Spain and First Grade Curriculum

Our quote of the day is brought to you by Reezle: "Sticky is my furry sister. She picked me to be her non-furry sister." Indeed she did.

This morning started off with some unexpected excitement; the OLS had Little G's 1st grade Phonics and Language Arts! The good news? He was super excited and we worked on Phonics today. The not so good news? They don't have 1st grade Math in there yet, nor is it listed in our orders. Of course, that is the one he wants the most, so I bought him a math workbook to hold him over until the OLS updates his curriculum.

In other academic news, we are currently studying Europe in K History. Today's focus was on Spain and I had G color Spain on his Europe map while we talked about it. I found a couple of beautiful time lapse videos on YouTube, which had both of my children saying they want to go to Spain.

They also did some Art, which I will share sometime this weekend. R chose her favorite illustration from a book she recently read, Clara and The Bookwagon, and it turned out amazing! Little G colored Spain's flag and his suitcase for our European adventures.

Over the weekend, I plan to spend some time working with G on his handwriting. His capital letters are great, but his lower case letters could use some refining. I also want to get him writing more sentences, which I'm sure can be easily accomplished just by encouraging him to write descriptive sentences about the things he loves. Like cats. And Math.

I am ready for the weekend. I'm sort of emotionally drained for non-school reasons, and I just want a day or two where I don't have to think about much of anything but snuggling up with my kids and maybe watching some movies, playing a little Monopoly, and getting lost in a good book. The chilly, windy, rainy, 55-degree weather almost begs for chili to be made, so I will probably be adding that to my to-do list as well.

Art

Today, we worked on Art. And other stuff, but I took pictures of them doing Art.

The beautiful results of Art class were these:

And from her former Art class, a sketch that she colored in when she was done:

These kids always manage to leave me in awe of their artistic talents. I'm not nearly so artistically inclined. They're awesome.

After our day was finished, Little G still wanted to work on Math. And so he did, in the Big Second Grade Workbook we found at the Dollar Store.

Today was a good day.

Math and Science Cookies

Just before bed last night, Little G listed various examples of sentences for each type of punctuation (exclamation point, question mark, etc.). When he was done, he said, "Are you going to post that on Facebook? Or are you going to put that on the blog?" Alright, little dude. So here it is; Little G, after a bit of a struggle initially, has learned proper punctuation. And syllables. You want confusion? Try teaching a kid with a communication disorder the difference between number of syllables and number of word sounds. It's not a good time, people. Ugh. I think those two items would have been separated in lessons by weeks, but as of the second day of the fifth week of Kindergarten, my son has completed every bit of Kindergarten Phonics and is now ready for first grade material with more enthusiasm than most kids show at an amusement park.

The other day, we baked cookies for Math (counting cookies) and Science (measuring). I let the kids follow the directions and do the mixing and pouring themselves. Now, I won't say they were the most perfect cookies ever, but they were edible and actually kind of tasty.




They were quite proud of their cookies, as you can see from their little hands presenting them to you. And in case you're wondering, the third picture of them was taken while they were watching the cookies bake. Yes, yes, they did. And, if I do say so myself, this is the most fun I've ever had doing Science and Math.

The cookies we made were snickerdoodles, and the recipe was not ours. You can find the one we used here on allrecipes.com. Oh and, um, it is best viewed with Google Chrome and ad blocker plus. Enjoy!

You're A Grand Old Flag

Monday was rough. Truth be told, so was Friday. I didn't really want to blog about it, but I guess that is life; we all have bad days. I might as well be honest about it and tell it like it is. Not every day is filled with unicorns and glitter. Friday and Monday were filled with bad attitudes, temper tantrums, time-outs...and it wasn't just the kids. There was also very little work done, which made me quite thankful that we are so far ahead.

The difference between homeschooling and when my daughter was in public school is that now I take it very personally when things don't go so well, or when we all just seem to have major attitude problems all on the same day. I fear failing. This is new territory for me, and my confidence can take a hit pretty easily at this point.

Fortunately, today was better. No, today was great. It was the perfect antidote to a lousy few days, and I'm feeling confident once more as my smiling children - who worked diligently all morning and got heaps of work done - are sitting on the floor with crayons busily working on some Halloween coloring pages I found online. Since Little G finished his Math workbook last week and completed all of the remaining Kindergarten Phonics as of today, I have been finding and printing first grade Math and Language Arts worksheets for him. He devours them, especially the themed ones. I've found a surprising amount of fun Halloween Math worksheets.

Daddy recently brought home some miniature flags, which the kids had lots of fun waving as we sang some history-related songs from our curriculum. I've heard You're A Grand Old Flag about 40 times today, but it's all good. They marched around waving their flags and dancing, laughing, being silly.

It was such a contrast to the past few days, like a switch was thrown. The only thing I can figure is that maybe the bright sunshine affects their moods as much as if affects my own.

I talked to my grandma for a little while last night, which almost always means I feel better about life. When I told her about some of the struggles of the previous days, she said, "That's why I think I couldn't have done it. Parents don't have the same authority. No, maybe that's the wrong word. Kids will test parents in ways they won't test teachers. With teachers, there is the unfamiliar, the unknown." And she's right. Well, about the testing part. I believe my grandma can and could do just about anything, and homeschooling is no exception. But yes, and I have even said to Reezle, "Would you be acting like this with Mrs. J?" The answer is invariably "no". And there you have it. But it's simply a different set of challenges than we would face in a bricks and mortar school. And frankly, I'm cool with these challenges. With the bricks and mortar school? Yeah, not so much.

