It’s not Wordless Wednesday, but I wanted to share two photographs my friend Trin took at her son Mat’s 2nd birthday party.
This shot of Captain Science is just beautiful. He looks all posed and pensive. Really, he was covering water jets with his hands.
I also love the ridiculousness that is Babypie’s bikini with matching hat. Please do your best to ignore me squinting in the background.
She didn’t get any pics of Tank, because he moves TOO FAST. Here’s one of the few I snagged:
Captain Science is motoring through some stuff!
This week, he completed the second unit of his PLATO Earth Science, watching the main video, doing the application activity, finishing the 7-page packet, taking the practice tests (and getting 100% on them), and then passing the unit test w/ a 90% (27 out of 30 correct). He started the third unit today and completed the video and the application activity.
Math is coming along nicely. Captain Science completed lessons 4-7 of Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra/Fred’s Home Companion, including the first set of cities (which this book has instead of the bridges in the previous books). He got all the problems in Adin and Elberfield correct! He’s also enjoying the Math Olympiad meetings, though he hasn’t completed the homework for next week’s meeting yet.
This week in history, he read about the first emperor of ancient China and about civil service careers in ancient China. He wrote his first history summary of the year, choosing to write about the civil service exams, their importance, and the risks of cheating. A valuable lesson, if there there was one. He wrote a first draft and a final draft.
In computer programming, he started his first actual piece of programming, a very simple application that pops up the text “hello, world!” He also reviewed the previous chapter and did a short test on those chapters.
I think he has finally finished The Secret Garden. He’s dragging it out, possibly because I also gave him It’s Perfectly Normal his week, a book on human development/puberty/sex ed. He’s alternating between the two and, as long as I don’t bring up puberty, seems perfectly comfortable learning about it. If I so much as say “hair under your arms,” he gets mad at me and says, “Can we change the subject?”
Tank also had a good week. He’s working on tracing, which is as much an exercise for his patience as for his hand. He worked on tracing shapes, identifying and writing the numbers 1-5, tracing big A and little a, and identifying words that start w/ an “a” sound. He finished a few pages in his workbooks on matching and comparing, as well. We’re hoping his friend Dimhibbins* will be joining us soon, perhaps as early as next week, for some additional pre-K fun!
Babypie’s big thing this week has been working out a nice balance of smacking and biting with Badge the beagle. She slaps him, he gently bites her, I intervene and fuss at both of them, they both look chastened, and as soon as I walk away, she’s smacking him and he’s nipping her. Honestly, since neither one is crying about it, I suspect this might be how they play. Puppy pals, maybe?
Today, we wrapped up our day with a “surprise” field trip to Fernbank to meet up with some friends and go back through the gecko and Sensing Nature exhibits more carefully, now that most of the public schools are back in session. Much less crowded! We blew some great bubbles, played with the sound exhibit (where I was faux-chided by my friend’s husband for saying “the magic of science,” because he says that’s the very thing I rant about on my blog), and looked at a backlit gecko’s internal organs through its translucent belly. All three of my kid came home with small plastic geckos (which only cost $.93 a piece before my 10% membership discount).
Anyway, that’s our week in review. Our Michael Clay Thompson stuff came today, so we can jump right back into that come Monday!
Now for something completely different, we took a “field trip” for Secular Thursday, as my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, niece (5.5), and nephew (almost 2) are in town. We went to the Georgia Aquarium, with its largest salt water tanks and whale sharks and whatnot.
It sucked.
That place is the most poorly designed animal displaying facility I have ever visited. Yes, it’s huge. Yes, it’s flashy. Yes, it’s gorgeous. The flow and function, however, leave worlds to be desired. The various galleries are off a central lobby, so everyone mills about in the middle, taking pictures and staring and pointing. They park their giant strollers everywhere (this is why I babywear) and you can’t get by. They have absolutely no concern for other visitors. I’m pretty sure they’re all Yankee transplants or tourists, because surely no Southerner’s mama raised him to behave like this in public.
