aidan would like to build a laser ... I'm sanguine about that, but only in the bloody sense. (But hey! We would most definitely have the coolest entry at the homeschool science fair!) Connor is reading "Lord of the Rings," and I am happy to let him spend as much time on that as his little heart desires. Aidan, meanwhile, has decided that "The Hobbit" is just not his cup of tea (whose kid is this??), but has asked me if fairy tales could be counted as "school reading." You bet, kid.

That's for the older two boys. The younger two are still all miiiiiiiiiine. However, their "school" takes a grand total of an hour a day for the nuts and bolts, and Griffin requests books about science and history as his fun reading. Done. Actually, it turns out that Griffin is the Well-Trained Mind dream child. He still can't actually read, but he loves nothing better than to have me read him a book, and then run off to draw a picture for it and copy a sentence from the book to go with the picture. Seriously. That was not my idea.

Anyway, now I hope to remember that I really do have time to take the kids on playdates, and leave the house for fun stuff once in awhile. Or, stay in the house and do, say, ART. Or show my children that they, too, can come up with an idea for a project and actually do it. Or just play games. Whatever. The kids are fine.

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February 4, 2008

That Sounds Like Rock And/Or Roll!

I no longer have any idea how people blog. I'm tired. I mean, I'm tired. Homeschooling four kids and keeping the house in some kind of condition that would not prompt the authorities to investigate ... I'm tired.

No, I still don't have pictures in my computer.

I had planned to move right along and blog my thoughts from the "Great Tradition" readings. Last week's reading was Aristotle. I got sidelined by a discussion on the message list about music. You see, Aristotle has a great deal to say about music. He mostly goes on about the different modes, and makes recommendations for raising our young on certain modes, and not allowing them to hear others.

Somewhat predictably for a mailing list composed of classical homeschoolers, the first post was something along the lines of classical = good, rock = bad, immoral, leading us all into ruin.

You can imagine, dear reader, that I had some comments to add to that conversation.

The real argument is this: That if music has an effect on our souls, should we not choose to listen to music that enlivens and enriches our souls, and avoid music that vulgarizes us? I don't disagree with that idea. I do disagree with the assumption that the enlivening and enriching music is always classical, and that the vulgarizing music is always rock.

This list had the usual assumptions about rock music: It's all the same, monotonous beat; it requires no artistry; it's simple and simplistic; it's all about sex; it's depressing. And, you know, I won't argue. All of the above is true about most of the crap you hear on the radio.

Still, those generalizations don't, being generalizations, tell the whole story. Go listen to Rush, Yes, Spock's Beard, Sting, Dream Theater, anything involving Keith Emerson ... leave your own additions in my comments. I hope to have the brain power and the time to dredge up a list of audio and video links for the skeptical.

How does this relate to homeschooling? Aristotle thought it best to expose the children to particular modes of music, to better form their minds and spirits. Whether or not he's right doesn't matter much to me, as my children have already been exposed to all different kinds of music. Is it better to cultivate a taste for classical, than for rock? Well, yes, I think it is better to do so. We are all better off by exposure to and study of great music, just as we are all better off by exposure to great books, great ideas, and great art. But I take breaks inbetween reading Plato and Melville to rest with some Maeve Binchy or Ruth Rendell (or lately, P. G. Wodehouse). And if my kids first learned to love classical by listening to Emerson, Lake and Powell's version of "Mars, The Bringer of War," well ... ?

No one else on this list rose to defend rock music. I bet it won't go over well if I start talking about how my kids know the story of the Odyssey from the Simpsons.

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January 25, 2008

Another Week ...

It's Friday night, and I don't *quite* think we're finished with school yet. We had three afternoons out of the house, which always messes things up. Plus, we're getting ready for a birthday party. Party prep and playdates meant that we just didn't finish the work, and unfortunately, some of what was finished was, well, not quite up to expectations. Some students will be working over the weekend.

However, Alderaan is drying and just needs to be painted. It's filled with candy and confetti debris, and will be hung from the balcony to await its destruction by the Death Star of chocolatey goodness. Yes, I'll take pictures, and I hope it all works.