Other Lessons: Want vs. Need

There is much that I want to teach my children. This goes well beyond what they would learn in public school, which is often some of what we would want and a whole lot of what we wouldn't. Among the things I want to teach is living simply.

One does not have to look far to conclude that spending money and having material possessions must be what brings happiness, or that bigger is better. Living Beyond Your Means has become the American way of life, and if you're actually living within your means, you're either rolling in cash or you've accepted that you don't have half of what your friends do.

Our culture is one of entitlement and materialistic arrogance; if lots of other people have something, shouldn't you? Mr. and Mrs. Jones next door have their lawn professionally manicured and chemically treated, so why aren't you entitled to the same? And you can't take your kid to play group wearing something from a discount store clearance rack, no matter how cute or practical it is, if at least two other moms from the group will have their kids dressed in boutique! People are actually more ashamed of lacking material possessions and being judged for it than they are about their financial security.

As a result, our economy is collapsing under the weight of greed and want. This way of life is not healthy for people, and it is not healthy for our country. We can blame the government, the banks, the economy, but it really all boils down to choices we make. It's like pushing over the milk pail and complaining that it has to be cleaned up; people want to do as they wish and have no consequences. Actually, it's going beyond just wanting, because people are starting to believe they deserve that.

So many people talk about how life is so much worse now than when they grew up because most families have to have two working parents to make ends meet. I'm going to say something unpopular about that. I'm going to tell you that many more families could get by on a single income. Thing is, they would have to live in a more reasonably-priced home, give up some of the designer labels, vacation less frequently, and make smarter financial decisions. But it would enable them to spend more time as a family, the thing they claim to wish so desperately for.

Unfortunately, people have themselves convinced that what they are doing what is best for their children, because their children have stuff. Maybe they have a great big home to live in, or lots of expensive gadgets. Perhaps they take pricey vacations or are involved in a sport that is highly cost-prohibitive to the typical family. Whatever it is, it matters more than living a more modest but closer-knit family life. And it's not necessarily a conscious choice; it has simply, and sadly, become the norm.

Not so long ago, I wanted the bigger house, the brand names, the big vacations. But in my disgust over how money can bring out the most disturbing of behavior in people and how money seems to basically be the root of all evil if you really consider what motivates the most horrible things in our world, I started thinking. Simultaneously, a certain mommy blogger was spiraling rapidly into debt and overspending oblivion, and all of it made me sit back and do some real soul searching about my own life and priorities. As far as I can tell, want, and never being content with what one has, is the best way to guarantee debt and misery. It's also a great way to guarantee that you'll look back one day with tremendous regret about missing out on what mattered most. I'm pretty sure no one is going to deeply regret not having owned a few more items from an expensive store.

I started asking myself what made me happiest when I was a child, and what I truly cherish from my early years. None of my answers involved costly things; all of the wonderful things I hold dear are about quality time with my family or running around outside with my cousins and riding my bike as far as my legs would let me. While I did, admittedly, love some of my material possessions, those could not compare to the things which no money could buy.

Our little home is small, but we can easily afford it. We have no need for a larger house. Knowing some of what other families are going through because of wanting too much, I feel resolved to think more about need and less about want. This is not to say I won't still want things, or that we won't still buy things we don't need. If you've got the money, it's fun to spend a little once in a while on something you'd really enjoy having. But I will be much more thoughtful about choices I make.

I want my children to grow up feeling appreciative of what they have, aware of what they need versus what they want. I want them to be willing to work and earn because they know that they are not entitled to what they want simply because they exist. And I want them to know that there are people truly in need, and have a heart to help those who are.

On The State of Things

I don't ask for much for my children from others. I really don't. Aside from his speech therapy, with a therapist I will admit wholeheartedly was amazing, I have provided for all of my son's needs. I taught him sign language when he couldn't speak, created a sensory diet (Google it) to get him from being crippled by something as minor as sleeve length to where he functions well, and, in spite of his autism and having a speech disorder, taught him enough that he is skipping a grade of Math and Language Arts just four weeks into Kindergarten. So, you know, I really don't need much. I got this.

But what would have been nice is if our IEP team, which we've had since G was a baby, would keep us on since (a) we technically are still in the school district because we live here, and (b) it makes sense not to throw a huge wrench into the mix for a situation that is not complicated, and (c) it's really not asking a lot for them to meet with us once each year. But no. Of course not. Because nothing anyone does in this world ever seems to make a bit of sense. Because I am now the enemy of the school district as a homeschooling parent, and they lose money with my children not attending their schools.

As I pore over my interactions with the school district both present and past, I ask myself, what was it I wanted from them that they did not provide? Above and beyond the adherence to their own policies and rules on bullying. Not considering the gym teacher, who lied about my child, then skipped a meeting that was planned and scheduled specifically so she could be there, leaving me no option but to call everyone to reconvene (this was not a popular move on my part). What, exactly, did I hope for?