In the time it took for us to drive downtown, park the car, and finally get into the first area of the aquarium (which was just the play ground and “pet a shrimp*” section), we could have driven to Chattanooga and been halfway down the fresh water aquarium building. It has unidirectional flow, the Tennessee Aquarium. It may not be as big as the one in Atlanta, but even on the crowded day, you get in quickly and the traffic moves.
We only looked at half the exhibits and we drove home in the driving rain. I’m counting this as a full school day, because, frankly, the experience was so harrowing that I’m sure Captain Science must have learned something very important. I learned that I’d rather go to the TN Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta, and even the damn Gulfarium than spend one single cotton picking minute in the gorram GA Aquarium.
*No, I didn’t pet a shrimp. I don’t want to pet a freaking shrimp. I want to eat a freaking shrimp.
Captain Science had a great week. Thank goodness, because I was fixin’ to put him out in the yard in a box labeled “free kittens (large).”
He finally, finally passed the Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents bridge to chapter 20 (we won’t even talk about how many tries that took) and then zoomed through chapters 20-24. Even though chapter 24’s work was as long as a bridge and over new concepts, he finished it quickly and completely correct!
Caesar’s English I is also going swimmingly. After finishing the second chapter last week, Captain Science reviewed the materials and then took the cumulative quiz over the materials . 100% — surprising, as he took it in a noisy coffee shop while I was attending a baby-wearing meeting. He’s such a little peach sometimes that it makes those bad weeks much more bearable.
He has also officially completed Grammar Town, though I have to say, bless his heart, we’re having to go back and do review over a few concepts. He missed 10 of the 25 questions of the post-test, due mainly to zooming through without paying attention. He can identify all the relevant parts of speech, phrases, etc. in a sentence, write an example sentence using the required sentences parts, but totally bombed the multiple choice? Yeah, I’m going to call that an effort issue, not a retention issue. It was hard to keep him focused through his work on Practice Town today, as it has started snowing to beat the band, a rare treat in Georgia. We went through a little review of direct object vs. indirect object vs. subject complement, then he broke down a few example sentences for me (all correct), before I booted him out into the snow, where he is currently leaving giant footprints all over the formerly pristine snowy driveway.
Our mini-co-op is going swimmingly. We added new students to Daddyman’s game class this week and two of the new students (some of my favorites from my writing class last semester) stayed to do Patchfire’s class on the brain and my writing class. We now have an age spread from 9-12 (maybe almost 13?) and an additional girl, which is nice for balance. They came up with their board game ideas, looked at slides of the brain online, and worked on the main conflict from their stories. The dynamic is just perfect now, as the oldest student is genuinely admired and respected by the younger kids, which lets him act as a leader and keep them on track. Love these kids, seriously. Such a wonderful group, every single one of them, from our morning gamers to our afternoon writers.
Science in general is moving in a fun direction. Captain Science’s Thames and Kosmos Physics Workshop came, so he and EG spent Thursday building various machines to test force and weight. Patchfire et al. have prior commitments on Tues/Thurs of next week, so I’ll be managing the brain class and having Cpt. Science catch up on a couple of experiments from the phsyics kit next week — something to do with dropping potatoes and making a sail car? Or maybe sailing a potato car?
The Tank surprised me this week with his ability to write his name, which isn’t exactly short or easy (and we’ve had some arguments over the inclusion of the letter “v” on a few occasions). He wrote it on 10 valentines for his classmates and teachers, with no help and only one or two gentle reminders that his name doesn’t start with “O.” He missed class on Wednesday due to a mild fever the night before (24 hour fever policy? — homeschool doesn’t have that), and when I walked him in, all the little boys in his completely-male (by lack of girl enrollment, not by sex-segregating design) class were sitting at their desks with giant globs of pink play-dough (made by yours truly) and hollered, “You’re here!” His teacher also gave him a huge hug and said, “I’m so glad you made it today!” Queue moderate guilt over not re-enrolling.
Babypie’s newest skill this week is incessant chattering. She talks almost constantly in nonsensical syllables that perfectly mimic the tone and form of our speech.
I stayed busy with both a La Leche League meeting and a baby-wearing social, plus the co-op and science at Patchfire’s. I’ve been under the weather and am dragging, so I’m amazed our week has been this productive. I just want to drink coffee and snuggle under a blanket all day, but that’s not a good way to get homeschooling accomplished, sadly.