Connor: Three or four pre-algebra lessons with Dad, Latin Prep 5.1-5.3 plus four workbook exercises, a rough draft of a Classical Writing project, research on the Vikings, a paragraph about the Vikings, worksheets about haiku and limericks; plus, he read "The Vikings" by Elizabeth Janeway.

Aidan: Five Right Start math lessons, Latin Prep 4.4-4.5 plus three workbook exercises, A&I from Week 1 of Homer A; plus he read from "Famous Men of the Middle Ages," "The Phantom Tollbooth," and whatever science fiction he could lay his hands on.

Their current bedtime story is "The Subtle Knife."

Griffin: Four Right Start math lessons (rather, four sessions of working on Right Start math), four Phonics Pathways lessons, lots of "Magic School Bus," and a Starfall session. Plus lots of being read to about mummies, British Kings, Star Wars, cats, and his new favorite, the dictionary.

We still didn't manage to burn our Vikings this week. Hopefully next week. It would be nice to move on, at some point. The Battle of Hastings is rattling in the wings.

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January 19, 2008

Weekly Report

Frankly, starting back into school has been like crawling up from the depths of some pit. For me, that is. The kids are doing well. Me? Well, I have cut coffee back out of my life. That explanation should cover everything.

The nuts and bolts: Our holy trinity of math, Latin, and Classical Writing and piano (oh, wait, now it's a quad - ? Quadrant? Quadrivium? Quadruped?) is going smoothly. Very smoothly. We're still very, very happy with Right Start, Singapore Math and Dolciani pre-algebra; we're still massively in love with Galore Park Latin; and I am still in love with Classical Writing. I think I can safely say that it is unlikely we will ever change from these programs. Everything else is subject to change at my whim.

For history, we learned about Vikings this week. We read about Vikings (Viking World, Who Were the Vikings?, Vikings, Life in a Viking Town, Life on a Viking Ship, and The Vicious Vikings). We perused some cool Viking websites. We colored some maps. When I can scrounge up some cardboard we'll pull out the old favorite of making cardboard Viking shields and axes, because they're boys and this is what boys do. We also plan to involve fire, which is always a good choice for engaging the children's minds, right?

What we're reading: Connor has discovered Orson Scott Card, and has read Empire and Ender's Game. No, he devoured Ender's Game. We knew he would. Aidan is reading the last Timothy Zahn book, Allegiance; The Phantom Tollbooth, and the Horrible Histories book on the Vikings.

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December 11, 2007

Connor Math Work 2007/12/11

We are starting to get into the really cool stuff now: primes and factorization. Connor keeps forgetting the rule for divisibility by 3 (though he remembers the rule for 9!), but other than that has the idea of testing a number for divisibility down pat. So we are on to the Sieve of Eratosthenes, and factor trees, and such yummy stuff. The Dolciani book is also challenging Connor to do more thinking. For example:

Explain why the sum of two prime numbers greater than 2 can never be a prime number.

So today I am having Connor do the p91 section A problems, and tomorrow the section B and C problems.

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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 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

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 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

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 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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October 29, 2007

Connor Math Work 2007/10/29

We've continued to review topics like cancellation, factoring, least common denominator, precedence and other basic topics for working with expressions. I'm giving Connor review for today, all problems taken from the last several home work assignments that he was having problems with. I suspect he'll get them all now, which would allow us to then move on to ... equations.

One thing I've noticed is that it is very difficult to do these three things at once: get inside a child's head on what they know (as opposed to what they think they know), ensure that they are getting the right amount of work in the right balance to both gain confidence on existing skills and acquire new skills (or apply their existing skills to more challenging problems), and not get bogged down in trivial bits or digressions. Yet doing those three things at once is exactly what is necessary to provide a good understanding of a subject. Sometimes, it's difficult to remember that just because 25+ years of practice at a concept have made it blindingly obvious to you, does not mean that it is blindingly obvious to a pre-teen. The cool thing about teaching kids is that you learn about them, and yourself, in ways you would otherwise never be exposed to. In other words, this is fun.

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October 26, 2007

Week ??

Week something or other.