And then it hit me; it was something I would never have. It was the genuine concern and the family-like atmosphere we had in preschool. It was the desire to have people who truly, honestly cared about my children while my children were in their care for 6+ hours of the day. I know some people might find this absurd, and that's fine. Call me crazy, but I believe that elementary-age - and heck, even older - children need nurturing that goes beyond what is typically offered in school. The fact that those who were most involved with us simply turned their backs in the manner they did proves to me that anything I thought was caring was merely feigned concern proffered up by those who wished nothing more than to appease me so I would not continue to be in their collective faces about their collective failures.

I realize I probably sound angry. I'm not. I'm disappointed. It's more a feeling than something I can put into words. It all makes me sad, suffice it to say that. Sad for my children, sad for the way the world is sometimes, and sad that our world has ventured so far from everything natural and right, replacing it with man-made rules and calling it all good for us as we rapidly deteriorate physically and emotionally as a society.

In which I do some venting...

If you ever want to know EXACTLY where you stand with your school, school district, or special education contacts, simply remove your children from said school district's schools and see what happens. I always felt like I might eventually put my kids back in school at some point. Now I know I won't. This morning sealed it, but this morning was just the final straw.

At the end of last school year, I wrote a sincere thank you letter to R's teacher and e-mailed it. Despite the less than desirable issues with public school, first grade had not been a terrible year because my daughter's experience in the classroom had been positive. At the beginning of last school year, the paperwork to homeschool R was halfway done and she was only in school to bridge the time/attendance gap. Upon learning this, her teacher called me and was very supportive. She said that she understood if I decided to homeschool, and that it would be her (the teacher's) loss because Reezle really added something to the group. The teacher also offered her help if we went that route should any questions arise. As it turned out, she homeschooled her own children for a while. Impressed with the new teacher, we decided to keep R there for first grade.

The teacher and I communicated often by e-mail, so I had no doubt she would receive the letter. But I never heard a word back. As the weeks and months passed by, I wondered if maybe she wasn't logging in over the summer or if perhaps she didn't receive it. I still don't know.

As the start of this school year approached, I wasn't sure if our virtual charter would be contacting our former school or not, so I felt it prudent to make the call myself and talk to the principal. She had become an ally, so I thought, and I felt that we got along well despite a bit of a rocky start. When I told her that R would not be returning, it was clearly a surprise. The call was abruptly ended; there were some awkward well wishes, and the phone was quickly passed off to the school secretary. I can't explain exactly what more I wanted out of that conversation, but suffice it to say it was something more than what I got.

Today I spoke with the director of special education about getting Little G's IEP faxed to his teacher contact through our virtual school. She informed me that she'd mail it to me because a release would be required to fax it, then very unceremoniously informed me that she would no longer be dealing with my son's IEP because he was not attending school in the district. What? Yes, we were dumped, since we are "no longer IN the school district". You know, even though we are.

But you know, I shouldn't care. This county and district have been an epic FAIL at:

* Providing speech services through Early Intervention. They had none, so I taught my son sign language and found and paid for our own speech services until G was of IEP age and the district took over covering the tab.

* Providing occupational therapy. There was a period of time where I showed up for weeks and a therapist did not, so I read a bazillion books on dealing with sensory processing disorder, hypotonia, and motor skills and created a highly-effective sensory diet for him.

* Enforcing their own rules and policies on bullying.

Now, I'm not big on formalities. Okay, maybe I am. But you know, that teacher could have said, "Thanks, I enjoyed working with R, too." The principal could have been less abrupt, since she started at that school when we did and we have worked closely over the past 2 years. I even sent her an e-mail follow-up when the bus stopped here and beeped for Reezle on the first day of school, just to remind her we were enrolled elsewhere, and wished her a good school year at the new school. No response. How long would it have taken to fire back a quick, "Noted. Good luck to you, too!" And the special education director? We've worked together since Gavin was a baby! Her demeanor was perhaps most disappointing of all. You know how someone acts at the very moment they stop pretending to like you? Yeah. That.

The feeling I get is that they are quite pleased to be rid of us. Which, I guess shouldn't surprise me. I was right in everyone's face all the time holding them accountable and expecting them to *gasp* do their jobs. But I realize now that any kindness or concern was fake, and all of the genuine appreciation I had for the things they did manage to do - which I expressed often and via thank you e-mails - was misplaced. And I have to admit, that stings a little. Or a lot. These people walked a difficult road with our family, and while it wasn't always a pleasant journey I did believe the consideration was genuine. Now I know it wasn't.

Whatever. At least I walk away knowing I did the right thing, and acted in a way that I feel good with. But somehow, I'm sure they all feel the same way.

Let's Make a Trade

The kids made their warm and fuzzy trade yesterday; R chose a giant sketch pad and Little G, of course, chose the book with the cat in it.


Since it was time for morning break, G immediately curled up in the chair to read while R grabbed her crayons and got to work on some art.


She filled several pages in no time at all. My Reezle loves her art. Today she asked if we could do an Art lesson about Leonardo da Vinci, as she is apparently a fan. She enjoyed it, and tomorrow we are going to learn a bit about Italy and do some more sketching. I'm also going to have her "invent" something of her own and sketch it up, like da Vinci did.

I want to keep those creative fires burning, so I try to come up with ideas to encourage her to think outside of the box. My very favorite aid in this is the list of writing prompts. This afternoon she wrote a lengthy piece on her favorite food made with apples. She chose apple pie, talked about how to make it, and drew a picture at the end when she was done. I think we're going to have to bake an apple pie from scratch one of these days.

