Originally posted on January 4, 2010
As promised when I first began this blog, I have been spectacularly craptastic about keeping it updated. New year, new attempt at keeping it at least somewhat regularly updated...
The first quarter of our 2009 school year couldn't have been more perfect. We were met with a bit of a challenge in the second quarter, which led to us only covering the basics (reading, math and Bible) on most days. Fortunately, reading and math are the big ones that the county requires us to do every day, so we're still in good shape. As of December 22, we had completed 90 out of the required 180 days of instruction for the 2009-10 school year. Halfway there!
After a week and half off for Christmas and New Year's, we're back at the kitchen table for school this morning. Quite a bit of what we're doing today is review, especially in the subjects that have been somewhat neglected (science, history, health) in the past months.
We'll be starting all new things before long, as Rachael is just two lessons away from finishing her math book - the one that we only started in September! Granted, we didn't do all of the review pages - I let her work on each lesson until she was ready to take the test, and then let her go for it. (As long as she has a good grasp on each concept, I see no reason to make her repeat, repeat, repeat.) So, she made short work of Math-U-See Alpha, which covered more skip counting, telling time on an analog clock, addition, subtraction, solving for unknown, word problems, etc. I'm very impressed (and, I admit, a little surprised) at just how well she's done with this math book, especially since she claims that it's her least favorite subject. Oddly, she complains about adding but has no qualms whatsoever about subtracting. We'll be finishing this book on Friday and then working on review pages until the next book (Beta) arrives.
We'll also be starting a new Bible study at the end of January, when we finish reading through her God's Little Princess Devotional Bible. As sweet and meaningful as the devotionals are for a girl her age, I'm looking forward to beginning something more in-depth with her soon. Train Up A Child Publishing has a series of "Choosing..." books that have gotten excellent reviews - I'm leaning toward Choosing Obedience or Choosing Self-Control to begin with, which will hopefully help nip some behavioral issues before they escalate. Other titles include Choosing Kindness, Thankfulness, Humility, Responsibility...all geared at children in K-5. There are more titles for teens that I think will be interesting to study with her later on, assuming that the reviews are correct and we love this series just as much!
Rachael still isn't a big fan of handwriting, although she doesn't fight me on it as much these days. She only takes offense when I erase a word for having capital letters randomly inserted in the middle...
She's still taking gymnastics lessons, and doing well with them. I love watching her flip over the uneven bars! She's also beginning her last year (sniffle) as a Daisy Girl Scout. I can't believe she'll be a Brownie this fall! The first meeting of the new year is tonight, and we'll be kicking off the COOKIE DRIVE! (No, I'm not at all excited about that!)
So, there's our new year update - hopefully it won't take me three months to post another one. :) It's my intent to ease into a more classical method of education over the next few months, which focuses very highly on history (as well as math and language arts, of course.) If you're a homeschooling parent and have never read The Well-Trained Mind, I would highly recommend it. Lots of wonderful food for thought!
Happy 2010, everyone! I'm very much looking forward to making some changes in our home this year, and to a fun and insightful school year!
Monday, February 22, 2010
It's not pink; it's a cupcake.
Originally posted on October 6, 2009
I'm starting to wonder, already, if homeschooling Milly may not be more of a challenge than it is with Rachael. She's already exhibiting signs of being an abstract thinker, and I'm not sure my brain twists in her direction...
We were all sitting in the floor together this afternoon, when I decided that it was as good a time as any to start teaching Milly her colors. (Already later than I started with Rachael, but oh well...Second Child Syndrome (SCS) is unfortunately alive and well in our home.) The prevalent color in our home being PINK, that seemed the natural choice to begin with. And here is the conversation that ensued...
Me: Milly, what color is your nightgown? (Yes, she's still in her pajamas. Why get dressed when we're not going anywhere?)
Milly (looking down at the big picture of Dora on her belly): DORA!
Me (holding up her pink sneaker): It's PINK. What color is your shoe?
Milly: Mine!
Me (holding up a toy cupcake with pink icing): It's a PINK shoe! What color is the cupcake?
Milly: Yummmmmy!
Me (grabbing one of Rachael's dolls, dressed in a pink dress): Yes, yummy PINK cupcake. What color is the baby's dress?
Milly: Sissy's baby.
Me: Sissy's baby is wearing a PINK dress. PINK. See this? It's PINK!
Milly: PINK!
Me: Yes! Pink!
(Rachael retrieves a pink doll trunk from the toybox.) Rachael: What color is this, Milly?
Milly: A box.
Rachael: NO, it's a TRUNK.
Milly: PINK trunk!
(wild applause)
Me: Good job, Milly! It IS pink! (picks up cupcake again) Now, what color is this?
Milly: A cupcake.
*sigh*
I'm starting to wonder, already, if homeschooling Milly may not be more of a challenge than it is with Rachael. She's already exhibiting signs of being an abstract thinker, and I'm not sure my brain twists in her direction...
We were all sitting in the floor together this afternoon, when I decided that it was as good a time as any to start teaching Milly her colors. (Already later than I started with Rachael, but oh well...Second Child Syndrome (SCS) is unfortunately alive and well in our home.) The prevalent color in our home being PINK, that seemed the natural choice to begin with. And here is the conversation that ensued...
Me: Milly, what color is your nightgown? (Yes, she's still in her pajamas. Why get dressed when we're not going anywhere?)
Milly (looking down at the big picture of Dora on her belly): DORA!
Me (holding up her pink sneaker): It's PINK. What color is your shoe?
Milly: Mine!
Me (holding up a toy cupcake with pink icing): It's a PINK shoe! What color is the cupcake?
Milly: Yummmmmy!
Me (grabbing one of Rachael's dolls, dressed in a pink dress): Yes, yummy PINK cupcake. What color is the baby's dress?
Milly: Sissy's baby.
Me: Sissy's baby is wearing a PINK dress. PINK. See this? It's PINK!
Milly: PINK!
Me: Yes! Pink!
(Rachael retrieves a pink doll trunk from the toybox.) Rachael: What color is this, Milly?
Milly: A box.
Rachael: NO, it's a TRUNK.
Milly: PINK trunk!
(wild applause)
Me: Good job, Milly! It IS pink! (picks up cupcake again) Now, what color is this?
Milly: A cupcake.
*sigh*
It's BRAG TIME!
Originally posted on October 5, 2009
Here we go on week #8...it's amazing how quickly the time is flying by. In filling in my lesson plan book last night, I marked off two days for Thanksgiving already. Yes, only two days...but you know that the rest of that week is going to mostly be Pilgrim stories and fall crafts, right? :)
Rachael is still doing great with her schoolwork. I've had to let go of a few of my OCD tendencies where math was concerned. Each lesson in the Math-U-See Alpha consists of six pages - three that focus on that lesson and three more that review previous concepts - plus a test booklet with a test for each lesson. I was dividing each lesson into two days in order to do all of the pages...and it was taking forever. Did she really need six pages of practicing writing numbers up to 100? I think not. So, my new easier/faster rule is that she does the first page of the lesson and decides for herself if she needs more practice before taking the test. If she's struggling, of course I recommend that she does one more page. But if not...it's test time, and help is unavailable during the test. Once she finishes, we'll discuss any answers she might have gotten wrong - but those are pretty few and far between. She has much less issue with math now that it doesn't take soooo long! This book, so far, has focused on addition and subtraction of single digits, and solving for unknown. (Algebra at age five!)
We nixed our Book of Virtues unit study last week in favor of reading a chapter of her new Girl Scouts handbook each day. We finished it up on Friday, and that earns her one more patch for her uniform!
And now, on to today's brag... I pull her spelling words each week from a book called Natural Speller. There are several pages of words for "Grades 1-2", broken into columns of 7 or 8. To begin with, I was going in order and giving her one column each week. In week seven, her spelling words included such perplexities as in, if, it and sit. What utter nonsense! She could spell in she was two. So I devised a brilliant new plan. Rather than giving her spelling words on Monday, having her copy them all week, and then testing her on them on Friday...I would give her a test on Monday. That's right - I'd just start reading through the words and having her do her best to sound them out - and when she got up to eight that she had spelled incorrectly, I'd stop and those would be her eight spelling words for the week. That way, she would be working on eight words that actually presented a little bit of a challenge.
Well. We sat down today and I started reading through the words. She wrote...and wrote...and wrote...and finally started complaining, asking why she was having to write ALL of these spelling words? The child wrote 56 words and only missed FIVE. So much for my goal of eight! The words she missed were: block (bloke), start (sart), third (thrid), stir (str) and shirt (sirt). I chalk the last four up to the fact that they were so near the end, and she was sick of writing by then! So, those are our spelling words for the week. All five of them.
In case anyone is interested, here are the words she didn't miss: got, hop, drop, shop, top, not, hot, on, dog, fog, box, stop, mop, sun, cut, us, fun, run, up, but, such, club, much, cup, rub, jump, running, arm, farm, car, far, hard, harm, are, card, cart, star, dark, part, apart, bird, first, girl, birth, born, more, for, or, fort, corn and horn.
Yep! Still proud of her. :)
Here we go on week #8...it's amazing how quickly the time is flying by. In filling in my lesson plan book last night, I marked off two days for Thanksgiving already. Yes, only two days...but you know that the rest of that week is going to mostly be Pilgrim stories and fall crafts, right? :)
Rachael is still doing great with her schoolwork. I've had to let go of a few of my OCD tendencies where math was concerned. Each lesson in the Math-U-See Alpha consists of six pages - three that focus on that lesson and three more that review previous concepts - plus a test booklet with a test for each lesson. I was dividing each lesson into two days in order to do all of the pages...and it was taking forever. Did she really need six pages of practicing writing numbers up to 100? I think not. So, my new easier/faster rule is that she does the first page of the lesson and decides for herself if she needs more practice before taking the test. If she's struggling, of course I recommend that she does one more page. But if not...it's test time, and help is unavailable during the test. Once she finishes, we'll discuss any answers she might have gotten wrong - but those are pretty few and far between. She has much less issue with math now that it doesn't take soooo long! This book, so far, has focused on addition and subtraction of single digits, and solving for unknown. (Algebra at age five!)
We nixed our Book of Virtues unit study last week in favor of reading a chapter of her new Girl Scouts handbook each day. We finished it up on Friday, and that earns her one more patch for her uniform!
And now, on to today's brag... I pull her spelling words each week from a book called Natural Speller. There are several pages of words for "Grades 1-2", broken into columns of 7 or 8. To begin with, I was going in order and giving her one column each week. In week seven, her spelling words included such perplexities as in, if, it and sit. What utter nonsense! She could spell in she was two. So I devised a brilliant new plan. Rather than giving her spelling words on Monday, having her copy them all week, and then testing her on them on Friday...I would give her a test on Monday. That's right - I'd just start reading through the words and having her do her best to sound them out - and when she got up to eight that she had spelled incorrectly, I'd stop and those would be her eight spelling words for the week. That way, she would be working on eight words that actually presented a little bit of a challenge.
Well. We sat down today and I started reading through the words. She wrote...and wrote...and wrote...and finally started complaining, asking why she was having to write ALL of these spelling words? The child wrote 56 words and only missed FIVE. So much for my goal of eight! The words she missed were: block (bloke), start (sart), third (thrid), stir (str) and shirt (sirt). I chalk the last four up to the fact that they were so near the end, and she was sick of writing by then! So, those are our spelling words for the week. All five of them.
In case anyone is interested, here are the words she didn't miss: got, hop, drop, shop, top, not, hot, on, dog, fog, box, stop, mop, sun, cut, us, fun, run, up, but, such, club, much, cup, rub, jump, running, arm, farm, car, far, hard, harm, are, card, cart, star, dark, part, apart, bird, first, girl, birth, born, more, for, or, fort, corn and horn.
Yep! Still proud of her. :)
Wow, week six already?!
Originally posted on September 22, 2009
I missed two weeks of updates - which included the one month mark of this school year. How did that happen?! Now we're into the sixth week - already! It seems like we just started! I'm taking this as a very, very good sign. If things weren't going well, I would most likely be slashing the days off of the calendar in red marker and keeping a running total in my head...only X more days until my goal is met! But no - we have our routine now and, even though Milly is still irritated sometimes that all the attention isn't focused solely on her, it's mostly a smooth process.
A few things that have happened since my last update...
"Homeschool is really cool. The funnest part about homeschool is that Mommy gets to teach me. I like the books that we read for English."
And now, being that it is Tuesday afternoon, we're off to the library for craft time and to re-stock on chapter books. We've begun reading about Kirsten, the pioneer American Girl that Rachael will be for Halloween. She's discovered Cam Jansen books and absolutely loves them, and she's always on the lookout for more, more, more things to read. I have to shove books out of the way to make room for her to sleep at night, but I'm not complaining. If genetics are to be blamed, it's all my fault anyway. :)
I missed two weeks of updates - which included the one month mark of this school year. How did that happen?! Now we're into the sixth week - already! It seems like we just started! I'm taking this as a very, very good sign. If things weren't going well, I would most likely be slashing the days off of the calendar in red marker and keeping a running total in my head...only X more days until my goal is met! But no - we have our routine now and, even though Milly is still irritated sometimes that all the attention isn't focused solely on her, it's mostly a smooth process.