Ooh, what a difference a plan makes! I've always prefered to do this homeschooling thing by the seat of my pants. Yes, I like to plan, and make extensive booklists and schedules, but here's my little secret: I never mean a word of it. Planning is fun, but in reality I really don't want to be tied down, not even to a plan of my own devising. Especially to a plan of my own devising, because I know how I plan.

But gosh, my kids are getting older, and they keep wanting to know what the plan is. They don't like it when I wing it. I think they're suspicious that as long as I don't have a plan written out, I'm tossing extra work at them whenever I can get away with it. They're right. Heh heh. I'm an overachiever. I will always go for the extra work; I will always plan more.

But I tried something new this week, and I think I've finally got it. I was able to see all the week's assignments at a glance. I was able to make sure no one day was overwhelmed. And something must have worked, because:

1) Connor did all the work I assigned him;

2) I did not stress out about the work I assigned; and

3) He finished with plenty of free time to spare, as he should.

Cool, eh? Here's the wrap-up:

Connor did Dad's math assignments, learning how to deal with operations with positive and negative numbers. He zipped through the fourth declension in Latin (who doesn't, after living through the third?). He did an entire week of analysis for Classical Writing; midway through the week he smashed his finger in the door, so a good deal of the analysis involved him dictating and me writing.

I'm going to pause for a moment to explain "analysis" to those of you who do not use Classical Writing: This is where we play around with analyzing and rewriting sentences. At our level, a week of analysis includes: Reading a narrative, dividing it into scenes, and analyzing the scenes for particular elements; pulling out sentences and parsing the nouns; diagramming the sentences, and rewriting them by changing the words, changing the style, and condensing them into the smallest sentence possible. This is brilliant stuff.

He did a couple of page in a punctuation workbook, which I have chosen for him because, to look at his rought drafts, he seems to never have heard of punctuation before.

He did map work on a map of the ancient Americas.

Other than that, he read. He read a chapter of Famous Men of the Middle Ages, a chapter of Our Island Story, a chapter from Hakim's "The Story of US" vol. 1, "Rikki Tikki Tavi" by Kipling, several fairy tales out of "The Blue Fairy Book," a version of "Pinocchio," a version of Aladdin and the lamp, several pages from the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia and "The Story of Mankind," and several from "Ancient America: Cultural Atlas for Young People."

I read to them from "By The Shores of Silver Lake," and Green's "King Arthur."

All in all, that is not too bad. Oh, and piano, karate, drama, etc. OK, so se skipped karate this week. It was just one of those days. We did a drawing lesson, too, from Mark Kistler's "Draw Squad."

Science, you ask? Well, he and Aidan had a field trip to the County Commissioner's office, to see what the county is doing to promote alternative energy. I say that covers science. The County Commissioner kept scaring Jeff by repeated use of the phrase "fiduciary responsibility to the citizens." It's scary because we used to live in Keller, Texas, where a government official talking (seriously) about its fiduciary responsibility was about as likely as Bill Clinton being faithful.

Oh, we watched a NOVA on genetics, too.

Aidan did some Singapore math, and some Right Start E math. He did a great deal of Galore Park Latin. Right now, Galore Park is my favorite Latin program, ever. I love it. I have not yet found anything I don't like about it. It's fantastic. Buy it for all your friends.

Aidan also started reading "The Hobbit." He listened to a couple of chapters of Story of the World in the car, and he read a chapter of Famous Men of the Middle Ages, and Our Island Story. He did piano, and drama, and the field trip .... and that was it for Aidan.

Griffin did a little of All About Spelling. For math I did a game with him in which I had him add numbers on the abacus, trading where necessary. He "got" the concept instantly, which is a big relief because this has been a very difficult concept for him to "get."

Lachlan played.

I'm linking our plan for next week, so that, if you're so inclined, you can see how I've worked this out. The blue assignments are Connor's (6th grade), the red are Aidan's (4th grade). The black are both. Notice that we're taking Halloween off.

Monday I'm going to see a gastroenterologist, to see if maybe he can figure out why I've been more or less ill for the past year. Your prayers and/or good thoughts are appreciated. I'm a little nervous, and I would like to be well again.