Our Happy Monday

Our happy Monday was a busy Monday. I discovered the joys of coffee yesterday, at wits end with this constant exhaustion I feel due to my inability to sleep like a normal person. So today I tried it again, and discovered (or should I say rediscovered?) the joy of heart palpitations. Caffeine and I don't get along. I knew it 15 years ago, but somehow I thought that exhaustion might trump caffeine intolerance. Nope. So, on to my next plan to feel less zombie-like during our school days. You know, once I figure out what that is.

One of the many things I am enjoying about homeschooling is the flexibility of both scheduling and curriculum content. I'm always supplementing with something, and I find that the internet truly is a wonderful resource. A History lesson about the 7 continents and their well-known landmarks, geography, and climate are much more interesting with the aid of YouTube videos. When I was in school, we basically had one or two pictures in a textbook (sometimes) and our imaginations. Videos about the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), the Great Wall of China (Asia), castles (Europe), The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and Mt. Rushmore (North America, obviously), penguins (Antarctica), rainforests and macaws (South America), and giraffes (Africa) kept both of the kids engaged and interested. Better yet? They were talking about it for the rest of the day. Good stuff.

For art class, while discussing how Joan Miro lived in Barcelona, Spain and went to study art in Paris, France, we used Google Maps (including street view) to find out what both places look like and how far away from home he went to study (roughly 11 hours by today's travel, in case you were wondering). Reezle decided she would like to visit Barcelona and Paris, especially after we visited the Eiffel Tower via Google's street view. And today, we looked at various images of the earth while we studied the earth's poles and the equator.



An abstract drawing R made for Art using shapes and lines.

With week four of homeschool underway, we're all still loving it. Little G had his assessment yesterday and, like his sister and just as we expected, he scored well above and received the same recommendations as R. Officially, he will be starting some first grade curriculum, probably later this week. He is very excited and keeps asking me to check the OLS (online school) to see if it is there yet, even though I told him it probably won't be until later in the week or possible even next week. He finished his Kindergarten Math book tonight after dinner, so it will be mostly Study Island and working through the remaining Kindergarten lessons in the OLS to keep him busy while we wait for the new curriculum to update on the site.

Reezle will also be starting curriculum for the next grade level because she is assessing out of Math and Language Arts; I'm just waiting to hear back from our second grade teacher on when. I'm just happy that both of them are so interested in learning. Or, um, all three of them if you count the cat; she hasn't missed a lesson yet.

Fall is definitely in the air, with cool nights that bring thoughts of changing leaves, Halloween, squash soup and cups of cocoa to mind. This is my favorite season, the only downside of which is the fact that my least favorite season follows. For now, we enjoy. I hope to make some homemade applesauce with the kids, and we will be making apple shirts soon, which I can hardly wait to post about!

Grade 2 Assessments

Below are the results from R's Grade 2 assessments in reading and math:


That little blue dot at the top of the charts, well above the "Above Average" line, is where R scored. The recommendation on both is, "Consider need for individualized instruction." I did consider that need, and thus we are homeschooling.

Her confidence after seeing her accomplishments in print has soared, and we knocked out quite a few lessons in Math yesterday. She is really looking forward to the Grade 3 Math curriculum.

Little G's assessment is on Monday, and I expect similar results. He is more than halfway through his Math workbook and has 27 of 36 units of Phonics completed, just 15 days into the school year. He keeps saying, "I want to learn stuff." Hopefully when the grade 1 curriculum materials arrive, he will. He's already coveting his big sister's Math workbook.

This year ought to prove interesting! Any doubts or concerns I had are pretty much gone at this point, and we have some fun activities coming up on our Fall calendar. They are happy and thriving, and I couldn't ask for more.

Language Arts and Science

For Language Arts today, R's assignment included reading aloud. She could choose a passage from a book she enjoys, a poem she memorized, or something she had written herself. She chose to read an entire (short) book and a story she wrote about our cat. I was thoroughly impressed with how well she did! She started with the story she wrote, standing straight and tall, making great eye contact with her audience (me and Little G), speaking clearly and with expression (smiles) and feeling, holding her composition book low so we could see her sweet little face, and she had both of us smiling through the whole thing. Afterward, she read Harry The Dirty Dog with he same great enthusiasm, lots of smiles, and tons of great eye contact.

As for G, the boy starts his mornings by hugging his beloved Math workbook. Now, I've never witnessed that kind of enthusiasm from kids in bricks and mortar schools. One of the things that bothered me most about sending my kids to school was the concern that they would lose the love of learning they both have.

Even our cat has something to say about traditional schools...

Or, okay, maybe she was just yawning instead of acting all ferocious and scary. Sticky is probably the calmest, most tolerant cat on the face of the planet.

R also enjoyed some Science experiments today. We discussed bouncy balls and which would bounce higher and why. She did trials and recorded what happened each time, dropping them from different heights. She also compared how an empty water bottle versus her bear's brush compared in "bounciness". The water bottle won, in case you're wondering. It won big. The brush just sort of hit the floor like a brick.

We also did an experiment to learn whether salt would dissolve more quickly in hot versus cold water. Hot won, of course, and we discussed why and what other things hot water is used for dissolving (dirt on our clothes in the washing machine, messes on the table after dinner, and so forth). The salt-in-water experiment is a fun one, which is more fascinating for kids than you might expect. We did this years ago when she was in preschool, though she doesn't remember. I recommend it! For our next Science lesson, I think we're going to cook up something extra fun...but I'm keeping it a secret for now.

