Lewis and Clark

Here we go again...

This week we are studying about Lewis and Clark. We're planning a trip on Friday to find some trail markers in the area. Yesterday the kids did a map activity where they mapped our yard. Today we're reading a book from the library about Lewis and Clark. We added Thomas Jefferson to our presidents list and listed "Lewis and Clark" under his name. Leave a comment if you'd like to join us on Friday and I'll email you the time and place.

First Grade Review

I've been debating whether to delete this blog or resurrect it. I think I'll try to get into it now that our schedule has changed (once again) and we'll be doing more projects.

As I've been anticipating the arrival of a new baby in August, I've been trying desperately to figure out how this is all going to work. I know it will work, it's just a matter of HOW. After pondering and a bit of prayer, I decided to start first grade all over again and include Sean this time. Sean is finally ready to sit still and listen for more than 10 minutes, and while Ethan is doing well with the work I've given him, he would do well with a methodical review. My goal is to have them both at a second grade level by the end of the summer.

I've also re-read the book The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and decided to do a few things differently. I'd taken her advise in some areas, and deviated from it in others. The truth is everything I do that she suggests is working well, and the other subjects I've chosen to do differently are floundering. Go figure. So this book is becoming my own personal homeschooling Bible and I went ahead and ordered all the other curricula she suggests. So now we are into a full classical education and I already see an improvement in the retention rate. (OK, it helps this is the second time through.) We are starting over in Math, History and Grammar, starting new methods for spelling, reading, writing. I kicked our Science into the corner for now, we'll start it back up again when I've got the other subjects into a comfortable daily schedule.

Our new schedule goes something like this:

Math worksheet

Writing practice

Spelling

(These three things require only light supervision, so I feed Aaron, do the dishes, start on dinner, clean up, etc. at the same time.)

Math Lesson (Throw Jenna and Aaron into the bathtub so I can give it my full attention. This buys me at least a half hour.)

Grammar Lesson (MTW)/ Health (Th)

Poetry/ Memorization practice

Lunch

Clean-up/ Aaron Naps (Yay!)

Read Aloud

History Lesson and Activity

Outside 30 min (We've been stuck inside for so long that, yes, we have to schedule this in.)

Silent Reading 30 min.

On Fridays we get out of the house and do something fun. We're meeting some friends at the zoo tomorrow to celebrate the 50 degree weather we've been craving.

For History, like I said we're starting over again, and we are now making a portfolio or a personal history book. The kids narrate each section we cover and I type it up and make a history book for them. We also include any maps, pictures or projects we do. I plan on taking pictures of the projects we do that don't fit into a book.

So this is the real reason I'm bringing this blog back, because I'm taking pictures of the kids projects to include in their books, so it will be easy for me to put the projects up on the blog as well. Here's what we did today:

Sean

Ethan

Cuneiform writing on clay tablets. They each wrote their names.

Here's the very easy recipe for clay that hardens as it dries:

Clay

1/2 C cornstarch

1 C baking soda

10 T water

2 drops red food coloring

1 drop blue

1 T cinnamon

Mix cornstarch and baking soda in medium saucepan and gradually add water until smooth. Add remaining ingredients for color. Stir constantly until it pulls together into a dough.

Useful Lesson

Never throw away a box. You never know when than one odd-shaped one will come in really handy.

Cursive in Kindergarten

I was at a curriculum sale (Abeka) the other day to buy some math workbooks for the boys and came across a pamphlet titled "Cursive in Kindergarten." Interesting, OK, I'll bite. I took it home and read it through and it was fascinating. I learn all kinds of new things about the history of education from homeschooling.

Turns out, print handwriting (or ball and stick as some like to call it) was introduced in the era of Dick and Jane thinking it would help the kids recognize the letters in the readers. Before that, learning to write meant learning cursive. The pamphlet argued that this introduction of ball and stick writing was the introduction of bad penmanship. After kids thoroughly learn how to print, then in about 3rd or 4th grade, everything is unlearned and they are expected to write in cursive. Unfortunately, it's hard to break those original habits.

Epiphany: my own horrible handwriting is horrible because it's a combination of print and cursive. I retained a lot of the print training, but connect some of the letters to make it faster and easier to write. Translation: bad penmanship.

So I decided to try it (without buying their fancy Cursive in Kindergarten program). For copywork in the morning, I told Ethan we were learning something new and I showed him how to write one word in cursive. He was so excited to write like Mom and Dad, and declared that he LOVES writing cursive. OK, OK, I know in a week he'll hate it as much as he hated printing, but I was still encouraged. I think the theory is a good one and learning about it made me want to improve my own penmanship and purge my handwriting of ball and stick habits.

It's that time again...

We're back into school. Well, not officially, but I've spent countless hours of the last month going over our curriculum, hammering out activities, library books and craft projects that will coincide with this year's learning calendar. It's been a pain in the rear, but I do feel a lot more prepared than I ever have to do this. Amazing what a long term plan will do.

I'm also working on filling out paperwork for the state, something I've never had to do. Ethan is entering the mandatory school age and I need to inform the state of my decision to homeschool. The paperwork is a bit intimidating. It's not long, but each parent has to get their signature notarized separately, and they ask detailed questions about your qualifications even though they are completely irrelevant. (I felt really stupid putting down that my highest education completed was high school. Next year I'll be a college graduate!)

I've decided we're not doing the Omaha Learning Center this year. We're moving even farther outside of town, so the drive would be an hour roundtrip each week and the real reason: I can't justify the expense anymore. I make my own hotdog buns and waffle syrup for crying out loud!! Even though I love doing it, it's still another monthly expense I can't afford. So I'm going to try to be more involved in our local (FREE) co-op group and see if I can get some of my ideas and needs implemented.

Official first day of school is August 24th, which is when the Elkhorn School District also starts. I figure I'd better play by the rules til I know what I'm doing.

Summertime

I was planning on doing some school during the summer, but it's been a bit more difficult than I anticipated. When it's nice outside, the kids will play outside most of the day, and I hate to get in the way of that. However, I have been trying to do our reading lessons everyday and Sean is pretty excited to start reading. He's really catching on quick and he's got the phonics part down pat. Seth's been letting the kids read a verse from the Book of Mormon during our daily scripture study and we can see improvement in reading and comprehension just by doing that little bit.

I realized the other day that summer is my time off as well, and it would be best to get as many projects, cleaning and otherwise, done during all this free time I have. So last week I cleaned under the fridge and stove and yesterday I went through the basement with a fine tooth comb and reorganized everything. I hope to get through the whole house in a few weeks and then maybe I'll have time to do another watercolor quilt!

Spring Break

It has been so nice this week that we only did one day of school. I heard a statistic last week that stated the average kid spends about 1% of his time outdoors. That's about 14 min, the time it takes to get from the bus stop to home or school. I'm happy to know my kids are on the larger side of that average. I love the flexibility we have to just throw schoolwork out the window on beautiful days (or weeks) and get out to enjoy nature.

I've been thinking that we'll probably keep school up throughout the summer. I think it might be nice to stay on a flexible schedule so when we wake up to rain, or just a particularly boring day, we can pull out some lessons. Or maybe with that they'll just learn not to come to me if they are bored!