Oh, we also went to the dentist this week. One small cavity for Connor, but Lachlan makes up for everyone else. Is it bad when the insurance/payment lady at the dentist's office gasps in surprise when looking up your insurance, and recommends a discount card to you, instead? Yes, it's bad.

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October 24, 2007

Connor's Math Work 2007/10/24

We had taken a few days off for illness and pressing work, so now it's back to it. I wanted to catch up Connor on a few areas that he hasn't really been exposed to yet, due to Singapore's sequence, but which are prerequisite to the Dolciani pre-algebra. The areas I'm not sure of, given his difficulties with the expressions I gave him, are negatives (in particular, signs in combination like 2 - -4), grouping and canceling, and factors and factoring. So today Connor will be getting some sign work:

Simplify the following:

1. a - b
2. -a - b
3. a + -b
4. a - -b
5. -a - -b
6. a • b
7. a • -b
8. -a • b
9. -a • -b
10. a / b
11. -a / -b
12. a / -b
13. -a / b
14. a • b + a • (-b) + -a • b - a • b - -a • b
15. a / b + -a / b + b / -a - a / b - -a / b
16. a • -b + a / -b + -a • b - -a / b

Update: He's still not getting this. Sadly, I didn't try explaining the concept early enough in the evening, and I was probably a bit incoherent. I'm giving him the same problems tomorrow, but substituting a = 3 and b = 2, and will ask Steph to plug the explanation gap.

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October 20, 2007

Week 11

This week we: Spent Monday afternoon at piano lessons, Monday evening at Lego League, Tuesday evening at Scouts, Wednesday morning at the ophthalmologist, Wednesday afternoon and part of the evening selling Cub Scout popcorn at the mall, Thursday at karate/drama classes, and Friday evening we were back at Lego League. Connor was sick on Thursday, Aidan on Friday.

Argh

Math

Jeff's been posting Connor's math work, so you've seen that. We've hit a snag in that I've realized Jeff has made some assumptions about Connor's math instruction. Singapore does not follow a typical American course of study. So here we are in pre-algebra, and Connor has never dealt with cancelling terms, or factoring; he's done very little with exponents or negative numbers. Part of his struggle with those problems is that Jeff assumed he could cancel terms, or subtract two negatives. The good news is that he picked it up all fairly quickly on the fly; the only thing I had to explicitly teach him was cancelling.

Aidan - as is typical for us so far, Singapore 3B is way easy. 3A kills us, but after that Connor flew through the next several books, and it looks as though Aidan will too. I've got Right Start E on the way for him.

Griffin continues to confound me. He enjoys his Singapore workbook, but will only add and subtract by counting. When I use the abacus with him, or try to show him how to take numbers apart, or how to use strategies for adding, he'll have none of it. When I pull out the base 10 manipulatives to show him place value, he just doesn't get it (though he can read and write large numbers). This is extremely frustrating to me. I can keep him going in Singapore, and he will learn algorithms but, I think, have no real understsanding; or I can ... what? Wait longer and hope that this is a maturity issue?

Latin

Aidan's Galore Park Latin Prep 1 finally arrived, and I love it. It's thorough, it's rigorous, but it's also colorful and fun.

Connor is ready to start the 4th declension in Henle, and to keep reviewing, reviewing, reviewing. I would love to talk him into using Galore Park instead, because I am tired of Henle. However, Henle is good, and he wants to stick with it, so there we are.

Writing

Aidan has given me permission to share his Classical Writing work here:

Robin Bird

Robin Bird was perched on the branch of a tree with the rest of his military air strike force, when he saw a reconnaissance birdie. Robin got an escort and set out to capture the bird. It willingly went with them back to the base. After they landed, the bird told them everything. He was on a reconnaissance mission for the Evil King Rooster to find out everything he could about the whereabouts and status of the outbirds' nuclear poop missile. Robin Bird took three parakeet task forces to attack the king's fortress.