And last, but certainly not least, we have a really fun new game that counts for Phonics and PE. I was having difficulty helping Little G grasp the concept of syllables. He reads well and has mastered spelling and grammar surprisingly well for his age, but syllables were just not getting through because of his speech issues. I never even considered that, but it makes sense. His words are sometimes broken up into extra syllables that don't exist. Another homeschooling parent on one of the groups I belong to suggested that boys sometimes like more full body movements, and so jumping might be better than clapping. What a wonderful suggestion this turned out to be! Little G loves to jump (it was one of his first words, actually), so we tried it. It was magic, let me tell you! Within about 10 jumps, he knew exactly what syllables meant. Clapping did nothing of the sort for him. We did our new jumping game for about 20 minutes and he loved every single smiling jump.

On Monday, I am going to add continents in. We can toss our inflatable globe to each other while saying the continents as we jump and figuring out how many syllables are in each one. Phonics, PE, and History all in one!

Warm and Fuzzies, Books, and Assessments

Today was warm and fuzzy trade in day!

R and Little G each chose a new book from the prize redemption selection (which mommy needs to replenish very soon at the rate they're going) and they spend the latter part of Language Arts reading their new books quietly to themselves, then to each other, and finally to me. Little G chose Splish, Splat, Splat, a super cute book about a cat, and R chose Do Cats Always Land On Their Feet? (the answer is no, in case you were wondering).


R also had an assessment this afternoon with her teacher contact through the virtual school. She read three stories to assess her fluency, or the rate at which she reads orally. She reads at 140 words per minute, which according to NAEP is a grade 4 average. R is just starting grade 2. She also did an assessment for math, for which she had 8 minutes to answer 20-some questions of varying degrees of difficulty. She wasn't expected to finish all of the problems, but she did. The national average is 10-24 points, and the goal is 15 points. R got 47 points out of a possible 50.

In light of her results, we are discussing moving her up to the grade 3 curriculum so she is challenged. R, of course, is very excited about this because she loves to learn and the idea of new material she has never encountered had her jumping around like a kid waiting for Santa.

Little G has his assessment on Monday, and I expect similar results. He's actually been helping R with spelling and grammar since last year when he was in preschool. He is another one with a voracious appetite for knowledge; he worked from page 60-something in his Math workbook to page 109 in a matter of hours today. I think the curriculum, if we followed it, has him somewhere around page 30. He knows everything in the book, and mastered most of it (colors, shapes, number identification) before he even started preschool, so it's just busy work. I really look forward to getting him into some advanced curriculum so I can feel like I am teaching him something. Meanwhile, he continues to do addition, subtraction and multiplication flash cards and play chess with Daddy, and he works on a grade 2 workbook with various math and language arts material in it for fun. And he reads and reads and reads, which satisfies some of his thirst for knowledge.

I love being a part of this. And I had another great talk with my grandma about it, wherein I admitted that I had wanted to tell her about homeschooling sooner but worried about what she would think. She just kept saying she was proud of me and my kids, and that totally made my day :)

Jack and the Beanstalk

As part of Little G's curriculum, Language Arts includes The Random House Book of Fairy Tales.

First, let me say that I am not a fan of fairy tales, so I wasn't exactly thrilled to have this as part of our curriculum. I get that fairy tales have are supposed to have lessons in them or whatever, and some do. But most of them are depressing at best, weird almost always, and sometimes downright creepy or just plain messed up. Jack and the Beanstalk seems to convey the message that being an idiot and a thief, making poor decisions, and taking unnecessary risks is a good thing. I hadn't heard the story since I was a child, despite the many fe-fi-fo-fum references in pop culture. I've learned my lesson: read all material before presenting it to the kids.

Despite the creepiness of the story and the poor message, Little G liked it. He answered all of the guiding questions very well and obviously has an excellent comprehension of the material. The one part I skipped was having him read it back to me, like I usually do with everything we read. Quite honestly, if I never hear that story again, it will be a good thing.

I'm really looking forward to getting him started on some material he can actually learn something from. He has to be assessed first, so while we wait I am doing what I've been doing right along - supplementing with material that is at his skill level. He enjoys second grade workbooks, and we have several. We read daily, and he is expressing interest in books with chapters now. I have learned that spelling and grammar are strong points for him, and he even helps his big sister when she gets stuck. Likewise, she helps him when reading instructions gets in his way. It's not that he can't, he just doesn't like to. Typical guy thing, and just like his mama! Ha!

We're still experiencing our "problem" of the kids wanting to do lessons at all hours. I'm just going ahead and letting them have their workbooks to do as they will with them. At this point in the early years of their learning years, they are familiar with most of the material. Holding them back would be doing exactly what I criticized public school for doing. It is amazing how much children will learn just because they want to. I think traditional schools ruin that natural curiosity and desire to know in many children. I mean, this is a far cry from last year when R would sit at her desk, following 7 hours of school, and be just totally burnt out and done with it all while we prodded her to continue. Hearing groans and complaints because it is bedtime and we have to put our workbooks back on the shelf is much more positive, in my opinion.

Week Three Begins With Health

Welcome to week three!