A few things that have happened since my last update...
- We finished Math-U-See Primer (kindergarten). Rachael was terribly excited that we wrapped it up on a Friday afternoon and that the next book in the series hadn't yet arrived. Just as she began rejoicing the fact that she wouldn't have any math to do on the following Monday...the UPS truck arrived with the Alpha book. Them's the breaks, kiddo! (I gave her Monday off from math anyway, just because.) The first few lessons in the new book have been review, but new material (word problems) will commence next week.
- Handwriting is going better - she doesn't mind doing the lessons any more - but we still butt heads on a pretty regular basis. She has apparently decided that she only cares for capital letters, and would be quite happy using nothing but. In what must be a half-hearted attempt to please me, she'll occasionally throw in a lowercase letter or two, so her English workbook is filled with lines such as "THe cAT rAN AWAy FrOM THe DOG." I'm sure most everyone has encountered the teenager who randomly capitalizes things that way online, and how annoying it is. I refuse to let Rachael become one of them! She gets pretty mad at me when I erase the whole thing and demand a re-do, but darnit, lowercase letters are our friends. (Incidentally, we seem to be going through an inordinate number of erasers.)
- Rachael has a spelling test, consisting of eight words, each Friday. She missed one word each on the first three tests, but hasn't missed any on the last two!
- We're still loving our Book of Virtues unit study, although the section on compassion that we just finished up was hard for my soft-hearted girly. It took a good half hour to stop the tears after reading The Little Match Girl. The Gift of the Magi was better received, although Rachael maintains that she's going to grow her hair all the way to the floor and will never cut it all off to buy a gift for any man. ;)
- Girl Scouts is back in full swing, with the first fundraiser of the 2009-2010 school year starting next week. Expect her to be hitting you up for orders of nuts, toffee popcorn and choclate-covered everything. Thankfully, it's not terribly expensive. We got to sample everything at this week's meeting too, and it's all really, really good.
- Gymnastics is still going well. Rachael flipped over the top bar on the uneven bars this week, without so much as a teacher standing there to spot her. I was so proud!
"Homeschool is really cool. The funnest part about homeschool is that Mommy gets to teach me. I like the books that we read for English."
And now, being that it is Tuesday afternoon, we're off to the library for craft time and to re-stock on chapter books. We've begun reading about Kirsten, the pioneer American Girl that Rachael will be for Halloween. She's discovered Cam Jansen books and absolutely loves them, and she's always on the lookout for more, more, more things to read. I have to shove books out of the way to make room for her to sleep at night, but I'm not complaining. If genetics are to be blamed, it's all my fault anyway. :)
Week three is over!
Originally posted on September 4, 2009
It's hard to believe that we're three weeks into first grade already. Things are almost going too well - I keep waiting for a big problem to pop up somewhere, and keep praying that it doesn't!
We didn't have co-op this week, since all of us have had colds, and one of the other mom/teachers wasn't feeling so hot either. Rachael missed it, but had a nice, restful day with not much in the way of schoolwork. She did go to gymnastics that evening - her first class of the new school year. It's a large class, being in the evening rather than midday, but she liked all of her new teachers, which is more than we can say for the last class. Plus, her best friend is in this class - so it's going to be a good year for her.
With the arrival of a bit of cooler weather, we're starting to look forward to fall and all the fun things that go along with it. Apple picking is high on my list this year, followed by learning to make apple crisp. Rachael received her very own set of purple measuring cups and spoons for "back to school", so she'll be helping me more and more in the kitchen. Her math curriculum hasn't gotten to fractions yet, but she'll be learning a little about them anyway by measuring out ingredients. Talk about a practical application for math! Yummy too. :)
As we wrap our school week, I'm thrilled to note (and report) that Rachael has mastered the art of telling time on an analog clock! I devoted the whole week's math lessons to it, and it paid off. Next step: replace batteries in her pink Cinderella clock so she can start (really) using it! We will be working on subtraction next week, and finishing up the Math-U-See Primer (kindergarten) book. I ordered Alpha (first grade) today and can't wait to see what she'll be learning for the rest of the year.
Have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone!
It's hard to believe that we're three weeks into first grade already. Things are almost going too well - I keep waiting for a big problem to pop up somewhere, and keep praying that it doesn't!
We didn't have co-op this week, since all of us have had colds, and one of the other mom/teachers wasn't feeling so hot either. Rachael missed it, but had a nice, restful day with not much in the way of schoolwork. She did go to gymnastics that evening - her first class of the new school year. It's a large class, being in the evening rather than midday, but she liked all of her new teachers, which is more than we can say for the last class. Plus, her best friend is in this class - so it's going to be a good year for her.
With the arrival of a bit of cooler weather, we're starting to look forward to fall and all the fun things that go along with it. Apple picking is high on my list this year, followed by learning to make apple crisp. Rachael received her very own set of purple measuring cups and spoons for "back to school", so she'll be helping me more and more in the kitchen. Her math curriculum hasn't gotten to fractions yet, but she'll be learning a little about them anyway by measuring out ingredients. Talk about a practical application for math! Yummy too. :)
As we wrap our school week, I'm thrilled to note (and report) that Rachael has mastered the art of telling time on an analog clock! I devoted the whole week's math lessons to it, and it paid off. Next step: replace batteries in her pink Cinderella clock so she can start (really) using it! We will be working on subtraction next week, and finishing up the Math-U-See Primer (kindergarten) book. I ordered Alpha (first grade) today and can't wait to see what she'll be learning for the rest of the year.
Have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone!
Halfway through week three...
Originally posted on September 1, 2009
...and things are going pretty well! Milly is getting used to the idea of doing something on her own for a few minutes here and there while Rachael and I do schoolwork, and that's a tremendous help. Rachael is learning so much - Bible verses, common and proper nouns, pronouns, syllables, alphabetizing, telling time on an analog clock (she finally got that pesky skip counting by fives thing down pat!), planets, gravity... It's a good thing she loves to learn!
The only thing she isn't enjoying so much is handwriting. She seems to have a generous amount of "don't want to" combined with a dash of "don't care", and that makes it a bit of a struggle some days. We've started the first grade Handwriting Without Tears book, and that's a little easier for her. She still has a tendency to make sloppy letters in an effort to rush through the lesson, continues to mix up her b's and d's, and makes several of her numbers (2, 3, 7 and 9) backward. What to do with her? Everything else is so easy for her - maybe this will just "click" one day as well.
It's been a while since my last update - would you like to see pictures of what we've been up to?
Well, we have school outside in our pajamas sometimes. Just another perk of living in the middle of nowhere! Rachael has a nature journal that she draws in every day - anything interesting that she finds outside. In this picture, she's sketching her beloved tomato plant. Going to need quite a few more of those next year, I think.
We play a lot of games, and Math Bingo is one of her favorites. She uses the manipulative blocks from our Math-U-See curriculum to help her add the big numbers, but she's starting to remember a lot of the smaller sums now. The pink card is always, always hers.
Coloring (okay, scribbling) is one of Milly's favorite schooltime activities. Anything with Dora's face on it is a BIG hit with her right now.
We finally made the balloon model of the solar system today. They're lined up in order from the sun - the big orange balloon - and even though it was officially stripped of planet status, she wanted Pluto to be included. (That's the little purple speck behind Neptune.) I thought that it would be appropriate to hang her solar system over her WALL-E poster, and she agreed. However, I'm not very happy with the whole thing. Her astronomy book actually outlined this project, using the balloons, and the diameter of several of them were so small that you couldn't even put air into them. Not to mention that NONE of the planets are actually ROUND. It's odd...I feel styrofoam balls and paint in our future.
This little monkey likes to steal the teacher's chair every chance she gets - and if she can grab a pen and scribble in the lesson book, so much the better.
We've had two Thursday morning co-ops now, and both have gone well. Rachael loves going to learn with her friends - and play in between lessons, of course. So far, she's made her own personal timeline in history...
...sorted shoes to learn about taxonomy and classification (this was a drawing of the process afterward)...
...and done leaf rubbings while examining the symmetry of several leaves' veins.
Naturally, Milly also works very hard while Rachael is in class.
After history, science, Bible and art comes lunch - where Rachael can be found at the end of the table with her "boy best friend", Patrick...who she will marry and have a hundred little girls with someday (the first two being named Genevieve and Lacey), but for now, they're just friends. Daddy is only moderately displeased, having seen for himself that Patrick is a very polite young man. :)
Then comes P.E. before heading home. Needless to say, we don't do a lot of other schoolwork at home on co-op days - just reading and math.
So, there's our week three update! We had two weeks to get into a routine without worrying much about outside activities. This week, Girl Scout meetings and craft time at the library resumed, as will gymnastics on Thursday. Thankfully, those are all late afternoon and evening activities, so we can still knock out schoolwork (and Milly's nap - very important) before rushing off to those.
More to come soon...!
...and things are going pretty well! Milly is getting used to the idea of doing something on her own for a few minutes here and there while Rachael and I do schoolwork, and that's a tremendous help. Rachael is learning so much - Bible verses, common and proper nouns, pronouns, syllables, alphabetizing, telling time on an analog clock (she finally got that pesky skip counting by fives thing down pat!), planets, gravity... It's a good thing she loves to learn!
The only thing she isn't enjoying so much is handwriting. She seems to have a generous amount of "don't want to" combined with a dash of "don't care", and that makes it a bit of a struggle some days. We've started the first grade Handwriting Without Tears book, and that's a little easier for her. She still has a tendency to make sloppy letters in an effort to rush through the lesson, continues to mix up her b's and d's, and makes several of her numbers (2, 3, 7 and 9) backward. What to do with her? Everything else is so easy for her - maybe this will just "click" one day as well.
It's been a while since my last update - would you like to see pictures of what we've been up to?
Well, we have school outside in our pajamas sometimes. Just another perk of living in the middle of nowhere! Rachael has a nature journal that she draws in every day - anything interesting that she finds outside. In this picture, she's sketching her beloved tomato plant. Going to need quite a few more of those next year, I think.
We still have our "pet" turtles in a makeshift pond outside, and Rachael and Milly love to go out and watch them every day. They're in charge of feeding them, and once in a while we get a good action shot of them fighting over their breakfast. In this picture, Ruby is snapping at Felicity. Ruby is quite a bit larger and tends to be a bit of a bully, but Felicity gets her licks in too. We've added one more turtle since this picture was snapped - as with the others, Gene rescued Lilly from the middle of the road. Rachael knows that, with fall approaching, we'll have to set the turtles free soon, and she isn't terribly thrilled at the idea.
We play a lot of games, and Math Bingo is one of her favorites. She uses the manipulative blocks from our Math-U-See curriculum to help her add the big numbers, but she's starting to remember a lot of the smaller sums now. The pink card is always, always hers.
Coloring (okay, scribbling) is one of Milly's favorite schooltime activities. Anything with Dora's face on it is a BIG hit with her right now.
We finally made the balloon model of the solar system today. They're lined up in order from the sun - the big orange balloon - and even though it was officially stripped of planet status, she wanted Pluto to be included. (That's the little purple speck behind Neptune.) I thought that it would be appropriate to hang her solar system over her WALL-E poster, and she agreed. However, I'm not very happy with the whole thing. Her astronomy book actually outlined this project, using the balloons, and the diameter of several of them were so small that you couldn't even put air into them. Not to mention that NONE of the planets are actually ROUND. It's odd...I feel styrofoam balls and paint in our future.
This little monkey likes to steal the teacher's chair every chance she gets - and if she can grab a pen and scribble in the lesson book, so much the better.
We've had two Thursday morning co-ops now, and both have gone well. Rachael loves going to learn with her friends - and play in between lessons, of course. So far, she's made her own personal timeline in history...
...sorted shoes to learn about taxonomy and classification (this was a drawing of the process afterward)...
...and done leaf rubbings while examining the symmetry of several leaves' veins.
Naturally, Milly also works very hard while Rachael is in class.
After history, science, Bible and art comes lunch - where Rachael can be found at the end of the table with her "boy best friend", Patrick...who she will marry and have a hundred little girls with someday (the first two being named Genevieve and Lacey), but for now, they're just friends. Daddy is only moderately displeased, having seen for himself that Patrick is a very polite young man. :)
Then comes P.E. before heading home. Needless to say, we don't do a lot of other schoolwork at home on co-op days - just reading and math.
So, there's our week three update! We had two weeks to get into a routine without worrying much about outside activities. This week, Girl Scout meetings and craft time at the library resumed, as will gymnastics on Thursday. Thankfully, those are all late afternoon and evening activities, so we can still knock out schoolwork (and Milly's nap - very important) before rushing off to those.
More to come soon...!
What would have been...