EVIL KING ROOSTER'S FORTRESS, 0800 HOURS

The King's birds saw them coming and sounded the alarm. The anti-air beaks started firing. Then Robin Bird's birdie bombers started pooping on Evil King Rooster's cage fortress. Then bird fighters started strafing the king's people. Then they broke into the fortress and found and rescued the beautiful birdie that Allan-a-Birdie wanted to marry. All of Robin's birds retreated.

ROBIN BIRD'S BASE, 1300 HOURS

Control saw the last bird from Robin Bird's task force ome into the hangar as they got a message from Robin Bird to launch the nuclear poop missile.

"Open the silo and begin launch sequence!" ordered one of the birds. "Missile is armed! Beginning launch sequence ... now! Missile launch in 10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ...1 ... launch!"

KING ROOSTER'S BASE, 1400 hours

BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

And they tell me Classical Writing stifles creativity.

History

We've started listening to "Story Of The World" in the car. Let me just say that I hate Jim Weiss' voice. Ugh. He sounds smug and smarmy. However, we're in the car for classes twice a week, and listening to him read SOTW is a good use of our time. Connor read about Edmund Ironside from "Our Island Story." I don't think Aidan read it at all. Both read from "Famous Men of the Middle Ages." You see? Any sane person would think that SOTW, OIS and FMoMA would be plenty for history. Connor is also still plugging away at History Odyssey, which involves, in additon to what I've already listed, reading from the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia and Van Loon's "The Story of Mankind." And coloring lots of maps.

So I'm insane. Is that it?

Literature

Er, well. Still reading "By the Shores of Silver Lake" to the older ones, and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to the younger ones. Jeff is still occasionally reading "A Wrinkle in Time" to the older ones. This week Connor read some of Roger Lancelyn Green's "King Arthur," and another Lamb's Tale - "The Merchant of Venice" (timely, as he had been reading about the persecution of the Jews in the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia). He seems to not be too thrilled about reading the King Arthur, so I may take that over and read it aloud. Or something. I understand that Audible.com sells a version narrated by Sean Bean ... that's got to be good, right?

Science

Lego League (programming and alternative energy). Um, the little boys played with worms. That counts, right? We discussed how rainbows are made. Actually, I've been discovering the hidden power of Books In The Car. Today I left an astronomy book in the car, and Connor read tidbits aloud from it all day. I have underestimated car time as captive audience time. I have seen the light.

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October 16, 2007

Connor Math Work 2007/10/17

OK, so Connor doesn't actually understand distribution, commutation, association or precedence, so today we will work through yesterday's problems to show how those properties work, and then we'll drill more:

Simplify each of the following expressions, showing each simplification step.

1. 4 + 3 • 5 + 2 / 7 • 7
2. (4 + 3) • 5 + (2 / 7) • 7
3. 4 + 3 • (5 + 2) / 7 • 7
4. 4 + (3 • 5) / (7 • 7)
5. (4 + 3 • 5 / 7) • 7
6. 4 - 3 • 5 / 7 + 7
7. 4 - (3 - 5) + 3

For each of the following expressions, show the implied precedence by grouping (with parentheses) operations that should be done together:

1. 4 + 3 • 5 + 2 / 7 • 7
2. (4 + 3) • 5 + 2 / 7 • 7
3. a + b • c - d / e + f(g + h)

Rewrite each of the following expressions two other ways that mean the same thing (hint, you can distribute, commute, or express association for both of these):

1. a(b + c) + d + d(b + c)
2. ab + ac + a(b+c)

Update: So, so close. Apparently Connor gets the hard ones, but not the easy ones, because he doesn't have to think on the easy ones, so he doesn't. But because he doesn't think on the easy ones, he makes mistakes. So tomorrow, we're going to redo the 4 he missed (the last two of the first set, and the whole last set).

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October 15, 2007

Connor Math Work 2007/10/16

(For those of you who are expecting this to be Steph's post, just because it's her blog: Ha! Fooled ya! This is Jeff, and I've decided to post the part of the kids' education that I'm doing here, since my blog tends to have a decidedly different focus.)