I did one of my middle of the night shopping trips last night. I have to do that once in a while. Driving down nearly empty roads with the music cranked up to a level sure to cause hearing impairment someday, windows down just far enough to take in remainders of the sweet summer air, and arriving at a store where it looks virtually abandoned instead of crowded are all among my preferred ways of going shopping. While there, I found a ginormous box of 120 Crayola crayons. Pretty sure ginormous isn't a word, but clearly that's not stopping me from using it. The kids were pretty stoked this morning when they found that sitting on their study table.

I also gifted them with a copy of the First Human Body Encyclopedia from the DK First Reference Series. It is a colorful, detailed, beautiful hardcover book that does a great job of introducing some real biology and health to younger children. It's perfect for the homeschooling family because it goes beyond the very basics of various body systems and supplements any curriculum nicely. I give this 5/5 stars and would highly recommend it. However, if you cringe at anything that is not in cartoon-only form or want your children to believe that the stork brings babies, it's probably best to skip this one. If, on the other hand, you're pretty up front about things, you're sure to love this encyclopedia as much as we do.


Another little gem in our homeschool lineup this week is a National Geographic magazine my husband picked up from the store the other day. I won't tell you how much it cost, and I actually didn't want to know because he was expressing such disbelief over it himself, but he had this burning urge to tell me it was over $15. Hmm. Apparently I felt the same burning urge, because now you know. I dealt with it by shrugging and calling it curriculum enhancement. After I flipped through the pages, I realized it was an absolutely perfect companion to our history lessons right now, as it is filled with wildlife from the various continents and we are studying the continents in both K and 2. And uh, it's not like I'm exactly in any position to be shocked at the cost of a magazine anyhow, even if it hadn't proven to be the most perfectly-timed issue of National Geographic ever.

Our current goal is plowing through the Kindergarten Math as soon as possible. Little G was quite disappointed when he had to go over shapes and colors this morning, concepts he mastered before age 3, while R was doing these:

I printed an extra copy for G to enjoy on his own. He got them all correct. No surprise there.

In non-academic news, I've been throwing around the idea of family game night for some time, but it never seems to actually happen. I'm a bit disappointed in myself about that. My previous excuse was that traditional school ate all of our free time and left us with barely enough for sleep and washing. That is clearly not a problem now, as we have our evenings to ourselves and are no longer rushed between homework, bathtime, and earlier bedtimes. Baths can be taken earlier, bedtime is an hour later than when we did traditional school, and homework is non-existent. Except for when, you know, they ask to do school work during off hours (and they often do, because they love it!). So, game night. We're going to do that. And I am blogging about it here and now to hold myself to it!

9/11/01 - 9/11/11

Never forget the lives lost, the brave responders who gave their lives saving others, the many civilians who gave their lives to save others, the families who have an empty chair at the dinner table, the survivors who live with scars both physical and emotional, and those who continue to struggle with illness related to working at the WTC site.

Also do not forget the way complete strangers reached out to help others, the people who traveled from around the country to do anything they could, those who worked for what must have felt like forever to clean up ground zero, or the outpouring of love and support from around the world.

Today should be a day of remembering and reflecting, not a day of hatred toward a culture, a country, or a religion. Islam did not kill nearly 3,000 people, terrorism did. The Middle East did not attack us, terrorists did. Do not rejoice in war, but instead in the love, compassion, and spirit of oneness that rose up from the ashes of those attacks.

Peace be with you all.

Materials, Supplementing, and Skully

While I certainly cannot complain about the materials provided by K12 for our curriculum...

...it is kinda fun to substitute our own. Like fruity, rainbow-colored Cheerios for Math, or our large collection of Trio building blocks in place of the base-10 counting blocks.

Homeschool and the K12 curriculum are giving my children something that I didn't really experience much of until college - an overlap between even the most unlikely subject material. Take Language Arts and PE, for example.

Sure, it's really about following directions (I think), but Little G's assignment had both of my little students standing sideways, hopping on one foot, acting like sleeping pelicans, and generally being wild and crazy little monkeys for a good half hour. We even played Simon Says, though I can't recall if it was this day or another.

Take note of the "skully" shirt. You'll be seeing a lot of it. Though we've owned it for approximately two weeks, it's been washed about five times already. Every load of laundry I bring through the house is invariably followed with, "Mama? Did you wash my skully?" Today I replied, "No, little dude. You're wearing it."

Week Two Wraps Up

As of today, we have completed our second week of homeschool! It was another enjoyable week, and we played with different schedule variations a bit. On Wednesday, Daddy had to work a couple of extra hours, so we used this time to do some extra lessons. On Thursday, we started bright and early in the morning and had most of our lessons finished by 10:15AM due to our jump start from the previous evening. The children were rewarded with a morning movie break for their hard work and great progress, and we wrapped up the remaining work after lunch.

The Math workbook is by far G's favorite, while R gravitates to the handwriting practice workbook. Both of them are doing great in all of their subjects, though G keeps asking me when he is going to start learning something in Math. They're going over shapes and colors, and he had that material mastered prior to preschool. "Mama, when can I learn multiplication?" he asks. We'll get there, little dude, I promise.

Language Arts is a great and challenging curriculum for both of them, and I'm taking some extra time there so they can learn both the Kindergarten and Grade 2 lessons together. The History curriculum also gets my approval, and the Kindergarten material is providing a great refresher course for R. Right now, we are studying the 7 continents and their well-known attributes, and both of my little students can name all of them. If they forget here and there, I can mention an animal or land attribute (i.e. penguins for Antarctica, the Great Wall for Asia, the Sahara Desert for Africa, and so on), and they will remember right away.