It’s currently snowing all fluffy and Yankee-like out there, so I’m going to take some pictures and document this magnificent snowfall. I’m sure I’ve forgotten stuff from the week, but such is the nature of things.
Lisa M. asks, “How much ‘outside’ schooling do you do? I mean classes or subjects that you do not teach yourself and either have someone else teach or pay for at a local facility.
Have I mentioned my undying love for Patchfire? Apart from having a wo-mance with her (which is like a bromance, only for women), I also share a little mini co-op with this delightfully intelligent woman of many talents. Twice a week, we get together so that she can teach science to our oldest children. On Tuesdays, Patchfire and her brood come over here for Captain Science and Eclectic Girl to delve into a wonderful course in the human brain, taught by Patchfire (about an hour of work). After that, I spend the next hour working with them on creative writing, while Patchfire entertains the smaller kids. Our current topic is writing short stories, which both kids seem to be taking to quite well.
On Thursdays, we zip over to her house after dropping off the Tank. There, the kids work on physics units, covering a wide array of topics, such as sound, color and light, water and heat, electricity, magnetism, etc. We’re usually there from around 9:30 to 12, plenty of time to finish all the experiments and even have a little play time.
Captain Science is also receiving piano lessons twice weekly from my great-aunt. It’s a nice break to the monotony of Mondays and Wednesdays, which are our biggest academic work days.
Later in the spring, I’d like to start both boys in some art classes. Art isn’t my strongest area, and I think they’d both benefit from some additional instruction. We’ll also have a little more money freed come summer time, once the Tank is no longer in preschool. I’m already looking at the possibly camps and programs they could enjoy this summer!
As a follow-up, Lisa would also like to know, “How far away would you travel for a class that fit your schedule that you could not teach?”.
Could not? There is very little I could not teach. I can’t imagine willingly traveling more than 20 minutes each way with any regularity. We have enough resources within a short drive that I wouldn’t be willing to drive to downtown Atlanta, up to Gwinnett, or any place like that just for a class. A one-time thing? Sure. A one-week camp, once a year? Maybe. A regular class? I’d just have to look for a closer alternative.
That’s how a [Smrt] Homeschooler handles outside schooling!
Do you have a question for the [Smrt] Homeschooler? Email them to
smrtmama@smrtlernins.com
I was pleased to see this great article in Access Atlanta about the growing number of local homeschoolers and the various programs springing up to accommodate us. These programs are “part of a trend of home schoolers becoming involved in activities that would have once seemed the antithesis of learning in a private, family-based environment. What began with home educated students making their presence felt in scholastic sports leagues and youth orchestras has spread to cultural institutions.”
Along with listing information on various programs available to homeschoolers, the article also gives information on homeschooling numbers both nationally and state-wide:
In part, this development can be attributed to critical mass: In its most recent study in 2007, the U.S. Department of Education estimated some 1.5 million students nationwide were home schoolers, up from 850,000 in 1998; the private National Home Education Research Institute says the number may be as high as 2.5 million now. An earlier analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Education in 2003 found that 40.6 percent of all home schooled students lived in the South, nearly twice as many as in any other region of the country.
Officially, Georgia now boasts almost 40,000 homeschooled students! I have some questions about the bolded portion of the following paragraph, however:
In Georgia, 39,207 students were home schooled in 2009, according to numbers compiled by the state Department of Education. The highest concentration was in metro Atlanta, including 3,276 in Gwinnett and 2,942 in Cobb. Fulton’s total was listed as zero, suggesting the overall figure statewide is probably higher.
How is it that Fulton county lists no homeschoolers at all? Every county in Georgia should have the same reporting requirements. What is going on at the Fulton county superintendent’s officer that no homeschoolers are being reported? If any of my readers living and schooling in Fulton, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences about this.
It feels nice to be a part of something. Two years ago, this article would have meant nothing to me. A year ago, it might have piqued my curiosity, as we were just starting to explore alternatives to public school. Now, however, I’m part of a group that is “making [our] presence felt.” I love my new community of families and I’m so glad we have all these wonderful local resources available to us.