Originally posted on August 19, 2009
Today was the first day of school in our county. This morning, I would have set an alarm to wake us all up early, gotten Rachael dressed and fed and driven her a couple of miles to the absurdly large elementary school - the same building where I attended middle school and my mom graduated from high school. I would have dropped her off at the door of a kindergarten classroom and (undoubtedly) cried like a big ol' baby all the way back to the van. Then I would have had a fun day playing one-on-one with Milly, who would probably have adored having the spotlight solely on herself. All day long, I would wonder...what is Rachael doing now? And eventually, I would cut Milly's nap short to jump back in the van and go retrieve my *sniffle* big kindergartener from her first day of school.
Instead, we all slept until about 8:00. We didn't rush through breakfast. We started school in our pajamas. We even went outside in them. We did our schoolwork at the kitchen table, drew pictures, played Math Bingo, and stopped for hugs and tickles as needed. She learned new things, and she had fun doing it. Rather than being her first day of kindergarten, it was her third day of first grade - because that is the level where she belongs, where is competent yet challenged. We had a great day of school together.
However, knowing what would have happened today has made me remember the discussion that first slung us haphazardly onto the road to homeschooling. Gene and I were sitting at the kitchen table one Sunday afternoon when Rachael was about a year - maybe a year and a half old, reading the newspaper. There was a feature story that week about an area homeschooling family, but I hadn't seen it yet. So I was caught completely off-guard when he told me, "I think you should homeschool Rachael." I was speechless. Homeschool? Homeschool?! But but but...homeschooling was for hippies and zealots and weirdos, and *gasp* what about socialization?! I told him that I would think about it.
And I did think about it. Every time I read about the merger of the county schools that was happening then, and wondered what the more crowded conditions would mean for my child, I thought about it. When I read about the below average test scores in our area schools, I thought about it. When I read about a little guy being caught in one of our schools with a knife in kindergarten - kindergarten! - oh yes, I thought about it.
Eventually I started thinking...I could do better than that. I could keep her safe, give her one-on-one attention, customize her curriculum to her needs, abilities and interests, and very likely provide better socialization than she would receive in a classroom anyway. I started thinking that, no matter what we taught her about God at home and at church, she wouldn't be hearing about Him at school. And as she got a little older, I realized what a bright little girl she was, and thought that just maybe, she would be bored to tears in elementary school the way that I was as a child.
While I was thinking and reading and researching, I was also praying. Was homeschooling really right for us? Was it consistent with God's plan for our family? I had always assumed that, once my children were in school, I would go back to work to help supplement the family income. Children are, after all, expensive little things. It didn't take long to find peace in the conclusion that one can't put a price on the well-being of her family. This time spent with my children is costing us a bundle in terms of lost income, but the benefits are priceless. The more I learned, the more I prayed, the more confident I became in the decision to educate my children at home.
In June 2007, we attended the Home Educators of Virginia (HEAV) conference in Richmond. I was amazed and inspired by the speakers at the workshops (especially Joy from Daughters 4 God - I want to be like her!) and could hardly wait to "do school" with my own daughter. We started exploring curriculums and quickly settled on a few things for preschool. We started that fall, when she was about 3 1/2, and preschool was lax at best - as it should be, I think, for such a little one. "School" was largely interrupted in December anyway, with the arrival of her baby sister, and then Christmas. Still, she read her first words on her own in January 2008, just before her fourth birthday. She progressed so well and loved learning so much that we made the decision to go ahead with a kindergarten curriculum in fall of 2008. And that is how we've come to be starting first grade at the same time that she would have been put into kindergarten in our county school system.
I started school last year with the affirmation that it would be a "year-to-year basis", that we would reassess at the end of each school year to see if it was working out well for all of us. By the end of kindergarten...well, I honestly don't recall pausing to reflect on whether or not it was working. I was already too busy deciding which curriculum to use for first grade. :)
With each passing year since that initial, shocking suggestion, I've learned more about homeschooling and become more comfortable with the idea - not just of homeschooling for the first few years, but indefinitely. Of course, if circumstances arose that would mean her learning better in a different environment...well, we won't muddle through just on principle. We'll do what's best for our children. Right now, homeschooling is undoubtedly what is best for them. I've also met more homeschooling families...and found that they're not hippies or zealots (or just plain weird) at all. What they are is dedicated and helpful. Their children are sociable, friendly, and smart. And I love being one of them.
Today was the first day of school in our county. This morning, I would have set an alarm to wake us all up early, gotten Rachael dressed and fed and driven her a couple of miles to the absurdly large elementary school - the same building where I attended middle school and my mom graduated from high school. I would have dropped her off at the door of a kindergarten classroom and (undoubtedly) cried like a big ol' baby all the way back to the van. Then I would have had a fun day playing one-on-one with Milly, who would probably have adored having the spotlight solely on herself. All day long, I would wonder...what is Rachael doing now? And eventually, I would cut Milly's nap short to jump back in the van and go retrieve my *sniffle* big kindergartener from her first day of school.
Instead, we all slept until about 8:00. We didn't rush through breakfast. We started school in our pajamas. We even went outside in them. We did our schoolwork at the kitchen table, drew pictures, played Math Bingo, and stopped for hugs and tickles as needed. She learned new things, and she had fun doing it. Rather than being her first day of kindergarten, it was her third day of first grade - because that is the level where she belongs, where is competent yet challenged. We had a great day of school together.
However, knowing what would have happened today has made me remember the discussion that first slung us haphazardly onto the road to homeschooling. Gene and I were sitting at the kitchen table one Sunday afternoon when Rachael was about a year - maybe a year and a half old, reading the newspaper. There was a feature story that week about an area homeschooling family, but I hadn't seen it yet. So I was caught completely off-guard when he told me, "I think you should homeschool Rachael." I was speechless. Homeschool? Homeschool?! But but but...homeschooling was for hippies and zealots and weirdos, and *gasp* what about socialization?! I told him that I would think about it.
And I did think about it. Every time I read about the merger of the county schools that was happening then, and wondered what the more crowded conditions would mean for my child, I thought about it. When I read about the below average test scores in our area schools, I thought about it. When I read about a little guy being caught in one of our schools with a knife in kindergarten - kindergarten! - oh yes, I thought about it.
Eventually I started thinking...I could do better than that. I could keep her safe, give her one-on-one attention, customize her curriculum to her needs, abilities and interests, and very likely provide better socialization than she would receive in a classroom anyway. I started thinking that, no matter what we taught her about God at home and at church, she wouldn't be hearing about Him at school. And as she got a little older, I realized what a bright little girl she was, and thought that just maybe, she would be bored to tears in elementary school the way that I was as a child.
While I was thinking and reading and researching, I was also praying. Was homeschooling really right for us? Was it consistent with God's plan for our family? I had always assumed that, once my children were in school, I would go back to work to help supplement the family income. Children are, after all, expensive little things. It didn't take long to find peace in the conclusion that one can't put a price on the well-being of her family. This time spent with my children is costing us a bundle in terms of lost income, but the benefits are priceless. The more I learned, the more I prayed, the more confident I became in the decision to educate my children at home.
In June 2007, we attended the Home Educators of Virginia (HEAV) conference in Richmond. I was amazed and inspired by the speakers at the workshops (especially Joy from Daughters 4 God - I want to be like her!) and could hardly wait to "do school" with my own daughter. We started exploring curriculums and quickly settled on a few things for preschool. We started that fall, when she was about 3 1/2, and preschool was lax at best - as it should be, I think, for such a little one. "School" was largely interrupted in December anyway, with the arrival of her baby sister, and then Christmas. Still, she read her first words on her own in January 2008, just before her fourth birthday. She progressed so well and loved learning so much that we made the decision to go ahead with a kindergarten curriculum in fall of 2008. And that is how we've come to be starting first grade at the same time that she would have been put into kindergarten in our county school system.
I started school last year with the affirmation that it would be a "year-to-year basis", that we would reassess at the end of each school year to see if it was working out well for all of us. By the end of kindergarten...well, I honestly don't recall pausing to reflect on whether or not it was working. I was already too busy deciding which curriculum to use for first grade. :)
With each passing year since that initial, shocking suggestion, I've learned more about homeschooling and become more comfortable with the idea - not just of homeschooling for the first few years, but indefinitely. Of course, if circumstances arose that would mean her learning better in a different environment...well, we won't muddle through just on principle. We'll do what's best for our children. Right now, homeschooling is undoubtedly what is best for them. I've also met more homeschooling families...and found that they're not hippies or zealots (or just plain weird) at all. What they are is dedicated and helpful. Their children are sociable, friendly, and smart. And I love being one of them.
First Grade - Day One: SUCCESS!
Originally posted on August 17, 2009
Rachael officially started first grade on August 17! Even though I thought I had planned too much for our first day...it was an absolute success.
We started out with a breakfast of blueberry waffles. Absolutely essential to the learning process, you know. Then she decorated her "first day" sign and posed for a picture before getting down to business.
I'm organizing our daily lessons with "workboxes" - an ideastolen borrowed from a homeschooling mommy friend's blog. Someday, I'll actually read the book on how workboxes are supposed to work...but for now, a very simple version worked out quite well today.
We started out with a breakfast of blueberry waffles. Absolutely essential to the learning process, you know. Then she decorated her "first day" sign and posed for a picture before getting down to business.
I'm organizing our daily lessons with "workboxes" - an idea
Ignore the junk in the background. That room is a work in progress, after all. Anyway...each box has a permanent number (on the left) and a removable number, stuck on with velcro. Inside each drawer is one subject that we'll cover that day - everything that we need for that lesson is inside the drawer, down to pencils, crayons, etc.
As we finish the lesson in a drawer, she removes the velcro number and sticks it to these handy little holders. There are actually ten spots, so she gets two "extra" activities thrown into the mix. Computer time is shown here - she also has the option to watch one show on TV. I need to come up with more ideas. Want to see what was inside the drawers today?
Drawer #1 will always be her devotional Bible, along with the day's memory verse and words to whatever song she's learning that week. (Yes, she already knows "Jesus Loves Me", but this week she's learning the second verse. I'm also hoping Milly will pick it up from hearing her sister sing - goodness knows she's picked up every song that Dora sings quite well, so I'm sure she's capable.)
Drawer #2 held our math book today - only the teacher's manual, as we only did review of place values and addition. She did a full worksheet of addition problems and had no trouble with the adding - only remembering which direction to write her 2s, 5s and 9s. She thinks it's absolutely hilarious to write her 9 backward - making it look like a P - and then informing me that "OOPS, she just P'ed in her book again!" We'll be doing more adding tomorrow, only in columns instead of horizontally. And of course, more working on that pesky skip counting by fives.
Drawer #3 was Language Arts. LLATL is awesome in that it's broken down into daily lessons already - no planning needed. Today's lesson consisted of reading a poem, talking about it, underlining the nouns in the poem, deciding which sentence went with a picture, reading several short words, writing a sentence, etc. It didn't take long at all, and I'm really looking forward to doing more tomorrow!
Drawer #4 is a great example of what workboxes can be for bigger kids - a completely "do it yourself" drawer! Love this little lined white board we found in the $1 bin at Target. Stuck to it are a list of her eight spelling words for this week, with instructions to write them on the board. I'm loving the things she can do by herself and have me look at later!
Drawer #5 contains another stolen borrowed idea - the Nature Journal. The first item of business was decorating the cover. Then, she took her binder and colored pencils outside with instructions to "find something in nature and draw it." She chose to draw her pet box turtles, Ruby and Felicity. Wonder what she'll choose tomorrow?
Hmm, this drawer looks suspiciously like the last one. This binder, however, is for her unit study on The Book of Virtues. Once again, she decorated the cover first, and reviewed the vocabulary words (philosophy, development, disciple, passion, appetite and reason) that we started on last week.
Believe it or not, I was trying to start slow today...so drawer #7 was kind of filler. I finally printed out the information for her Girl Scout Shape Up! patch and started documenting her physical activity time. We got off to a good start by having a big ol' dance party in the living room for half an hour this afternoon. Gotta love the 90s music channel!
Finally, drawer #8 - which will always be the last drawer of the day and will always contain this little black and white journal. This is Rachael's "end of the day" journal. I'll start a few questions in it for her each day, and it will be up to her to finish them. Unlike in her workbooks, I won't be offering spelling help in her journal - I want her to write her answers the way she thinks they should be. Mostly, I just want to have these years from now to go back and see how cute her answers were. :) Today's entry was as follows (my words beginning, the bolded words at the end are hers, spelling errors included):
"My first day of first grade was FUN.My favorite part of the day was drawing in my journal.
Tomorrow, I hope we do ART.
I am proud of myself for doeng it."