The internet, specifically YouTube, is a wonderful homeschool resource to compliment curriculum material. We watched videos about The Great Wall, kangaroos and the Great Barrier Reef, penguins, the Saharah, European castles, and this incredible Grand Canyon flyover:



R and G are learning, actually acquiring new information and retaining it, and being a part of this process is an honor and a gift. This feels right, like the way it is supposed to be. And not only do I enjoy having my family together and being a part of their learning, but I really like the teaching part!

I'm also still enjoying that bus passing right by our home, no stops required. I think I'll enjoy that indefinitely.

Our Big Classroom Is A Little Different

Mama Bonn: It's Take Your Pet to School day! Every day!

R: Yeah!

Mama Bonn: And Take Your Teddy Bear to School Day!

R: And Take Your Stuffed Animals to School Day!

Mama Bonn: Yep, and how about Bring Your Snuggly Blanket to School Day?

R: Yeah! And Wear Your Pajamas to School Day!

Mama Bonn: Uh huh, and Eat PB & J Crackers at Your Desk Day!

R: And Bring Your Home to School Day! And Bring Your Little Brother to School Day!

Quote of the Day

"Woah, this checkpoint practice is so awesome!" - Little G, on his Math assignment.

Wednesday Randomness

Dear Study Island,

I am using you. Yes, using you. Not to test what my children know, as is your intended purpose, but to assess what I need to focus most on when I am teaching them and to determine their strengths so I can use those strengths to their benefit. Or maybe that is part of your purpose. I dunno. But I'm using you. So yeah.

-Mama Bonn

It's been a long day, so you'll have to forgive my case of mommybrain/whatever that letter above was. Our lessons began this morning and didn't really wrap up until late this evening. We didn't need to go on that long, but material-related interests kept sprouting up like flowers after a thunderstorm and we went with it.

Miss R seems to be taking quite an interest in 9/11 this year. You'll hear no complaints from me; I am addicted to political and historical documentaries and events, and there are no shortage of these on the topic of 9/11. There is a short Nick News program called What Happened?, available in full on the Nickelodeon website. We watched that together, but it did not answer all of her questions. She has many questions about everything. (I like that.) So I also let her watch some of the live news coverage from that day, explaining what it felt like and what I thought about as I watched it unfold that morning. She had many questions, and I answered them as best I could, but told her that some questions simply cannot be answered.

On other matters, I am learning what works for my children and what doesn't. Strangers were in charge of my daughter's education for two years, so I am at a bit of a disadvantage with her compared to my son in terms of knowing her learning style and academic strengths and weaknesses. I find that the way some of the material is presented makes it more complicated than it actually is. For example, R is learning place values in Math, working with base 10 blocks and doing regrouping exercises. While these exercises are quite valuable, she already knows how to add two-digit and three-digit numbers, and can't understand why she has to basically back track and break down into simpler terms what is already fairly easy for her. But, since she actually seems to struggle with it to some degree, I am going to have her do an activity where she draws hundreds, tens, and ones blocks instead of working with the actual 3-D blocks. Since she is drawn to drawing (heh, I are so funny), I figure maybe that will help. You know, especially if I encourage the use of multiple crayon colors.

For PE, we're doing a lot of hooping for now. We can practice indoors or out. The weather has either been ridiculously hot or chilly and rainy recently, but once we get a nice day with some sunshine I will be taking some blogworthy pictures of our happy hooping. For now, these photos of G and myself will have to do.


R is a pro at this, and G is catching on quickly! Only occasionally do we have a hoop go flying while trying a new trick...and it's usually mine. It's so cool to watch my children learn new things, from Math to hooping and everything in between. We are all really enjoying this experience, and I am so thankful for it.

Math and Kitty

After a wonderful long weekend with the family, class resumed this morning. Weekends are so much more enjoyable now that my children aren't being shipped off to the public school cookie cutter assembly line, because I no longer have to dread the beginning of the week. I am mommy all the time, the way it should be, instead of having a school system tell me when and/or if I can parent my child between the hours of 9-3.

I apologize. To my readers and to myself. I made this quiet little promise that I wasn't going to be negative about public school. But I've going to have to modify that. I will state my personal feelings about our personal experience from time to time, and much of that has some bitterness involved. I do want to be clear that I am not judging any parent's decision to send their child to public schools. Am I judging the school system in general, though? Yes.

On a lighter and much more fun note, here is Little G and his furry study buddy:

In this photo, G illustrates the only problem I have encountered so far; he wants to do math all. the. time. He would complete that book inside of a week if I let him, I'm fairly certain. We've been using workbooks with the kids for years, and he particularly enjoys the math ones. He burned through the preschool one in less than a week, so we bought him a Kindergarten one. He was through that one in a few days as well, so we bought him a first grade workbook. That one actually lasted a couple of weeks. In the weeks before the start of this academic year, Little G had adopted the math portions of his sister's second grade math workbook and was addicted to Sudoku puzzles. While visiting my grandma several months ago, G asked (and answered) loudly, "What is 1 + 2 + 3 + 4? It's 10!!!" The kid has some sort of little calculator center in his head. It's very cool. And I'm just a little envious.