A banner week! This week was pretty much all success, very little arse-dragging or slacking or attitude.
Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents was gangbusters, chapters 16-19 and the first pass at the bridge. Granted, he got all loosey-goosey come bridge time, so he’ll have to do at least one more try, but every other day this week, he finished quickly and with little to no error. He seems to have finally found his pace with the decimals.
I was thrilled to implement the MCT curricula this week. Captain Science absolutely loves Grammar Town. It’s mainly reading, with very little written work, though there are several sections of memorization (pronouns, verb tenses, etc.). I’ve had Captain Science write the memorization stuff down and we have been doing little memory games when we’re at the table for a meal or riding in the care. I made up a poem for the subject and object pronouns, which Cpt. Science enjoyed. He’s already well into the book, covering pgs 3-55, which means he’s about at the halfway point. Good thing we have plenty of other language arts stuff to work on!
Captain Science also began Caesar’s English I. He did the introduction on Tuesday and the first lesson today. Again, little written work, a lot of reading, and then review. I told Captain Science that if he can pass the first review on the first attempt, we’ll start his actual Latin curriculum!
At Patchfire’s recommendation, we started the poetry along with grammar. No actual writing yet, just reading. Captain Science read the first section, “Building Poems.” He enjoys reading the poems, though I hope he’ll also enjoy writing them. I need to compile a list of example poems for each of the topics (assonance, alliteration, iambic pentameter, etc.) covered. Once I do, I’ll post that here.
Speaking of writing, we started our short story “class” with Captain Science and Eclectic Girl this week. The children first wrote down what they thought the components of a short story might be, then we discussed them and talked about why each guess was or wasn’t an element of a short story. We talked about length, conflict and resolution, antagonists and protagonists, then Cpt. Science and EG wrote a paragraph describing their antagonist and his/her main conflict in the story. EG’s story is about a girl from Chocolate World, trying to get to Candy World. Cpt. Science’s story is about a warrior from his imaginary world of Exon and the battle to…well, I’m not exactly clear on that, but he’s got the whole story to explain it to me!
History this week was the final bit of ancient Rome, the Pantheon Project. Next week, we’ll do a quick review and whatever final assessment I come up with. We’ve done crosswords, word puzzles, and Venn diagrams, so I need to come up with something else fun. Any suggestions?
We’re also back on the ball with Science on the same day (Tuesday) EG and Patchfire came over for writing, Patchfire taught a science unit on the brain. Cpt. Science and EG read, looked at CAP, PET, and MRI scans of the brain (which they Googled), and colored a scan of the brain. On Thursday, we went over for a continuation of the unit on water and heat.
Next week, Officer Daddyman starts his first board and card game design class. I think we have a few other families interested, so I think that will be a lot of fun. He’s great with kids that age, too, so I think he’ll also get a lot of enjoyment out of the class. If he hadn’t become a cop, he could easily have been a wonderful middle school teacher. He has the kind of patience for children ages 8-13 that I just don’t have. I’m better with the littles and the great-bigs. The in-between-bigs aren’t my best area.
The Tank also had a great week at school, though it was early release week, due to the public school schedule. Can I get a “and that’s another reason why we’re not re-enrolling him next year” from the audience? The high point of the week was Pajama Day, when Tank got to wear his big brother pajamas to class and bring a stuffed animal. He chose Captain Science’s old Build a Bear, named “Bye Bye Bear” that meows when you squeeze its paw (hey, Cpt. Science was only 2 when he made it, ok?).
Babypie is talking up a storm. I started making a list of the things she says (to me, at least) and I came up with around 20 words! At 10 months old! Another talker like her biggest brother, I guess. Amazing how much she and Captain Science are alike.
My only accomplishments for the week were ticking off some unschoolers and developing mastitis. I recovered from the unschooler thing right away, but the mastitis has been a slower go of it. Still feeling run down and glad it’s finally the weekend.
I missed last week’s review, which makes that my first one skipped this year, a bit of a downer and a disappointment. This week, despite Officer Daddyman being in domestic violence training (preventing and pursuing, not perpetrating) and me having to solo parent, has been exceptionally productive, academically-speaking.