We have Connor in the Dolciani, et al. Pre-Algebra book, on section 1-5. This covers association, commutation and distribution, as well as the properties of 1 and 0. Connor did the problems from part C and Self Test A today, and it was pretty obvious that, while he could simplify expressions, he did not really have the concepts down; he was simply doing it his own way. That would have been fine had he been getting them right, but because he wasn't understanding the concepts, Connor was getting the problems wrong (making bad assumptions, or not being careful, or both). I think that what was confusing him was that he could do the problems if they were all numbers, as these are, but could not figure out how to do them if a variable was thrown in, since it was not then entirely calculable.

So I've made up some problems for him to do tomorrow to drill in the concepts, and show some subtleties, and here they are if you want to use them:

Simplify each of the following expressions, showing each simplification step.

1. 3(a + 12) + b(4 + 3)
2. 7(5 - a) + 2a +1
3. 2(2 + a) - (a • 3)
4. 5a - 3a • 6
5. 3 + 2 • 4 + 25 / 5
6. 3 - 2 • 4 + 25 / 5
7. 3 + 2 • 4 - 25 / 5
8. 3b + 2a + 5
9. 7 + b - (5 - b) + (5 - b) - 2b + 2(b + 1)
10. a • b - 2b + 2(a + b) - b - 2a - b(a + 2) - b

Update: Not so good. Connor got 2 right.

Posted by jeff at 10:29 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

October 14, 2007

Week 10, In Which I Self-Destruct

It's about week 10, anyway. Something like that. We're not real clear on dates here, and we had a week or so off, and ....

I had a bit of a homeschooling meltdown this week. Crisis. Confusion. Craziness! Two things happened at the same time that sent me into a tailspin. First, I realized that my boys have very little assigned reading, and that ain't right. I also realized that I was eating up a lot of time by reading their history and literature books to them, when it's time for them to be doing more of that themselves - I've got two younger ones to read to. So, I set about making book lists and reading assignments for them.

Second, Connor, Aidan and Jeff all decided that we should also be studying American history. Now. Every year.

Okay, fine. Well, it just so happens that LCC, Highlands Latin School and Ambleside Online do multiple streams of history, including American history every year. I had many models from which to draw a plan. But remember those other two kids? I'm really pressed for time right now, and every plan I came up with involved more and more time. And stress. I was trying to fit us into Drew's model LCC curriculum, when that history model does not fit our family.

Even though I know, understand, and believe in the theory behind our homeschooling, even I can lose sight of it from time to time. And when I do, things get crazy. I had to take time to step back and get my head on straight. History? I'm stressing about history? Connor's read all four volumes of Story of the World, and the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, all for fun. He knows more about World War II than I do. And I'm stressing myself out because he's behind on someone's list. But it's easy to do that, from time to time; we forget to look at where are children are, and instead develop tunnel vision over what they have not yet done.

The whole point of "multum non multa," as put forth in the LCC, is not of following multiple streams of history and someone else's plan; it's focusing on what is most important, and not sweating the rest. Most important are Latin, math, and quality writing. We will learn history. We will read literature. We will learn science. But following some plan or booklist or schedule is not at all important or necessary. And I'm okay (for now), with a new plan in place: We'll finish out this year with our medieval studies, and with whatever American history the boys feel like reading. After that I'll continue Story of the World with the little ones, but the big ones may design their own history readings. We'll still do classical studies, because that's what I want to focus on. We'll direct them to the things we feel are most important in history. But other than that, I will learn to step back because it truly does not matter. They've got a good overview; however they fill in that overview with color and detail, it will be fine.

I may have to keep re-reading that last paragraph, over and over.

Math

Connor started a Dolciani Pre-Algebra text. I was thinking that he needs some extra reinforcement of certain topics before moving on to the rather rigorous New Elementary Math. I may have been wrong, as he's zipping through this book like it was nothing. However, I made the decision this week to hand him over to Jeff. Jeff will pick the next books to get us through higher math. Jeff will teach the lessons. I'll just oversee the work. On the one hand I'm disappointed, because Connor is getting into fun math, the math I would like to work on myself. On the other hand, this is a relief, because I have too much on my plate.