I asked R today what her favorite subject is. She said Language Arts, Science, and Art. I noticed Math did not make the list. She's very good at it, so I guess that is what counts. I want very much for my children to do well in math, because it will open so many more doors for them. I think R prefers subjects she doesn't have to try at because she doesn't tolerate anything less than perfect from herself. I try to point out that mistakes are part of the learning process, and that taking some calculated risks is critical to getting anywhere in life. But she hesitates, because she just loathes anything she perceives as failure on her part. Sigh. I wish I could get her to lighten up.

But, these being our worst school-related issues, I can't complain. No bullies walk these halls, transportation isn't an issue, and every day is Bring Your Pet to School Day! Still loving it? Yes.

Study Island: Kindergarten Math

Little G and I spent some of our Sunday on Study Island. He completed the Kindergarten Math section. His scores (below) are in blue, the goal scores are in black, and how he compares is in black to the right of the goal score. Ad = Advanced:

Way to go, Little G!

Simple Pleasures

It appears that, based on our state's department of education website and a conservative estimate, we cost the school district more than $6k by removing our children.

At the end of last school year, our Superintendent made some very poor (the opinion of many, not just my own) decisions about the direction of our district. Families affected by these changes did not get a say in the matter, and there are a lot of people who are feeling more than a little upset about this. After previous unsatisfactory dealings with the Superintendent over the district's failure to enforce its own policies on bullying when my then Kindergarten student was repeatedly victimized, this was the straw - the ultimate deciding factor which propelled my husband and I right over the fence between public school and homeschool.

It's probably wrong, but my reaction to the financial loss for our district based on my children no longer attending was as follows:

LOL :D

Finally Friday: Our First Week of Homeschool

We have officially completed our first week of homeschool. I was wondering what this would feel like, and I have to say...it's great. This weekend should be quite enjoyable, as there is no homework to be done and the trepidation I felt going into the first week of school and my first ever week of teaching my children is greatly diminished.

My favorite thing so far, aside from being with my children as they grow and learn, is the academic flexibility. Little G has the opportunity to work on Math, Phonics, and Language Arts from K-2, since he often has his assignments finished before I even get R set up and he joins us for the duration of his sister's lessons. He is also doing Science, Art, and Music, which are not part of his required curriculum but enriching to his experience. I am also mixing subject matter, like adding the Music course tambourine with our continents song as we sing.

The great thing is that learning is everywhere. Nickelodeon presented us with an unexpected history lesson last night with their 9/11 special, What Happened?, geared toward helping younger children (6-14) understand the events of September 11, 2001. It is a 22 1/2-minute program available in full on the Nickelodeon website here. R watched it, though Little G was much more interested in playing a computer game during that time.

On a more personal note, I finally told my grandma Betty, who tends to be kind of "old school" on some (but certainly not all) things, about our decision to homeschool our children. I didn't share my decision with her at all over the past few months, which was difficult because I pretty much share everything with my grandma and really value her input on important decisions. But I was nervous, and didn't know what kind of opinions extended family had of homeschooling or how exactly I would dispell any stereotypes when I had not even begun yet. While I didn't expect my grandmother to be completely against it, I do realize that her perspective is different simply because she was raised and raised her own children in a very different time. For that matter, even my own childhood and education experience was quite different than what my own children face.

To my surprise, there was not even a hint of hesitation, just a lot of encouraging and supportive comments and a few questions of interest. She asked how we all liked it, and thirty minutes had passed before I stopped myself, laughing, to say, "Well, from the fact that I've just run my mouth for thirty straight minutes about it, I guess it's obvious that I love it. We all love it." She said that was quite alright, that she enjoyed hearing about it and that it sounded like we made a really good choice. It meant the world to me to hear that.

And now? I am off to enjoy the weekend with my husband and children.

Day Four

I found a way this afternoon to allow G to take first grade assessments in Study Island, so we did two of them. On reading standards for literature, the goal is 70% for students in grade 1. G's scores were as follows:

(a) Asking and answering questions: 90.9% (Ad) Advanced
(b) Retelling stories: 83.3% (Ac) Accelerated

So basically, he is accelerated to advanced...for a first grader. On his 4th day of Kindergarten. He amazes me. G welcomed the challenge and earned a warm and fuzzy for his efforts.

My dear artistic little girl wrote a few sentences about herself to accompany her self portrait for an assignment due tomorrow.


For a bit of Language Arts supplementation and our little post-break reading and relaxation ritual, I bought both of my children a book to help them with issues they struggle with. Little G has a temper, and R sometimes struggles with the concept of sharing. Today, they each read their new book to me, and afterward I read the books to both of them.



In the background is our furry friend, Sticky. I think she enjoyed our reading this morning and afternoon, too.

And finally, for History (or was it Social Studies?) yesterday and today, my little R (or was it G?) had this echo song about the continents. We're all having fun with it together, like most other subjects.

I thought we could put it together with music and add the tambourine to keep a beat. I plan to add our recorder and keyboard to our music lessons, and maybe pick up a little drum set for fun.

Oh, did I mention I love homeschooling my children? Because I do. And they love it, too. And I have to admit it is a lot of fun to hear the school bus drive right by our home, sans squeaky brakes, and know that we've been done with our lessons for 2 hours already and that there is no required homework ahead of us - just some great, quality family time.