I have noticed an irritating trend of learned helplessness in Captain Science, cropping up most noticeable in areas where he’s asked to either apply a general idea specifically or glean an idea based on data that doesn’t spell it out exactly. Now, I know this child well. I know he’s capable of all of that. When he demonstrates he knows how to round decimals, but insists he simple can’t round pi to the thousandth place after the decimal, because the book doesn’t say how to round pi specifically, it’s hard to resist the urge to whack him on the head with the book (of course, I did resist, but it was difficult). When he’s been able to read and extrapolate ideas, even very abstract ones, from reading for years, but he can’t come up with why he thinks Cleopatra was a good or bad ruler of Egypt because the books doesn’t specifically say she was either, that book-whacking urge resurfaces (I resisted it then, too, but golly! Difficult!).
I’m nipping that helplessness in the bud and Captain Science does seem to be responding to that. I told him in no uncertain terms that he was neither helpness nor incapable, and that I wasn’t going to hold his hand through assignments. I also told him that if he could only learn through being spoon fed select bits of information through worksheets and books that give all the answers, I may as well send him to public school, because that’s not what we’re about here. He agreed that being spoon fed wasn’t much fun and didn’t teach him much, and he’d rather make more of an effort at home. Since we had our talk, he’s definitely shown me he is willing and able to step it up. I’m very proud of his efforts from Wednesday onward!
Last week, Captain Science completed his last bridge in Life of Fred: Fractions and started Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents, completing chapters 1 and two. This week, he completed chapters 3-5, the bridge to chapter 6 (only missed 1, corrected on the first try), and chapter 6.
In history, Captain Science read about both Julius Caesar and Cleopatra in History: The Definitive Visual Guide, and wrote essays about his feelings on their respective rules (and in Caesar’s case, whether or not his assassination was justified – he felt it was). He’s enjoying Rome tremendously, everything from history and culture to language…which brings us to our next topic!
Captain Science has decided that he wants to learn Latin! He’s been coming across Latin phrases in his Percy Jackson, mythology, and history books, and asked if he could learn “the Roman language.” Who am I to say “no,” when the main reason he wasn’t learning it from the start was what I perceived to be a lack of interest on his part? I’ll be researching Latin curricula over the break and he will start in January!
Captain Science completed a review of chapter 7 in Growing with Grammar, leaving only the “growing with words and punctuation” section before we take a break from GWG. He finished exercises 5 and 6 in Editor in Chief A1. Unfortunately, I think this level is much too easy for him, and while I like the format, I’m unimpressed by the writing. Despite having originally balked at it, due to its popularity and reputation as the only acceptable program for gifted students, I have become swayed to the Michael Clay Thompson language arts curriculum and am considering picking up Grammar Town for Captain Science to start next semester. I might also replace Vocabulary from Classical Roots with Building Language, since the vocabulary in Vocabulary from Classical Roots has been underwhelmingly challenging. Captain Science completed review quizzes of chapters 1, 2, and 3, then the test for the whole first section. The ones he got incorrect on the test, I understand why he chose the answer he did. The answers he chose also made sense if you looked at the question another way. One example was a fill-in-the-blank that said, “Because young children will often lie to please you, you should question them _____.” The correct answer was “delicately,” but Captain Science chose “delightfully.” I asked him why, and his reasoning was that if you appear to be very happy with them, they will be more likely to tell the truth. That’s apparently the same argument Patchfire’s Eclectic Girl made, when she answered that same question in the same way! Gifted minds, I guess.
He’s also doing some outside-the-box thinking in logic. He completed several Logic Countdown pages over the last two weeks, and in the ones where you have to find the relation between the items or choose which doesn’t belong, the relations he draws are often interesting. Today, one problem had squares with dots on them (1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 dots). The obvious answer was that 1 didn’t belong, because it’s odd and the others are even, but Captain Science chose 8, because the others were all the numbers and patterns found on a six-sided die. I accepted it as correct.
