This year's curricula
Thank to my friend Rebecca over at
Homeschooling With The Kvenvoldens reminded me that I have not shared my year's schedule with you yet! Here goes:
Math- all in Saxon- Turbo 6/4, GothGrrl 7/6, and the Boy Algebra One. he will finish in spring and start Two, with a goal of completing three years of high school math in 2 years.
Grammar- Turbo is finishing First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind, level 4 and will start Hake 5 in January. GothGrrl is in Hale 7 and The Boy in Classical Writing, Aesop and Homer for Older Beginners.
Science- Turbo, Science Daybook. The older two, Apex online.
French- Turbo, Baron E-Z French. The older two, Apex online. (The boy in Honours)
Latin- Turbo in Learning Latin Through Mythology, the older two in Ecce Romani 1B.
Greek- All in Koine- Turbo level one, the older two in three.
History- Turbo in History of the World: The Ancients (second round!) and the older two in History of the Ancient World- which I love but wish I could find tests.
Literature- per The Well Trained Mind, according to Grade Level.
Art History- Short Lessons in Art History
Turbo also has
Writing with Ease, Volume 2.
Classes, we have classes!
Tues: Gothgrrl, Art; Turbo, Tap
Weds GothGrrl and the Boy, Conformation and Youth Night
Fri They all did a semester of Kendo on Fridays, but are not going back
Sat Turbo, ballet
Sun Turbo, bell and vocal choirs; Gothgrrl, bell choir.
In addition, Turbo just finished his 5th Nutcracker, which added rehearsals on Saturdays and Sundays.
Labels: homeschooling
ZOMG, I'm quoting Dr Laura
Never thought THAT day would come.
She blogs on homeschooling and socialization:
http://www.drlaurablog.com/2008/05/22/home-schooling-does-not-hamper-socialization/Quote:
I personally believe that home-schooling helps students who have problems with focus and difficulties with energy control. The traditional school environment required “Stepford Child” control, and the teaching techniques required for a group of thirty do not necessarily assist the learning needs and talents of each individual student. So, instead of drugging kids to be docile, perhaps we should turn to the successes of home-schooling.Labels: Dr Laura, homeschooling, socialisation
Wheeel of Candy
Another for the "Why I love homeschooling" category- just as we were settling down to bookwork, The Dungeon Master calls to tell me that the new See's Candy in the complex where he works is having a grand opening today. I hem and haw- Turbo woke me with a headache, I'm broke and low on gas, blah blah blah- he promised to pay me back and told me "There's a wheel with prizes". So we busted ass on the schoolwork and went to meet the DM at his lunch break. They started handing out the candy as we went in the door. And then, the wheel of candy- no cost to spin, every slot a winner, and the spinny guy made sure all the kids spun. The boys each got a 1 pound box, the girl an 8 oz box ( we bought her a wrapped heart candy to make up) and I scored a 2 pounder. We all picked some bulk candies, and got to eat two before coming home to lunch. The best part? The boy said when we got home, "Thanks for homeschooling us, because if we were in school we wouldn't have had the chance to spin the wheel of chocolates".
Labels: chocolate, homeschooling
The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List
I don't get lots of flack, but I think this addresses it all:
http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/001/bitter_homeschooler.htmlThe Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List
From Secular Homeschooling Magazine, Issue #1
1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?
2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.
3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.
4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.
5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.
6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.
7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.
8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.
9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.
10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.
11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school.
12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.
13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.
14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.
15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.
16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.
17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.
18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.
19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.
20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.
21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's homeschooled.
22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.
23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.
24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.
25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling, shut up!
Labels: homeschooling
Some Homeschool geekiness
Tuesday HRH had as one of her missed spelling words spread. As usual, she then had to write it 8X each ( one for each year of her age). She started in the expected manner, but by # 8 she was writing Sigma Pi Rho Epsilon Alpha Delta. I asked her why she decided to do that and she shrugged and said, "I don't know, it just started turning Greek"
We also were studying the Dutch settling New Amsterdam and building the Broad Way. i asked them what they knew about the modern Broadway and The Boy said "You can't succeed there if you don't have any Jews?" (Spamalot!)
I have also discovered that Turbo can do written addition probelms, and get them right!!!
Labels: Greek, homeschooling, Spamalot
School of Rock
A few days ago I was driving along with The Boy and HRH the Faery Princess when the Metallica classic "onoe" came on. I knew a great opportunity was presenting itself when The Boy started calling out chord names (letters?) As the opening music went on, I talked to them about both the book and movie "Johnny Got His Gun", we spoke of what body can endure and still go on, what the mind can endure, the horrors of war, and how cool S.O.S sounds in drums and electric.
Labels: guitar, homeschooling, Johnny Got his Gun, Metallica
Common Cold Hell
I have to say, nothing puts a damper on my homeschooling mama style than being too stuffy and sore throated to read to my kids. We just did NOTHING today. OK, I did nothing, the kids have been hard at work in the backyard or, in The Boy's case, with his stack of
Artemis Fowl books.
At The Boy's behest, I have started said books. The first book I'm finding somewhat dull b ut he assures me it gets better. I want to show my kids that I value their opinions and recommendations, though I'll admit some quid pro quo here- he promised to read
Ender's Game if I read
Artemis Fowl. So far, he hasn't. Still, I need to trust that me slogging through his books has value for our relationship.
Labels: Artemis Fowl, Ender's Game, homeschooling
Challange to relaxation, #1
Not Finishing SubjectsOur school year ends on June 19. Right now I'm struggling with the knowledge that unless I decided to do some cramming days ( not what anyone wants) some books will be close to done, but not done at that time. And the knowledge that that's OK, the world won't end if we have to carry some of that over until fall, and most importantly, that it doesn't mean they're not learning enough.
Labels: homeschooling
So here we are, on the second day of me trying to be more relaxed. The boy woke up late and not feeling well, which happens often enough that I begin to worry ( and this was the year I planned to skip well-childs).He has been sleeping a lot. Of course I go nuts, worrying on the one hand that it may be some fatal disease, on the other that it might be mental illness. I may have to get this checked out.
What was cool was that he came out and asked what he had for shcoolwork. He wanted to play GameBoy, and did not see himself doing so with his schoolwork undone. I love this kind of responsibility. I feel "unfinished" because we didn't do any history or Latin, but I remind myself-relaxing! and the kids did get 5 subjects done each. We worked on letters for our retiring pastor, and they did great jobs. Now I am making chocolate chip banana bread for said celebration.
Labels: homeschooling
More Relaxed
iIve made the decision to be more relaxed in my homeschooling, and perhaps other things. We are all getting too stressed and for too long I've been trying to *make* the kids behave in a way that will stress *me* less, but within my framework. I need to listen to them more, trust them more, and follow them more. Not easy for a control freak like myself.
Labels: homeschooling, trusting kids