Aidan worked in Singapore 3B (adding and subtracting meters and kilometers/inches, feet and yards), without throwing anything (but it was a close run). I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to order Right Start E for him or not. I have conflicting information on how useful E is.

Griffin worked in Singapore 1A; however, Singapore would like him to do some subtraction now, please, and Griffin would rather color instead. Lachlan does no formal math. He just wanders around playing, occasionally coming up to me and saying something like "Hey Mom, 15 is five threes!" Good. Keep it up, kid. You'll make my job easier.

Latin

Connor read Cap. VI of Oerberg's Lingua Latina, and realized how much harder it is to do himself, vs. reading it with me. Aidan has bowed out of our Lingua Latina sessions - it's over his head. And Connor and I are about to get in too deep ourselves; there's a lot of vocabulary and subtle points of grammar that LL asks you to pick up by osmosis, intuition, and an incredible memory. He also did review work for Henle. We're moving v e r y s l o w l y through Henle. It will go much better/faster once Connor figures out he does have to work to learn the vocabulary. Aidan's new Latin book is still not in. Still.

Writing

Connor did week 10 of CW Homer A. We did the accompanying Harvey's Grammar orally. He outlined the story with Inspiration, and made a rough draft of the story ("The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck"). Aidan worked on week 12 of Aesop B. Aidan has not yet finished his rough draft, nor has he let me see it; however, while typing his version of the story of Robin Hood, Aidan asked how to spell "reconnaissance," and asked if he had to stick exactly to the story. This ought to be good.

History

Connor did two exercises in History Odyssey, one which involved reading and discussing "The Door in the Wall," and one in which he made an outline based on his reading about medieval Jewish persecution. He read three chapters of Our Island Story, including the story of Ethelred the Unready, plus Kipling's "Danegeld." Aidan and Griffin listened to a chapter of SOTW 2 (The Byzantine Empire). Aidan read "Marguerite Makes a Book," and three chapters of Our Island story. We colored illuminated letters, and a map of the Byzantine empire.

Literature

The big boys read Lamb's Tales, "The Tempest." I read aloud from "By The Shores of Silver Lake." Connor finished "Red Storm Rising" and Aidan is still working on some Timothy Zahn book or another ... maybe "Vision of the Future," by now.

Geography

Looked up Singapore. Map of Byzantine Empire. Hagia Sophia. The older boys played Axis and Allies.

Art

We didn't do any art this week, but you can entertain yourself with last week's pictures. We're using Mark Kistler's Draw Squad, which is a great book for helping boys to learn to draw. Here's Aidan's work:

And here's Connor's:

We also watched season 1 of Blackadder. Gotta love medieval studies.

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September 21, 2007

Weekly Update

Or, "What the heck did we do this week?"

Er ...

Okay. Well, let's see. Griffin has taken off in math. You see, Right Start wasn't working for him. Yes, Right Start, that math program that I think is better than sliced bread, that I think presents concepts more clearly than any other math program ever, only confused my third son. Doesn't that figure? However, if I sit him down with Singapore he zips off five pages in no time flat. Funny kid.

Connor is still plugging along in Singapore 6B, doing problems that I have to dig out the answer key to check. Here's an example: A tank measures 50cm wide by 80cm long. It contains water to a depth of 15cm. Six 5cm cubes of metal are placed into the tank, raising the water level to the brim. What is the height of the tank?

Um. Yeah. Singapore gives nearly a whole page of white space for the child to work out the answer. And do you know what? All that white space is still there when Connor is finished with the problem. This kills me, folks.

Aidan and I got bored with the geometry part of Right Start D, so I had him take the final exam and pronounced him finished with the book. I pronounced him finished with Singapore 3A, too. So he's starting 3B, and one day I'll order Right Start E.

Latin - only Connor is doing Latin right now. We're waiting for new materials for Aidan, and I haven't started Griffin yet. Connor is still in Lesson 3 of Henle. We are inching along. But inching along and learning is better than ... not.

Classical Writing is a bit of a struggle in that neither Connor not me wants to divide the story into scenes, and make the @#$&* outline. Ugh. But this week I made us sit down and do it together. I think it's a good exercise, I just think it's boring.