Okay, okay, I did help her with the word journal. She asked and said she really wanted it to be right. Besides, it was written right on the cover if she had thought to look. ;)
Once school was over for the day, us girls headed off to let my mom thoroughly spoil the grandbabies. Rachael got her choice of restaurants for dinner (pizza buffet at Cici's) and Gramma picked up all of the still needed school supplies from Target - down to a pink baseball and pink tennis balls to use as part of upcoming science projects. She also got a new movie (Barbie and the Diamond Castle) and book (Fancy Nancy - The Show Must Go On) from Gramma, who tends to go a little overboard but mostly justified it this time. In the interest of fairness, Milly also came home with a new book (DORA) and coloring pad (DORA) to help keep her busy during school time. :)
All in all, we had a great first day. We got so much work done in so little time, and Rachael absolutely loved the freedom of deciding which box/drawer would be opened next. The only big kink I still need to work out is finding more things for Milly to do during school time - sure, I could print out DORA coloring pages all day long, but come on. Even that will get old eventually. I assume. I recently exhumed Rachael's old PowerTouch Baby (the Fisher-Price version of the LeapPad) with all its books and cartridges from a tub of outgrown baby toys, and have it ready to go for tomorrow - maybe that will keep her entertained for a while. If anyone has ideas on how to keep a 1-1/2-year-old happy during school time, please share your insight with me
'Twas the Night Before First Grade...
Originally posted on August 16, 2009
...and I'm still putting the finishing touches on everything we'll need for tomorrow. My lesson plan is done, now it's all organizational. Pictures will be forthcoming. :)
I'm so excited to start school with Rachael tomorrow - and she's excited too. She watched me getting everything together tonight and asked to do some right then and there, but I told her to wait till morning. How I hope she'll always love learning this much! Maybe if I play my cards right...
For my fellow homeschoolers, homeschool-curious and interested friends and family, I thought I'd recap our final curriculum choices for the 2009-10 school year.
BIBLE: Rachael absolutely adores her God's Little Princess Devotional Bible, so we'll be reading it for our daily devotions. She's outgrown our old devotion book, God and Me, but I may let her read a daily devotion to Milly from that. We'll be going back through the A Beka Bible curriculum from last year, to brush up on our memory verses and the doctrinal drills. We'll need something else later in the school year, and I'm open to suggestions.
MATH: Doing a bit of review and the last few lessons in Math-U-See Primer before moving on to Alpha. Must find a way to make skip counting by fives make sense to her...
LANGUAGE ARTS: I read so many awesome things about Learning Language Arts Through Literature that I just had to go with it this year, and I can't wait to dig in. We went with the red books this year, which is geared toward second grade, but I think it'll be just right for Rachael. I also have a reading list for the year typed up and ready to go, and I'll probably add to it - as will she. She's moving steadily through the American Girl books, and loves several other "chapter book" series as well (Judy Moody, Junie B. Jones, Amber Brown, etc.) so there will be some solo reading time each afternoon during which she can read whatever she wants (and give me a break - hopefully during Milly's naptime!) But I digress. LLATL covers reading, grammar, spelling, handwriting, phonics...it's pretty all-inclusive, but we're adding to it anyway. We'll be learning spelling words from The Natural Speller (this little book has spelling lessons for kindergarten through high school - check it out, homeschooling moms!) and I'm hoping that Handwriting Without Tears will live up to its name...whenever it shows up. Not terribly impressed with shipping time from the company, but I've heard good things about the curriculum
SCIENCE: We'll be learning all about the planets, sun, moon and stars using Apologia's Exploring Creation Through Astronomy. This one is going to be fun! Our weekly homeschool co-op is also using an Apologia book, Exploring Creation Through Botany - which we will likely use full-time and explore more deeply next school year. I'm also borrowing an idea from another homeschool mom and having her make a nature journal - she'll have to go outside and find something to draw in it every day. Or most every day. We'll see how it goes.
HEALTH: I may have underestimated her by ordering the first grade book from Horizons Health. But it'll be a quick, easy once a week (or so) lesson for her.
HISTORY: Brushing off The Story of the World: Ancient Times. This will most likely be another once a week topic, as I'll be teaching from this book in our co-op. We may expand on it at home, though, as there are so many wonderful activities that go along with each chapter.
THE BOOK OF VIRTUES: This is a free (although thorough!) unit study available online at Shiver Academy. It is a 20-week unit study on the book by the same name, focusing on self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty and faith. I have a feeling we're going to be going through a loooooooot of printer ink with all the great pages included in this study, but it will be well worth it.
OTHER: Rachael is a little fascinated by all things French (thanks, Fancy Nancy!) so we'll be dabbling in Muzzy French this year. Obviously, not pushing the foreign language at age 5 1/2! Art will be covered at our co-op, although she'll have plenty of opportunity to create her own masterpieces at home. The kids will be doing P.E. at co-op as well - the older girls especially are aiming toward next spring's Presidential Fitness Challenge, and we'll be working toward the Shape Up! Girl Scout patch as well. I'm still not sure what we'll do about music - Kindermusik is just SO expensive, as are piano lessons and, well, nearly everything musical. Worst case scenario, I guess we'll just listen to the radio and dance, a lot. ;)
Needless to say, we won't be doing ALL of that EVERY day.
Wish us luck tomorrow as we dive into the new school year...and check back for an update soon!
...and I'm still putting the finishing touches on everything we'll need for tomorrow. My lesson plan is done, now it's all organizational. Pictures will be forthcoming. :)
I'm so excited to start school with Rachael tomorrow - and she's excited too. She watched me getting everything together tonight and asked to do some right then and there, but I told her to wait till morning. How I hope she'll always love learning this much! Maybe if I play my cards right...
For my fellow homeschoolers, homeschool-curious and interested friends and family, I thought I'd recap our final curriculum choices for the 2009-10 school year.
BIBLE: Rachael absolutely adores her God's Little Princess Devotional Bible, so we'll be reading it for our daily devotions. She's outgrown our old devotion book, God and Me, but I may let her read a daily devotion to Milly from that. We'll be going back through the A Beka Bible curriculum from last year, to brush up on our memory verses and the doctrinal drills. We'll need something else later in the school year, and I'm open to suggestions.
MATH: Doing a bit of review and the last few lessons in Math-U-See Primer before moving on to Alpha. Must find a way to make skip counting by fives make sense to her...
LANGUAGE ARTS: I read so many awesome things about Learning Language Arts Through Literature that I just had to go with it this year, and I can't wait to dig in. We went with the red books this year, which is geared toward second grade, but I think it'll be just right for Rachael. I also have a reading list for the year typed up and ready to go, and I'll probably add to it - as will she. She's moving steadily through the American Girl books, and loves several other "chapter book" series as well (Judy Moody, Junie B. Jones, Amber Brown, etc.) so there will be some solo reading time each afternoon during which she can read whatever she wants (and give me a break - hopefully during Milly's naptime!) But I digress. LLATL covers reading, grammar, spelling, handwriting, phonics...it's pretty all-inclusive, but we're adding to it anyway. We'll be learning spelling words from The Natural Speller (this little book has spelling lessons for kindergarten through high school - check it out, homeschooling moms!) and I'm hoping that Handwriting Without Tears will live up to its name...whenever it shows up. Not terribly impressed with shipping time from the company, but I've heard good things about the curriculum
SCIENCE: We'll be learning all about the planets, sun, moon and stars using Apologia's Exploring Creation Through Astronomy. This one is going to be fun! Our weekly homeschool co-op is also using an Apologia book, Exploring Creation Through Botany - which we will likely use full-time and explore more deeply next school year. I'm also borrowing an idea from another homeschool mom and having her make a nature journal - she'll have to go outside and find something to draw in it every day. Or most every day. We'll see how it goes.
HEALTH: I may have underestimated her by ordering the first grade book from Horizons Health. But it'll be a quick, easy once a week (or so) lesson for her.
HISTORY: Brushing off The Story of the World: Ancient Times. This will most likely be another once a week topic, as I'll be teaching from this book in our co-op. We may expand on it at home, though, as there are so many wonderful activities that go along with each chapter.
THE BOOK OF VIRTUES: This is a free (although thorough!) unit study available online at Shiver Academy. It is a 20-week unit study on the book by the same name, focusing on self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty and faith. I have a feeling we're going to be going through a loooooooot of printer ink with all the great pages included in this study, but it will be well worth it.
OTHER: Rachael is a little fascinated by all things French (thanks, Fancy Nancy!) so we'll be dabbling in Muzzy French this year. Obviously, not pushing the foreign language at age 5 1/2! Art will be covered at our co-op, although she'll have plenty of opportunity to create her own masterpieces at home. The kids will be doing P.E. at co-op as well - the older girls especially are aiming toward next spring's Presidential Fitness Challenge, and we'll be working toward the Shape Up! Girl Scout patch as well. I'm still not sure what we'll do about music - Kindermusik is just SO expensive, as are piano lessons and, well, nearly everything musical. Worst case scenario, I guess we'll just listen to the radio and dance, a lot. ;)
Needless to say, we won't be doing ALL of that EVERY day.
Wish us luck tomorrow as we dive into the new school year...and check back for an update soon!
Gearing up and sharing an article!
Originally posted on August 14, 2009
We're almost ready for the start of our 2009-10 school year! A bit more organizing and planning and we'll be good to go on Monday morning. Look for a long post on Monday evening about Rachael's first day of first grade!
Meanwhile, thought I'd share a great article that a friend passed on to me. One of many reasons that we choose to homeschool. :)
Study: Homeschoolers Scoring 'Well Above' Public School Peers
By Aaron J. Leichman
Christian Post Reporter
August 11, 2009
The most comprehensive survey of homeschoolers in America in more than a decade found a large gap between students educated at home and those educated in public institutions.
We're almost ready for the start of our 2009-10 school year! A bit more organizing and planning and we'll be good to go on Monday morning. Look for a long post on Monday evening about Rachael's first day of first grade!
Meanwhile, thought I'd share a great article that a friend passed on to me. One of many reasons that we choose to homeschool. :)
Study: Homeschoolers Scoring 'Well Above' Public School Peers
By Aaron J. Leichman
Christian Post Reporter
August 11, 2009
The most comprehensive survey of homeschoolers in America in more than a decade found a large gap between students educated at home and those educated in public institutions.
In the nationwide study conducted by Dr. Brian D. Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute, homeschoolers were found to have scored 34-39 percentile points higher than the norm on standardized achievement tests. The homeschool national average ranged from the 84th percentile for language, math, and social studies to the 89th percentile for reading, reported the Home School Legal Defense Association, which commissioned Ray to conduct the survey in 2007.
According to HSLDA, anecdotal evidence of homeschooling’s success has been backed by multiple research studies. However, it has been at least 10 years since any major nationwide study of homeschooling was done.
During that time, the number of homeschooled children has grown from about 850,000 to approximately 1.5 million, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
"Homeschooling is a rapidly growing, thriving education movement that is challenging the conventional wisdom about the best way to raise and educate the next generation," commented HSLDA president Michael Smith in his group’s announcement of the study Monday.
For the new study, touted as “the most comprehensive study of homeschool academic achievement ever completed,” Ray surveyed 11,739 homeschooled students from all 50 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico, and drew from 15 independent testing services.
Aside from the academic results, the study found that the achievement gaps common to public schools were not found in the homeschool community.
Homeschooled boys (87th percentile) and girls (88th percentile) scored equally well; the income level of parents did not appreciably affect the results (household income under $35,000: 85th percentile – household income over $70,000: 89th percentile); and while parent education level did have some impact, even children whose parents did not have college degrees scored in the 83rd percentile, which is well above the national average for public school students.
Homeschooled children whose parents both had college degrees scored in the 90th percentile.
"These results validate the dedication of hundreds of thousands of homeschool parents who are giving their children the best education possible," commented Smith.
"Because of the one-on-one instruction homeschoolers receive, we are prepared academically to be productive and contributing members of today's society," he added.
According to the study, 82.4 percent of homeschooling parents identified themselves as Protestant Christian, 12.4 Roman Catholic, 1.1 percent atheist/agnostic, 0.8 percent Mormon, 0.4 percent Jewish, 0.2 percent Eastern Orthodox Christian, and 0.1 percent Muslim.
The vast majority (97.9 percent) of parents in the study was also married and had an average of 3.5 children compared to the general population’s average of 2.0 children.
The title of the study is “Progress Report 2009: Homeschool Academic Achievement and Demographics.”
RAWR!
Originally posted on August 3, 2009
Lessons are taking a backseat to camp this week, as Rachael will be gone every morning learning about...DINOSAURS! I probably think this is way more cool than she does, as I was dino-obsessed as a little kid - but her best friend Sophie is in the same camp, so she's pretty thrilled with it anyway. I can't wait to hear what she learns! Here's what the VMNH brochure had to say about her camp:
iDig Dinosaurs!
Age 5 – 7
August 3 – 7, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
A fun-filled camp designed especially for future paleontologists interested in dinosaurs and fossils. Participants will explore various prehistoric creatures through games and activities, and even make their own fossils to take home!
$55 non-members, $50 members
Yeah, the price is pretty miserable...but luckily, Sophie's mom works at the museum and offered to cover the cost for Rachael in exchange for babysitting services. Her younger daughter is only three months older than Milly, and they get along wonderfully - so what a great deal!