Tonight, we did another water-related science unit at Patchfire’s house. Captain Science, the Tank, and I all did a crystal-growing project on Thursday night, too, which was fun. We grew faux red tourmaline. It does appear to be working, though crystals are growing everywhere but the granite stone, which was supposed to be where they grew. Oh well.
The Tank had his Christmas pageant at preschool. He was one of the only three-year-olds who sang and his hand gestures were flamboyant. He enjoyed himself immensely. It was the exact same pageant performed when Captain Science was two and three, with the exception of the overly long prayer by the new minister at the beginning. Really, you’re not converting anyone at a preschool pageant, sir. Let it go.
Officer Daddyman is now home, but my week isn’t over yet. Tomorrow, we have Captain Science’s birthday, which means housecleaning instead of a much needed morning of sleeping in. Oh well. Maybe Sunday?
Officer Daddyman is in police training all week and sleeping down at the training center (it’s about two hours from here), so I’m flying solo with the three kids. Not only that, but my first line of defense, Nana and Papa, are on a much-deserved anniversary trip to the beach. It’s my first week alone with the kids since we’ve started homeschooling, so I’m a little nervous!
The first day has gone smoothly thus far, with a little hangup over Captain Science’s use of the word “scandal” in his history assignment — the rule is “don’t use a word if you don’t know the meaning,” and he didn’t know the meaning. Even after looking up the definition, he didn’t understand what the big deal was about Julius Caesar’s “adulterous relationships with married women” — and I did not enlighten him! Roman history is colorful, to say the least. I’m hiding A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome from his, as I don’t want to explain about some of the methods of execution. Being, ehem, loved to death by a bull to recreate the conception of the minotaur before a live studio audience? I’ll skip that lesson and the subsequent therapy bills.
I managed to successfully get everyone schooled, run my errands, and am now trying to decide what to feed them, before heading over to feed Nana and Papa’s cats (and possibly hitting Target for an additional stocking hanger for our mantel — five people, five stockings, but only four hangers currently, you see). I’m trying not to feel too down about Daddyman being gone all week, our undecorated half-lit tree (stupid pre-lit trees with stupid shorts in their stupid wires), and the fact that there’s still so much work to be done on the house before the holidays and our post-holidays guests. Oy! Humbug.
I’m getting a little worried about splitting Rome in half with the holidays like we’ll be doing. Will Captain Science retain everything over a two week break? Will he retain anything? Will we have to redo what we’ve done? Maybe I should make some trivia cards and pretend it’s a game, but really it’ll be homeschooling. Like that cookbook where they hide the vegetables in the cupcakes so kids don’t know you’re feeding them something other than white flour and sugar. And seriously, what kind of dumb idea is that cookbook, anyway?
Digression, for the win. It’s only Monday, and already I’m cracking up!
I am developing a game plan for the week, and that game plan is “keep them as busy as possible.” We’re going to run errands, go to meetings, do anything we can to stay active. We are going to be on-the-go-schoolers this week, because I cannot be cooped up in this house with our snaggledy-lighted naked tree like some sort of shut-in, just because it’s too damn cold for the kids to go outside barefoot (which, yes, they whine about). I have outlawed whining this week and declared that any “didn’t get my way” crying fits will result in laps run or times out, depending on the age of the child (Babypie excluded). I shall broker no crap this week, thank you ever so much.
Off to stuff the children full of some semblance of dinner before Babypie’s nap is over, then loading them all run them around to sleep. At least tomorrow is the La Leche League meeting, so I don’t have to concoct any entertainment (or lunch). Maybe I’ll make Captain Science sit in, take notes, and call it a science lesson. Maybe I’ll just trot my children out as an example of either evidence of breastfeeding’s link to increased intelligence or a warning of how extended breastfeeding and babywearing can turn into a scary snowball, rolling downhill into full-blown homeschooling hippie crunchiness. We shall see.
*knock on wood* So far today, everything has gone right! I shall illustrate for you in bullet point.
The Ways In Which All Is Well Today:
The Ways In Which All Has Not Gone Well:
Not a bad day when the good list is that much bigger than the bad list (and the bads are mostly just not-goods as opposed to plain-old-rottens).