Not much reading this week. We read a little more of "By the Shores of Silver Lake," and "Our Island Story" up to the coming of King Arthur. But that was it. Aidan is reading a Horrible History (and more Timothy Zahn novels), and Connor is reading "A Door in the Wall" (and "Red Storm Rising").

We forgot copywork, frequently.

BOTH sets of kids did science this week. Wow! The little boys and I collected earthworms and studied them. Can you believe I did not take pictures of that? The big boys did the chapter on density in Interactive Science, and Aidan nearly melted down again. I am ready to throw in the towel and order him a more age-appropriate program, but I'm going to hold out for the next chapter, which has no math. We'll see. It's not at all a problem if he uses something else instead, or even if he uses nothing for a couple of more years.

We couldn't do the experiments, because I have not yet ordered our scale.

We also had piano lessons, drama class and karate. And three children had Scout meetings. And half the family was sick, including me, so there.

Oh, art! We drew, and I do have pictures of that. I can't deal with them tonight, but will post those later in the weekend. And we picked apples.

And I did a couple of exercises in Henle II, practiced piano, and drew with the boys.

Posted by lynx at 10:28 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 14, 2007

Weekly Update

Okay, we'll try something new here, since I haven't been blogging about homeschooling (or anything), and since my parents kind of subtly mentioned that my blog no longer let them see what their grandkids were doing.

So here is a synopsis of our week.

In terms of academics, we, ah, didn't really get much done. This was the first week our activities were in full swing, plus there was a doctor's appointment, half a day at the mall to get glasses fixed, and the car in the shop.

On Mondays we have piano. With four kids, piano lessons consumes nearly three hours of our day.

On Thursdays we have karate and drama, and I took no pictures. I did take a picture of the "nature walk" the little boys and I went on while the big boys were in their class. "Nature walk" means trying to identify and avoid poison ivy, right? We did also see an actual caterpillar that I could, actually, identify. Kids never give you kudos for that because they assume you can always identify whatever it is.

Although History Odyssey was a flop last year, I purchased it again for this year (I liked the program, Connor didn't.) So far it's going better this year, although we did not forsee the cat's interest in history, or his desire to "help."

Connor wrote a retelling of "Peter Rabbit." Aidan wrote a retelling of "Bruce and the Spider." Neither retelling involved either Borg or Klingons, which I think is progress. However, Aidan did write his story in a Klingon font, switching to Helvetica only when the spell checker told him he had a problem.

Both of them read Rober Nye's "Beowulf: A New Telling," inbetween Timothy Zahn books. They also read a few Horrible Histories - Romans and Celts, I think - and suffered through me reading some of the real "Beowulf" to them.

I did, of course, speak too soon about science. The math involving speed and rate went quickly over Aidan's head, and he dropped out of those lessons. That's fine. Connor can learn the math, and Aidan can tag along for content. The little boys can't do any more science until we get a jar and go dig up worms.

In history we're studying the medieval period this year. We've already read the first couple of chapters of Story of the World. However, we break there and study Arthur for awhile. Along with Story of the World I am reading aloud a book of Irish fairy tales, Kevin Crossley-Holland's "Arthur: The Seeing Stone," and Laura Ingalls Wilder's "By the Shores of Silver Lake."

This week we also discovered that Griffin's eyes are terrible. Gosh, maybe that's why he has a hard time with learning to read? Yep, I am an idiot. But hey! We went to a well-child appointment. This is big, for me. I hate taking the kids for checkups. Hate it. But we went. One down, three to go. And now ophthalmologist appointments all around. Whee!

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March 15, 2007

Well, of course we did!

We tried to go to class. We really did. It all fell down when we walked outside to the car. It was sunny, and warm, and ... you know. The Tetanus Tot Lot was just a short walk away. We played, we swung, the boys walked on the ice floes in the swamp. We came home and did ... nothing. Pretty much. All day.

Last night it snowed. The weekend highs will be in the 30s. Spring is not quite here yet. The birds are back on the pond, though, and we're ready. I am tired of being in the house all the time.

Posted by lynx at 8:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 13, 200