Our only other recent adventure involved FOOD. We're currently reading about the newest American Girl, Rebecca Rubin, who is a Jewish immigrant from Russia living in New York City in 1914. Her family speaks a lot of Yiddish at home, so Rachael is learning a word here and there (mazel tov, Shabbos, etc.) as well as learning about Jewish traditions. One of them mentioned in the book was the baking of hallah bread for the Sabbath - it was a treat for Rebecca's family, as eggs were expensive at the time. Rachael latched right onto the mention of hallah bread when Rebecca got to knock on the top of it to see if sounded hollow - meaning it was done. She immediately asked if we could bake some too. Google to the rescue!
HALLAH BREAD
1 pkg. active dry yeast
2 tbsp. sugar
5 c. flour
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
Poppy seed
Sprinkle yeast and sugar into 1/4 cup very warm water. Let stand 5 minutes, then stir. Mix flour and salt in large bowl. Make a well in center and drop in whole eggs, oil, 1 1/4 cups very warm water and the yeast mixture. Work liquids into the flour. Turn out on lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic. Put in greased bowl and turn to grease top. Cover. Let stand in warm place 1 hour. Punch down. Cover and let rise 35 minutes or until double in bulk.
Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Between lightly floured hands roll dough in 3 ropes of even length. Braid and put on greased baking sheet. Cover. Let rise 20 minutes or until light. Brush with egg yolks and sprinkle poppy seed. Bake in moderate oven 375 degrees about 45 minutes. Check after 15 minutes, if braid is very brown cover with a piece of foil.
I'm not sure how accurate this recipe is in terms of being considered "real" hallah bread...but it was easy enough to make. Rachael thoroughly enjoyed kneading and punching down the dough. The task of braiding it fell to me, and let me tell ya...braiding dough isn't the easiest thing I've tried! It ended up looking pretty good in spite of my efforts, and tasted even better. In fact, the entire loaf lasted about 24 hours.
Lessons are taking a backseat to camp this week, as Rachael will be gone every morning learning about...DINOSAURS! I probably think this is way more cool than she does, as I was dino-obsessed as a little kid - but her best friend Sophie is in the same camp, so she's pretty thrilled with it anyway. I can't wait to hear what she learns! Here's what the VMNH brochure had to say about her camp:
iDig Dinosaurs!
Age 5 – 7
August 3 – 7, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
A fun-filled camp designed especially for future paleontologists interested in dinosaurs and fossils. Participants will explore various prehistoric creatures through games and activities, and even make their own fossils to take home!
$55 non-members, $50 members
Yeah, the price is pretty miserable...but luckily, Sophie's mom works at the museum and offered to cover the cost for Rachael in exchange for babysitting services. Her younger daughter is only three months older than Milly, and they get along wonderfully - so what a great deal!
Our only other recent adventure involved FOOD. We're currently reading about the newest American Girl, Rebecca Rubin, who is a Jewish immigrant from Russia living in New York City in 1914. Her family speaks a lot of Yiddish at home, so Rachael is learning a word here and there (mazel tov, Shabbos, etc.) as well as learning about Jewish traditions. One of them mentioned in the book was the baking of hallah bread for the Sabbath - it was a treat for Rebecca's family, as eggs were expensive at the time. Rachael latched right onto the mention of hallah bread when Rebecca got to knock on the top of it to see if sounded hollow - meaning it was done. She immediately asked if we could bake some too. Google to the rescue!
HALLAH BREAD
1 pkg. active dry yeast
2 tbsp. sugar
5 c. flour
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
Poppy seed
Sprinkle yeast and sugar into 1/4 cup very warm water. Let stand 5 minutes, then stir. Mix flour and salt in large bowl. Make a well in center and drop in whole eggs, oil, 1 1/4 cups very warm water and the yeast mixture. Work liquids into the flour. Turn out on lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic. Put in greased bowl and turn to grease top. Cover. Let stand in warm place 1 hour. Punch down. Cover and let rise 35 minutes or until double in bulk.
Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Between lightly floured hands roll dough in 3 ropes of even length. Braid and put on greased baking sheet. Cover. Let rise 20 minutes or until light. Brush with egg yolks and sprinkle poppy seed. Bake in moderate oven 375 degrees about 45 minutes. Check after 15 minutes, if braid is very brown cover with a piece of foil.
I'm not sure how accurate this recipe is in terms of being considered "real" hallah bread...but it was easy enough to make. Rachael thoroughly enjoyed kneading and punching down the dough. The task of braiding it fell to me, and let me tell ya...braiding dough isn't the easiest thing I've tried! It ended up looking pretty good in spite of my efforts, and tasted even better. In fact, the entire loaf lasted about 24 hours.
Shopping for the last of our textbooks for this year - more coming soon!
Testing the waters.
Originally posted on July 28, 2009
Although we still haven't chosen an *official* first day of school for this year, we're slowly easing back into the swing of the school day - starting today! Just from this morning, I can already tell that Milly is going to be a challenge for us this year, as she wants a) to be included in everything we do and b) for Rachael to not be included in anything. Hmm. Coloring pages are only going to get us so far. Time to break out my copy of The Toddler's Busy Book and put together a few things for her.
As for Rachael, we're not starting with the usual subjects just yet. Truth is, we've been having some...well...behavioral issues of late. The attitude, the sassiness, the "convenient hearing" when asked to do something - it all adds up to two aggravated, frustrated parents. Luckily, I stumbled across a great little unit study on William J. Bennett's The Book of Virtues - so that's where we're starting today. The first two weeks of the study focus on self-discipline, which is perfect for us right now. We're working on the vocabulary words (disciple, philosophy, development, reason, passion and appetite) this morning, as well as handwriting. There's a good bit of writing involved in this study - writing out definitions, copying Bible verses and famous quotes, etc., so we really need to brush up on her lowercase letters. Right now, she's busy writing the alphabet on a lined white board, and is none too happy about it. She hates to write and says she wants to type everything the way that Daddy does...oops. Unfortunately for her, part of self-discipline is making yourself sit down and do what needs to be done, even if it's not really what you want to be doing.
(Homeschool mamas - the unit study is free and can be found at Shiver Academy. It's a huge PDF file, but it's worth the download!)
Although we still haven't chosen an *official* first day of school for this year, we're slowly easing back into the swing of the school day - starting today! Just from this morning, I can already tell that Milly is going to be a challenge for us this year, as she wants a) to be included in everything we do and b) for Rachael to not be included in anything. Hmm. Coloring pages are only going to get us so far. Time to break out my copy of The Toddler's Busy Book and put together a few things for her.
As for Rachael, we're not starting with the usual subjects just yet. Truth is, we've been having some...well...behavioral issues of late. The attitude, the sassiness, the "convenient hearing" when asked to do something - it all adds up to two aggravated, frustrated parents. Luckily, I stumbled across a great little unit study on William J. Bennett's The Book of Virtues - so that's where we're starting today. The first two weeks of the study focus on self-discipline, which is perfect for us right now. We're working on the vocabulary words (disciple, philosophy, development, reason, passion and appetite) this morning, as well as handwriting. There's a good bit of writing involved in this study - writing out definitions, copying Bible verses and famous quotes, etc., so we really need to brush up on her lowercase letters. Right now, she's busy writing the alphabet on a lined white board, and is none too happy about it. She hates to write and says she wants to type everything the way that Daddy does...oops. Unfortunately for her, part of self-discipline is making yourself sit down and do what needs to be done, even if it's not really what you want to be doing.
(Homeschool mamas - the unit study is free and can be found at Shiver Academy. It's a huge PDF file, but it's worth the download!)
Countdown to OFFICIAL...
Originally posted on July 24, 2009
Milly and I went to the post office today (while Rachael was elsewhere with Gene) and mailed our Notice of Intent to homeschool for the 2009-2010 school year. I forked over a little extra for a delivery receipt, which will be filed with copies of everything mailed. Yes, I see myself being very cautious about maintaining files, just in case anything is ever called into question.
So long as the post office manages to get the letter from Ridgeway to Collinsville sometime in the next 22 days, we're all cleared to homeschool this year. It was oddly exciting - and liberating - to mail that letter. You all know me, I just love flying in the face of convention. ;)
So long as the post office manages to get the letter from Ridgeway to Collinsville sometime in the next 22 days, we're all cleared to homeschool this year. It was oddly exciting - and liberating - to mail that letter. You all know me, I just love flying in the face of convention. ;)
A recommitment to the blog...and a grandparent tutorial!
Originally posted on July 23, 2009
Okay, you caught me - the blog isn't a new idea. I actually started it LAST fall, with the intention of updating throughout our kindergarten year. That didn't work out so well, as kindergarten was largely chaotic - especially when I had to hold Milly practically all day on top of everything else we were doing! This year will hopefully be easier. Milly is old enough now to sit at the table with us while we "do school", and will very likely be doing a bit of school herself this year - although she won't know it. Alphabet coloring pages, here we come!
Even though we're still in July, I'm already looking forward to beginning this school year. I haven't set an official "first day" yet, although I imagine it will be in mid-August. I still have a few textbooks to buy, plenty of planning to do, an overflowing bookshelf in the kitchen to organize (and figure out how to KEEP it that way!) Rachael is ready and would gladly "go back to school" just anytime now - so as soon as everything is in order, we'll get going.
Before I tell you what we'll be up to this year, a quick word to the grandparents (and anyone else unfamiliar with blogs) that I'll be inviting to read along with us... A blog is basically an online diary. Bookmark this website; you'll need to come back and check in to read our udpates. Assuming that you want to know, of course. :) The newest entry will always appear at the top of the screen - which means that, if this is your first visit, you'll need to scroll all the way to the bottom to read the first entry. When you come back, just scroll down to the last entry you read and work your way up. I'll attempt to update every day or so, at least - and also have every intention of making Rachael dictate a bit about what she's doing and learning. And of course, there will be pictures - especially when we do FUN things and field trips!
Now, about our school year... To begin with, if we were not homeschooling, Rachael would be starting kindergarten at Drewry Mason Elementary School this fall. I must admit to some degree of curiosity, being that I spent three years there during middle school - I'd love to see how they've revamped the place to accommodate even smaller children. Henry County's first day of school will be a little bittersweet, knowing that my baby would be gone all day to "real" school - I might even be tempted to drive her over there, just depending on what kind of day we have here. ;) But sending Rachael to kindergarten this fall would be a huge disservice to a child who is already reading books with several chapters and very few pictures. We can do better - and we will do better.
Here's what Rachael will be studying this year at Regalia Academy...
MATH
We will once again be using the Math-U-See curriculum, which relies heavily on manipulatives (ie, "little blocks") to help kids figure out number concepts. For instance, two "5" blocks laid end to end are the same length as the "10" block. 5 + 5 = 10. Makes perfect sense, right? We made good progress through the first book (Primer) last year, but got hung up with skip counting by fives. Need to figure out a way to make that click for her, then we'll be moving on - and probably into the next book (Alpha) before the school year is over.
LANGUAGE ARTS
I'm excited about this one! We'll be using a curriculum called Learning Language Arts Through Literature, which focuses on...well, learning language arts through literature. It's kind of an all-in-one phonics, spelling, reading, grammar and handwriting course. Thankfully, you can browse the curriculum pretty thoroughly online, which led me to buy (are you ready for this?) the second grade books for Rachael. Kindergarten and first grade were simply too easy, and even the second grade readers are no challenge for her - she picked one up, read a few pages, and fixed me with the "I AM NOT A BABY" glare that said she expected more difficult fare. *sigh* However, she needs practice with her handwriting (we may also use a book called Handwriting Without Tears for extra practice) and skipping ahead any farther would also mean skipping over punctuation, parts of a sentence, nouns/pronouns/verbs/adverbs, etc. As it is, that ought to provide her with an adequate challenge this year, even if the included readers do not.
We'll also be learning spelling words from a book called The Natural Speller, and reading lots and lots and lots of things other than what's included with the curriculum. There are so many wonderful reading lists online, and I've snagged the public and private schools' first grade reading lists from the public library. We shouldn't have any trouble knocking those out! Rachael will very likely have an independent reading time each day as well as read-to-Mommy or listen-to-Mommy-read time. All three of them are pretty important to me and, as much as she loves her books, I don't expect any argument from her.
SCIENCE
We'll be using a book called Exploring Creation with Astronomy, published by Apologia. The Apologia series sounds wonderful - it's a Christian curriculum consisting of five books that teach about the world God created. The first year focuses on astronomy (because in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.) After that was done, God created vegetation - so the second year in this curriculm focuses on botany. The next three years cover the animals in the order that they were created - one year of winged creatures, one of aquatic creatures and finally, land animals. Pretty neat, huh? We're looking forward to digging into this one - Rachael loves looking at the stars, finding constellations, looking for planets - so this will be right up her alley. And of course, with the whole WALL-E fascination and his propensity for space travel...it'll be easy to throw him in there to get her attention as well!
HISTORY
Her history text is called The Story of the World: Volume I - Ancient Times. This book covers the years 5000 BC - 400 AD. We've already read about the nomads and how they had to hunt and gather for their food. Rachael and her friends all thought that was pretty neat until they were turned outside with baskets and told to go find lunch! Now we're on to ancient Egypt - we've written in heiroglyphs and cuneiform, mummified an apple (that was interesting!) and will be building a pyramid out of sugar cubes when we resume studies. I'll be incorporating Bible lessons into her history - Moses and Pharoah's daughter, the plagues of Egypt, etc. My goal here is to take the "stories" - both from the history book and from the Bible - and help her to see that these were real people, real events. That's hard to understand sometimes when you just read the "story"!
Rachael is also VERY into the American Girl books right now. There are about a dozen girls, each one with eight or nine books, and each lived in a different area and time in history...so they're great story books, and great history lessons too. We've read all of the books about Samantha, a wealthy Victorian girl circa 1904. Now we're reading about Kit, who is weathering the Great Depression with her family in 1934. Next up, I think, is Kirsten, a little pioneer girl whose family immigrated from Sweden - and Rachael's tentative plan is to be Kirsten for Halloween this year! So we'll keep reading the American Girl books and learning about different eras in American history along the way.
BIBLE
Of course! We'll do a refresher course on her A-Z memory verses from last year (probably rusty by now). Daily devotions from the God's Little Princess Devotional Bible. Doctrine from the A Beka curriculum we didn't finish in kindergarten. And I'll be needing to make another trip to the Lifeway store in Danville. That can be a dangerous place - so many awesome books to choose from!
Those are the "big" subjects, but certainly not all of them. She'll be learning about health and hygiene, manners, social studies (gleaned from holidays, current events, etc.), art (seasonal crafts, projects to go along with her lessons) and hopefully some music. We'll start watching the Muzzy DVDs to expand on her French vocabulary (already pretty impressive, thanks to the Fancy Nancy books.) As for extracurricular activities, she will continue in gymnastics and in Girl Scouts. She's itching to play soccer too, but we'll have to see about that...don't want to stretch her (or us) too thin.
So, there's our current plan - now to get busy implementing it! YOUR assignment is to check in here regularly to see what's going on - and feel free to offer suggestions, ask questions, or just leave encouragement if you're so inclined. Although I'm comfortable in our plan for this school year, homeschooling for the long haul is still a bit of an overwhelming thought. And as always when working with children, there will be good days and bad days...here's hoping the 2009-10 school year consists of more good days!
Okay, you caught me - the blog isn't a new idea. I actually started it LAST fall, with the intention of updating throughout our kindergarten year. That didn't work out so well, as kindergarten was largely chaotic - especially when I had to hold Milly practically all day on top of everything else we were doing! This year will hopefully be easier. Milly is old enough now to sit at the table with us while we "do school", and will very likely be doing a bit of school herself this year - although she won't know it. Alphabet coloring pages, here we come!
Even though we're still in July, I'm already looking forward to beginning this school year. I haven't set an official "first day" yet, although I imagine it will be in mid-August. I still have a few textbooks to buy, plenty of planning to do, an overflowing bookshelf in the kitchen to organize (and figure out how to KEEP it that way!) Rachael is ready and would gladly "go back to school" just anytime now - so as soon as everything is in order, we'll get going.
Before I tell you what we'll be up to this year, a quick word to the grandparents (and anyone else unfamiliar with blogs) that I'll be inviting to read along with us... A blog is basically an online diary. Bookmark this website; you'll need to come back and check in to read our udpates. Assuming that you want to know, of course. :) The newest entry will always appear at the top of the screen - which means that, if this is your first visit, you'll need to scroll all the way to the bottom to read the first entry. When you come back, just scroll down to the last entry you read and work your way up. I'll attempt to update every day or so, at least - and also have every intention of making Rachael dictate a bit about what she's doing and learning. And of course, there will be pictures - especially when we do FUN things and field trips!
Now, about our school year... To begin with, if we were not homeschooling, Rachael would be starting kindergarten at Drewry Mason Elementary School this fall. I must admit to some degree of curiosity, being that I spent three years there during middle school - I'd love to see how they've revamped the place to accommodate even smaller children. Henry County's first day of school will be a little bittersweet, knowing that my baby would be gone all day to "real" school - I might even be tempted to drive her over there, just depending on what kind of day we have here. ;) But sending Rachael to kindergarten this fall would be a huge disservice to a child who is already reading books with several chapters and very few pictures. We can do better - and we will do better.
Here's what Rachael will be studying this year at Regalia Academy...
MATH
We will once again be using the Math-U-See curriculum, which relies heavily on manipulatives (ie, "little blocks") to help kids figure out number concepts. For instance, two "5" blocks laid end to end are the same length as the "10" block. 5 + 5 = 10. Makes perfect sense, right? We made good progress through the first book (Primer) last year, but got hung up with skip counting by fives. Need to figure out a way to make that click for her, then we'll be moving on - and probably into the next book (Alpha) before the school year is over.
LANGUAGE ARTS
I'm excited about this one! We'll be using a curriculum called Learning Language Arts Through Literature, which focuses on...well, learning language arts through literature. It's kind of an all-in-one phonics, spelling, reading, grammar and handwriting course. Thankfully, you can browse the curriculum pretty thoroughly online, which led me to buy (are you ready for this?) the second grade books for Rachael. Kindergarten and first grade were simply too easy, and even the second grade readers are no challenge for her - she picked one up, read a few pages, and fixed me with the "I AM NOT A BABY" glare that said she expected more difficult fare. *sigh* However, she needs practice with her handwriting (we may also use a book called Handwriting Without Tears for extra practice) and skipping ahead any farther would also mean skipping over punctuation, parts of a sentence, nouns/pronouns/verbs/adverbs, etc. As it is, that ought to provide her with an adequate challenge this year, even if the included readers do not.
We'll also be learning spelling words from a book called The Natural Speller, and reading lots and lots and lots of things other than what's included with the curriculum. There are so many wonderful reading lists online, and I've snagged the public and private schools' first grade reading lists from the public library. We shouldn't have any trouble knocking those out! Rachael will very likely have an independent reading time each day as well as read-to-Mommy or listen-to-Mommy-read time. All three of them are pretty important to me and, as much as she loves her books, I don't expect any argument from her.
SCIENCE
We'll be using a book called Exploring Creation with Astronomy, published by Apologia. The Apologia series sounds wonderful - it's a Christian curriculum consisting of five books that teach about the world God created. The first year focuses on astronomy (because in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.) After that was done, God created vegetation - so the second year in this curriculm focuses on botany. The next three years cover the animals in the order that they were created - one year of winged creatures, one of aquatic creatures and finally, land animals. Pretty neat, huh? We're looking forward to digging into this one - Rachael loves looking at the stars, finding constellations, looking for planets - so this will be right up her alley. And of course, with the whole WALL-E fascination and his propensity for space travel...it'll be easy to throw him in there to get her attention as well!
HISTORY
Her history text is called The Story of the World: Volume I - Ancient Times. This book covers the years 5000 BC - 400 AD. We've already read about the nomads and how they had to hunt and gather for their food. Rachael and her friends all thought that was pretty neat until they were turned outside with baskets and told to go find lunch! Now we're on to ancient Egypt - we've written in heiroglyphs and cuneiform, mummified an apple (that was interesting!) and will be building a pyramid out of sugar cubes when we resume studies. I'll be incorporating Bible lessons into her history - Moses and Pharoah's daughter, the plagues of Egypt, etc. My goal here is to take the "stories" - both from the history book and from the Bible - and help her to see that these were real people, real events. That's hard to understand sometimes when you just read the "story"!
Rachael is also VERY into the American Girl books right now. There are about a dozen girls, each one with eight or nine books, and each lived in a different area and time in history...so they're great story books, and great history lessons too. We've read all of the books about Samantha, a wealthy Victorian girl circa 1904. Now we're reading about Kit, who is weathering the Great Depression with her family in 1934. Next up, I think, is Kirsten, a little pioneer girl whose family immigrated from Sweden - and Rachael's tentative plan is to be Kirsten for Halloween this year! So we'll keep reading the American Girl books and learning about different eras in American history along the way.
BIBLE
Of course! We'll do a refresher course on her A-Z memory verses from last year (probably rusty by now). Daily devotions from the God's Little Princess Devotional Bible. Doctrine from the A Beka curriculum we didn't finish in kindergarten. And I'll be needing to make another trip to the Lifeway store in Danville. That can be a dangerous place - so many awesome books to choose from!
Those are the "big" subjects, but certainly not all of them. She'll be learning about health and hygiene, manners, social studies (gleaned from holidays, current events, etc.), art (seasonal crafts, projects to go along with her lessons) and hopefully some music. We'll start watching the Muzzy DVDs to expand on her French vocabulary (already pretty impressive, thanks to the Fancy Nancy books.) As for extracurricular activities, she will continue in gymnastics and in Girl Scouts. She's itching to play soccer too, but we'll have to see about that...don't want to stretch her (or us) too thin.
So, there's our current plan - now to get busy implementing it! YOUR assignment is to check in here regularly to see what's going on - and feel free to offer suggestions, ask questions, or just leave encouragement if you're so inclined. Although I'm comfortable in our plan for this school year, homeschooling for the long haul is still a bit of an overwhelming thought. And as always when working with children, there will be good days and bad days...here's hoping the 2009-10 school year consists of more good days!
Rachael for President!
Originally posted on November 1, 2008
This has been a crazy week - thus the lack of updates. Truth be told, there hasn't been much school done this week. Thank goodness there are opportunities for learning everywhere we go!
Rachael learned her Bible verse for the week - "Fear not, for I am with thee." Isaiah 43:5
And we talked some more about politics and the upcoming election. We covered:
On Friday (Halloween), we did a spooky science experiment called "The Witches' Potion". To do this, we had four beakers (okay, glasses that we don't use very often) - two contained phenolphthalein (a common pool-cleaning chemical) and two contained ammonia. We also had a glass of white vinegar handy. All of these substances are clear. According to the story that goes along with this experiment, the first witch was upset because only pink potions have any power - the second assured her that the pink was there, and invited her to combine their potions. Sure enough, when beaker #1 is combined with beaker #2, they turn a bright, vivid pink (a result of an acid combined with a base.) Same went with beakers #3 and #4. BUT, when the two beakers of bright pink are dumped into the glass of vinegar...poof! Everything turns back to clear.
Which is very cool in theory, except that Rachael loves pink, and was more than a little irate when it all disappeared. So we repeated the process later for Gene, and were sure to take pictures of the pink.
Rachael had a great Halloween, with several events leading up to it - decorating cookies with her friends on Monday, a party at the library on Wednesday, a pizza party at church on Thursday night. On Friday, we went to Trunk or Treat at her Gramma's church, and then trick-or-treating around her neighborhood. There are few things I can think of that this child loves more than trick-or-treating, and I was so happy to hear several comments about her good manners when she thanked people for her candy. Unfortunately, no one recognized her as EVE from the movie Wall-E, but plenty ooh'ed and aah'ed over Amelia's white tiger costume (it was adorable.) But Rachael loved being EVE for an evening anyway, and hopefully she'll choose someone/something a bit more recognizable next year - so far, she's thinking Smurfette.
This has been a crazy week - thus the lack of updates. Truth be told, there hasn't been much school done this week. Thank goodness there are opportunities for learning everywhere we go!
Rachael learned her Bible verse for the week - "Fear not, for I am with thee." Isaiah 43:5
And we talked some more about politics and the upcoming election. We covered:
- Speeches - as promised, we checked out the Silly Speech Maker. Rachael's speech goes as follows: "My fellow gymnastics class: As I look out at all of you, I see a future that's excellent, but to get there, we need lovely leadership in the White House. With your help, and your Wall-E toys, we can do this together! I promise to ban Hannah Montana, to hop the budget, and to save the snowglobe. Further, all babies should get a chance to make Halloween cookies. Our spinning schools are filled with crying, and this can only be fixed by giving kids more blue fairy Barbies! Finally, I promise that if I'm elected, you can come visit me in the White House, (though you'll have to sleep in my bedroom.) Remember, a vote for me is a vote for books!"
- Campaigning - what it is, why it's done, and whether or not everything said during the campaigns can be made good on. We read a great book called Duck for President, about a duck who campaigns for (and wins) the job of farm manager, then Senator, then President - only to decide to go back to being a duck on a farm. I found a "campaign for the presidency" worksheet online that I had Rachael dictate - apparently, she wants to run for President "because I want more attention", she wants me for her campaign manager (aww!) and two issues that she wants to tackle are buying food for hungry kids and fixing their broken toys. Oh, and she wants voters everywhere to know that she's willing to share her home with them. It looks like we'll need to add on a few bedrooms...
- The candidates and where they stand on important issues. Okay, you try explaining this one to a four-year-old! It was hard enough explaining what issues are, much less where the candidates stand on them - especially as there's a lot of overlap. I used the Time for Kids website to help explain them to her, but I'm afraid it didn't do much good. Obama wants to "give the general public the option to choose health plans similar to that of government employees" while McCain would "make patients the center of care and give them a larger role in both disease prevention and care." They both sound pretty good, right? That's what Rachael thought too. (Naturally, there are several issues that we did not discuss, as they would be either a) just too far over her head or b) completely age-inappropriate.)
- Choosing a candidate. Based on what she learned about the issues...oh wait, that's not true. Rachael is a staunch supporter of McCain/Palin, "because she's a girl." Nothing that I've taught her yet has made her waver for an instant on her stance. (Disclaimer: she still has no idea what our political views are or who we'll vote for. I've done my best to present the facts to her in a non-biased way, my goal being to make her think. So far, I'm thinking we'll do better in 2012 when she can get past the whole "vote for the girl" idea!)
- Mock election! On Friday, we came up with our own issues - two per family member, excluding Amelia (I assume the minimum voting age in our home is four-ish...) Once agreed upon, Rachael, Gene and I put them to a vote. (A brief tussle ensued over who was to read the ballots, wherein I appointment myself President of our household and assumed the responsibility. Gene, apparently, is the Electoral College, and got to read nada.Rachael's proposition that we have 100 babies was shot down two to one, as was Gene's idea of declaring his Sunday afternoon nap an official family holiday. Allowing dirty work boots in the house was a unanimous "NO", and beginning to give Rachael an allowance was a unanimous "YES".
On Friday (Halloween), we did a spooky science experiment called "The Witches' Potion". To do this, we had four beakers (okay, glasses that we don't use very often) - two contained phenolphthalein (a common pool-cleaning chemical) and two contained ammonia. We also had a glass of white vinegar handy. All of these substances are clear. According to the story that goes along with this experiment, the first witch was upset because only pink potions have any power - the second assured her that the pink was there, and invited her to combine their potions. Sure enough, when beaker #1 is combined with beaker #2, they turn a bright, vivid pink (a result of an acid combined with a base.) Same went with beakers #3 and #4. BUT, when the two beakers of bright pink are dumped into the glass of vinegar...poof! Everything turns back to clear.
Which is very cool in theory, except that Rachael loves pink, and was more than a little irate when it all disappeared. So we repeated the process later for Gene, and were sure to take pictures of the pink.
Rachael had a great Halloween, with several events leading up to it - decorating cookies with her friends on Monday, a party at the library on Wednesday, a pizza party at church on Thursday night. On Friday, we went to Trunk or Treat at her Gramma's church, and then trick-or-treating around her neighborhood. There are few things I can think of that this child loves more than trick-or-treating, and I was so happy to hear several comments about her good manners when she thanked people for her candy. Unfortunately, no one recognized her as EVE from the movie Wall-E, but plenty ooh'ed and aah'ed over Amelia's white tiger costume (it was adorable.) But Rachael loved being EVE for an evening anyway, and hopefully she'll choose someone/something a bit more recognizable next year - so far, she's thinking Smurfette.
Our (School) Year to Date
Originally posted on October 24, 2008
Rachael officially started kindergarten on Monday, August 25, 2008. She's a little young - in the state of Virginia, a child must be five years old by September 30 in order to start kindergarten, and Rachael won't be five until February. But she was so ready for kindergarten - and maybe even a little more. Want to hear about what we've done this year? :)
BIBLE
We start our morning with a devotion from the book God and Me, followed by the weekly memory verse and review of the verses she's learned already. We have a list of verses from A to Z - we started with the vowels and now are going back to pick up the other letters. Currently, she knows:
A - All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
B - Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Acts 16:31
C - Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Ephesians 6:1
D - Depart from evil, and do good. Psalm 34:14
E - Even a child is known by his doings. Proverbs 20:11
I - If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it. John 14:14
O - O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. Psalm 118:1
U - Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks. Psalm 75:1
I'm fascinated by how quickly and easily she learns these verses, and can't wait to hear her rattle off 26 in a row when we finish the alphabet! She's also memorized the Lord's Prayer and, although it isn't Biblical, we do the Pledge of Allegiance at the same time.
We use the A Beka K5 Bible Curriculum - which is okay for this year, but I'll be looking for something more substantial for next year. This curriculum offers a Bible story about every other day (we started with "in the beginning" and are working through Genesis - we're up to Jacob's ladder as of this morning) with lots of time to review and some doctrinal drills in between. In regards to doctrine, we've discussed:
- how God wrote the Bible
- what is sin, and who sins
- the Trinity (and let me tell you, THAT was fun to try to explain!)- God had no beginning and will have no end
- salvation, why Jesus died for us, why we must accept Him as our savior
- Heaven, and who gets to be there, although God wants everyone there
MANNERS
We have a great little book called 365 Manners Kids Should Know, and we read about a new manner each day. Some of these are quite obvious - don't talk with your mouth full, don't interrupt when someone else is talking, how to address adults. But there are also sections on being a good friend, a good guest, gift-giving and holidays, and lots more - all in all, it covers every topic I could think of regarding manners, and more that I never would have come up with on my own (Quaker weddings? Sitting shiva? Private or semiprivate audience with the Pope?)
GEOGRAPHY
She already had a beginning grasp of geography - she had looked at maps and knew that we live in Virginia, Daddy works in North Carolina, Disney World is in Florida, Aunt Annette lives in California, and we want to visit Alaska. So why not learn the rest of the states as well? I printed out a coloring page of the U.S. and we color in one state each day, after reviewing all of the others to be sure that she remembers them all. We have only ten states left to go!
Our only issues with learning the states thus far have come with Alabama (which she called "Obama" for the longest time) and Montana (which she occasionally refuses to identify because of a deep disliking for Hannah Montana. I've explained that the state was not named for the girl, but this makes absolutely no difference to her.)
MATH
After covering all of the above at the breakfast table, it's time to dive into math. We knock this one out of the way early in the day because, to be quite honest, math has never been my favorite subject and I just prefer to get it over with early. We use a curriculum called Math-U-See, which relies heavily on the use of blocks to not only teach, but show the concepts. She likes playing with the blocks, and used them a lot early on, but hasn't used them much recently. I'm sure they'll be used again when we encounter something that's hard for her to understand, but thus far, the Primer book (the first in the series) has been pretty easy for her.
Topics we've covered so far include:
- counting to 20 (those teens are tricky!)
- place value: hundreds, tens and ones
- addition facts: +1 (adding one always results in the next highest number)
- basic facts to memorize: 1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4 and 5+5
- adding horizontally and vertically
- skip counting by 2s and by 10s
- adding tens (20+20, 30+10, etc.)
- adding hundreds (100+100, 300+200, etc.)
- solving for unknown ( __+3 = 9, etc.)
PHONICS & READING
Math and reading are our primary focuses, so they always come first - and sometimes they're the only things we get done in a day. Homeschooling with a baby definitely presents a challenge, and we don't always get to do as much as I'd like in a day! So we knock out these two subjects first, and anything else we get to squeeze in at this point is simply a bonus.
We use a curriculum called Happy Phonics, which uses games (lots and lots of games!) to help a child master everything from identifying capital and lowercase letters through the tricky -augh and -ough sounds. We've been using this curriculum for quite some time now, and Rachael read her first words in January of this year. Now, we have only a couple of lessons to go (those rotten -augh/-ough sounds, some ae/ie things and contractions) and we'll be finished! She's doing very, very well with her reading, and I largely credit Happy Phonics for it, for having made the learning process fun.
For an example of what she can read, this is the last page she read from the curriculum reader:
Dreams and visions
Go on a mission.
What's the confusion?
Do you have a question?End of session.
I have a notion
That if you shake the potion
With a up and down motion
You will make lotion.
I have quite a reaction
To doing my fractions!
Is this the nation
That has a space station?
She doesn't care much for that reader, and you can probably see why - it doesn't make a lot of sense sometimes! Thankfully, we have a pretty hefty library of children's books to fall back on, and we visit our public library each week for even more books. We set aside time for reading each day - for me to read to her, and for her to read to me. Quite often, I catch her alone in her room, sitting in her beanbag with a pile of books nearby, reading to herself - and this thrills me to no end, as I want my girls to love books the way that I do!
Along with the books that she can read on her own, she loves to have me read chapter books to her. We're currently reading the Little House on the Prairie series (we're on book #2), and Roald Dahl's The BFG. (She'll be getting several of Beverly Cleary's Ramona books for Christmas, and I can't wait to revisit those with her!)
Although we obviously don't "do school" with Amelia yet, she has her share of books to choose from as well. There are always board books scattered across the living room floor, and Rachael has kindly moved all of the board books in her room to the bottom shelf of her bookcase for when her sister comes in to play. Like her sister, we often find Amelia sitting quietly in the floor, paging through her own books. (This is always a little scary, because when she gets that quiet, we naturally assume that she's into something she shouldn't be!) Her favorite books thus far are Peek-A-Boo (she loves seeing the other babies) and Goodnight Moon, which she has already gnawed the binding off of, and will be getting a new copy of for Christmas. Interestingly, this is the only book she's ever "eaten" - she's remarkably well-behaved with the others! :)
SOCIAL STUDIES
We do Social Studies once a week - on Tuesdays, since having gymnastics in the middle of the afternoon kind of messes up the rest of our day. We use the A Beka K5 Social Studies book, which is really a bit of a joke. It's covered things so far such as public servants ("color the policeman"), government ("color the White House"), Columbus Day ("color these three boats"), and children around the world ("color Pedro's sombrero"). Notice a theme here?
Needless to say, what she really learns about social studies comes from other sources. We tend to study whatever is relevant at the time - for instance, we're learning about politics right now since there's no escaping from the election anyway. We've talked about what a president does, qualifications that a person must have to run for president, the difference between a democracy and a republic, differences in political parties, and how the donkey and elephant came to resemble the Democratic and Republican parties. Today we'll talk about primaries and conventions, and check out the Silly Speech Makers (I'll post her speech here if it turns out as great as I think it will!) I ask her at the end of each lesson who she would vote for in this election, to give her ample opportunity to change her mind as she learns more. So far, she hasn't wavered in her support of Sarah Palin, "because she's a girl." (We're very careful not to share our personal political views with her, in hopes that she'll form her own. She has no idea which candidates we support.)
With holidays fast approaching, we'll have even more material for our Social Studies lessons - the origins of Halloween, the first Thanksgiving, Christmas around the world...they're going to be fun!
SCIENCE
To be perfectly honest, most of the science we get around to so far comes from PBS's show Sid the Science Kid (which is actually really cute.) This is because, like their Social Studies book, A Beka's K5 science book is pitifully lacking in information that she hasn't been aware of for ages (the five senses, why it's important to eat well and exercise, seasons, weather - all in the same tired coloring book format as the Social Studies book.)
We have several other science books, including The Original Backyard Scientist, which has experiments from items usually found around the house. Only problem is, it takes time and planning to work these into whatever it is we're studying at the time...and I'm generally not up for the task as science is one of those "to be squeezed in" subjects at present anyway. I'm considering one of the Apologia Science texts, which are both written in a Biblical perspective and pretty much lay everything out for people like me who need more direction. It seems like a cool series in that it kind of goes along with Genesis - on the first day, God created the heavens and the earth, so the first book in the series is Astronomy. The second book is Botany, then we get into the animals with Marine Life, Flying Creatures and Land Animals.
HISTORY
We're going to have a lot of fun with this one once we get going...but that's the hard part! We're using The Story of the World: Ancient Times - which starts with asking "what is history?" Rachael's grandparents all got questions about their own histories as part of that introduction, and we loved reading all of the answers! After that, we learned about nomads and the early farmers - which was a little dry, but the next chapter is taking us into ancient Egypt. That will definitely be more exciting, although I'm not sure I want to talk to her about the mummification process just yet...
The whole of this book is in the ancient times, but covers Egypt, Greece, etc. through the fall of Rome. The next book moves into the Middle Ages, the next one covers Early Modern Times, etc.
WHAT ABOUT THE ARTS?
We don't have a formal art or music curriculum, but that doesn't mean they aren't abundant - anyone who's had a 4-year-old before knows that there is always, always art and music!
We intentionally listen to a wide variety of music - from Christian music and hymns to country, oldies, classical, etc. Her favorite music at the moment is "anything by Sugarland"!
And, she loves, loves, loves to draw. Mostly pictures of herself, but occasionally one of herself with someone else. Perhaps I'll have to scan some of her artwork to share here in the future as well.
AND EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES?
This summer, Rachael made the difficult decision to stop taking dance classes in favor of gymnastics (difficult because she wanted to do both, and we made her choose one!) While I'll miss the shiny costumes and floofy tutus, I have to admit that she's doing really well in gymnastics - she can tumble with the best of them, isn't half bad on the uneven bars, and fearlessly leaps into "the pit" (which is filled with soft foam cubes.) At home, she is constantly leaping from the stairs or off of the furniture, thanks to an interview she saw on television with Shawn Johnson during the summer Olympics. Shawn mentioned that she was leaping from the furniture as a toddler, and Rachael took this as her cue - after all, she maintains that she wants to be just like Shawn Johnson. Also from that interview, Rachael dreams of someday seeing her likeness sculpted in butter.
We try to meet once a week with a small playgroup, made up of ourselves and three other families, two of which also homeschool. We typically meet at the park for lunch, then let the kids run themselves silly.
We also meet with the Henry County homeschool group once a month at Roll-A-Bout. Rachael went with me last month and tried roller skating for the first time - and loved it! She didn't hesitate to get out on the floor while holding hands with an older homeschooled buddy, and she's looking forward to going back.
Oh! And there's story time, once a week at the library. It's a small branch, and we're very much regulars, so she's kind of a pet of the librarians - it's nice walking in and having them greet her by name.
And of course, we can't forget church. I'm remaining hopeful that there will be more children joining our congregation soon, as having my girls be a part of a vital youth group is very important to me. In the meantime, she loves her church family - and being the center of attention.
Rachael is looking forward to playing soccer - maybe next spring, since she'll be five then. You can also join in Girl Scouts at age five. And while we want for her to learn to play the piano, she's adamant that she wants to play the flute. Appropriate, I think, since the flute takes more wind to play than any of the other wind instruments...and goodness knows Rachael has plenty of wind. ;)
I think that adequately - no, more than adequately - sums up our school year to date. There's lots more coming - years and years of material, in fact. I'll do my best to update regularly here on what's happening at Regalia Academy. One thing is for sure - with two princesses in residence and so much to learn, there's never going to be a dull moment.
Rachael officially started kindergarten on Monday, August 25, 2008. She's a little young - in the state of Virginia, a child must be five years old by September 30 in order to start kindergarten, and Rachael won't be five until February. But she was so ready for kindergarten - and maybe even a little more. Want to hear about what we've done this year? :)
BIBLE
We start our morning with a devotion from the book God and Me, followed by the weekly memory verse and review of the verses she's learned already. We have a list of verses from A to Z - we started with the vowels and now are going back to pick up the other letters. Currently, she knows:
A - All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
B - Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Acts 16:31
C - Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Ephesians 6:1
D - Depart from evil, and do good. Psalm 34:14
E - Even a child is known by his doings. Proverbs 20:11
I - If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it. John 14:14
O - O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. Psalm 118:1
U - Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks. Psalm 75:1
I'm fascinated by how quickly and easily she learns these verses, and can't wait to hear her rattle off 26 in a row when we finish the alphabet! She's also memorized the Lord's Prayer and, although it isn't Biblical, we do the Pledge of Allegiance at the same time.
We use the A Beka K5 Bible Curriculum - which is okay for this year, but I'll be looking for something more substantial for next year. This curriculum offers a Bible story about every other day (we started with "in the beginning" and are working through Genesis - we're up to Jacob's ladder as of this morning) with lots of time to review and some doctrinal drills in between. In regards to doctrine, we've discussed:
- how God wrote the Bible
- what is sin, and who sins
- the Trinity (and let me tell you, THAT was fun to try to explain!)- God had no beginning and will have no end
- salvation, why Jesus died for us, why we must accept Him as our savior
- Heaven, and who gets to be there, although God wants everyone there
MANNERS
We have a great little book called 365 Manners Kids Should Know, and we read about a new manner each day. Some of these are quite obvious - don't talk with your mouth full, don't interrupt when someone else is talking, how to address adults. But there are also sections on being a good friend, a good guest, gift-giving and holidays, and lots more - all in all, it covers every topic I could think of regarding manners, and more that I never would have come up with on my own (Quaker weddings? Sitting shiva? Private or semiprivate audience with the Pope?)
GEOGRAPHY
She already had a beginning grasp of geography - she had looked at maps and knew that we live in Virginia, Daddy works in North Carolina, Disney World is in Florida, Aunt Annette lives in California, and we want to visit Alaska. So why not learn the rest of the states as well? I printed out a coloring page of the U.S. and we color in one state each day, after reviewing all of the others to be sure that she remembers them all. We have only ten states left to go!
Our only issues with learning the states thus far have come with Alabama (which she called "Obama" for the longest time) and Montana (which she occasionally refuses to identify because of a deep disliking for Hannah Montana. I've explained that the state was not named for the girl, but this makes absolutely no difference to her.)
MATH
After covering all of the above at the breakfast table, it's time to dive into math. We knock this one out of the way early in the day because, to be quite honest, math has never been my favorite subject and I just prefer to get it over with early. We use a curriculum called Math-U-See, which relies heavily on the use of blocks to not only teach, but show the concepts. She likes playing with the blocks, and used them a lot early on, but hasn't used them much recently. I'm sure they'll be used again when we encounter something that's hard for her to understand, but thus far, the Primer book (the first in the series) has been pretty easy for her.
Topics we've covered so far include:
- counting to 20 (those teens are tricky!)
- place value: hundreds, tens and ones
- addition facts: +1 (adding one always results in the next highest number)
- basic facts to memorize: 1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4 and 5+5
- adding horizontally and vertically
- skip counting by 2s and by 10s
- adding tens (20+20, 30+10, etc.)
- adding hundreds (100+100, 300+200, etc.)
- solving for unknown ( __+3 = 9, etc.)
PHONICS & READING
Math and reading are our primary focuses, so they always come first - and sometimes they're the only things we get done in a day. Homeschooling with a baby definitely presents a challenge, and we don't always get to do as much as I'd like in a day! So we knock out these two subjects first, and anything else we get to squeeze in at this point is simply a bonus.
We use a curriculum called Happy Phonics, which uses games (lots and lots of games!) to help a child master everything from identifying capital and lowercase letters through the tricky -augh and -ough sounds. We've been using this curriculum for quite some time now, and Rachael read her first words in January of this year. Now, we have only a couple of lessons to go (those rotten -augh/-ough sounds, some ae/ie things and contractions) and we'll be finished! She's doing very, very well with her reading, and I largely credit Happy Phonics for it, for having made the learning process fun.
For an example of what she can read, this is the last page she read from the curriculum reader:
Dreams and visions
Go on a mission.
What's the confusion?
Do you have a question?End of session.
I have a notion
That if you shake the potion
With a up and down motion
You will make lotion.
I have quite a reaction
To doing my fractions!
Is this the nation
That has a space station?
She doesn't care much for that reader, and you can probably see why - it doesn't make a lot of sense sometimes! Thankfully, we have a pretty hefty library of children's books to fall back on, and we visit our public library each week for even more books. We set aside time for reading each day - for me to read to her, and for her to read to me. Quite often, I catch her alone in her room, sitting in her beanbag with a pile of books nearby, reading to herself - and this thrills me to no end, as I want my girls to love books the way that I do!
Along with the books that she can read on her own, she loves to have me read chapter books to her. We're currently reading the Little House on the Prairie series (we're on book #2), and Roald Dahl's The BFG. (She'll be getting several of Beverly Cleary's Ramona books for Christmas, and I can't wait to revisit those with her!)
Although we obviously don't "do school" with Amelia yet, she has her share of books to choose from as well. There are always board books scattered across the living room floor, and Rachael has kindly moved all of the board books in her room to the bottom shelf of her bookcase for when her sister comes in to play. Like her sister, we often find Amelia sitting quietly in the floor, paging through her own books. (This is always a little scary, because when she gets that quiet, we naturally assume that she's into something she shouldn't be!) Her favorite books thus far are Peek-A-Boo (she loves seeing the other babies) and Goodnight Moon, which she has already gnawed the binding off of, and will be getting a new copy of for Christmas. Interestingly, this is the only book she's ever "eaten" - she's remarkably well-behaved with the others! :)
SOCIAL STUDIES
We do Social Studies once a week - on Tuesdays, since having gymnastics in the middle of the afternoon kind of messes up the rest of our day. We use the A Beka K5 Social Studies book, which is really a bit of a joke. It's covered things so far such as public servants ("color the policeman"), government ("color the White House"), Columbus Day ("color these three boats"), and children around the world ("color Pedro's sombrero"). Notice a theme here?
Needless to say, what she really learns about social studies comes from other sources. We tend to study whatever is relevant at the time - for instance, we're learning about politics right now since there's no escaping from the election anyway. We've talked about what a president does, qualifications that a person must have to run for president, the difference between a democracy and a republic, differences in political parties, and how the donkey and elephant came to resemble the Democratic and Republican parties. Today we'll talk about primaries and conventions, and check out the Silly Speech Makers (I'll post her speech here if it turns out as great as I think it will!) I ask her at the end of each lesson who she would vote for in this election, to give her ample opportunity to change her mind as she learns more. So far, she hasn't wavered in her support of Sarah Palin, "because she's a girl." (We're very careful not to share our personal political views with her, in hopes that she'll form her own. She has no idea which candidates we support.)
With holidays fast approaching, we'll have even more material for our Social Studies lessons - the origins of Halloween, the first Thanksgiving, Christmas around the world...they're going to be fun!
SCIENCE
To be perfectly honest, most of the science we get around to so far comes from PBS's show Sid the Science Kid (which is actually really cute.) This is because, like their Social Studies book, A Beka's K5 science book is pitifully lacking in information that she hasn't been aware of for ages (the five senses, why it's important to eat well and exercise, seasons, weather - all in the same tired coloring book format as the Social Studies book.)
We have several other science books, including The Original Backyard Scientist, which has experiments from items usually found around the house. Only problem is, it takes time and planning to work these into whatever it is we're studying at the time...and I'm generally not up for the task as science is one of those "to be squeezed in" subjects at present anyway. I'm considering one of the Apologia Science texts, which are both written in a Biblical perspective and pretty much lay everything out for people like me who need more direction. It seems like a cool series in that it kind of goes along with Genesis - on the first day, God created the heavens and the earth, so the first book in the series is Astronomy. The second book is Botany, then we get into the animals with Marine Life, Flying Creatures and Land Animals.
HISTORY
We're going to have a lot of fun with this one once we get going...but that's the hard part! We're using The Story of the World: Ancient Times - which starts with asking "what is history?" Rachael's grandparents all got questions about their own histories as part of that introduction, and we loved reading all of the answers! After that, we learned about nomads and the early farmers - which was a little dry, but the next chapter is taking us into ancient Egypt. That will definitely be more exciting, although I'm not sure I want to talk to her about the mummification process just yet...
The whole of this book is in the ancient times, but covers Egypt, Greece, etc. through the fall of Rome. The next book moves into the Middle Ages, the next one covers Early Modern Times, etc.
WHAT ABOUT THE ARTS?
We don't have a formal art or music curriculum, but that doesn't mean they aren't abundant - anyone who's had a 4-year-old before knows that there is always, always art and music!
We intentionally listen to a wide variety of music - from Christian music and hymns to country, oldies, classical, etc. Her favorite music at the moment is "anything by Sugarland"!
And, she loves, loves, loves to draw. Mostly pictures of herself, but occasionally one of herself with someone else. Perhaps I'll have to scan some of her artwork to share here in the future as well.
AND EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES?
This summer, Rachael made the difficult decision to stop taking dance classes in favor of gymnastics (difficult because she wanted to do both, and we made her choose one!) While I'll miss the shiny costumes and floofy tutus, I have to admit that she's doing really well in gymnastics - she can tumble with the best of them, isn't half bad on the uneven bars, and fearlessly leaps into "the pit" (which is filled with soft foam cubes.) At home, she is constantly leaping from the stairs or off of the furniture, thanks to an interview she saw on television with Shawn Johnson during the summer Olympics. Shawn mentioned that she was leaping from the furniture as a toddler, and Rachael took this as her cue - after all, she maintains that she wants to be just like Shawn Johnson. Also from that interview, Rachael dreams of someday seeing her likeness sculpted in butter.
We try to meet once a week with a small playgroup, made up of ourselves and three other families, two of which also homeschool. We typically meet at the park for lunch, then let the kids run themselves silly.
We also meet with the Henry County homeschool group once a month at Roll-A-Bout. Rachael went with me last month and tried roller skating for the first time - and loved it! She didn't hesitate to get out on the floor while holding hands with an older homeschooled buddy, and she's looking forward to going back.
Oh! And there's story time, once a week at the library. It's a small branch, and we're very much regulars, so she's kind of a pet of the librarians - it's nice walking in and having them greet her by name.
And of course, we can't forget church. I'm remaining hopeful that there will be more children joining our congregation soon, as having my girls be a part of a vital youth group is very important to me. In the meantime, she loves her church family - and being the center of attention.
Rachael is looking forward to playing soccer - maybe next spring, since she'll be five then. You can also join in Girl Scouts at age five. And while we want for her to learn to play the piano, she's adamant that she wants to play the flute. Appropriate, I think, since the flute takes more wind to play than any of the other wind instruments...and goodness knows Rachael has plenty of wind. ;)
I think that adequately - no, more than adequately - sums up our school year to date. There's lots more coming - years and years of material, in fact. I'll do my best to update regularly here on what's happening at Regalia Academy. One thing is for sure - with two princesses in residence and so much to learn, there's never going to be a dull moment.
"Why It Is Right to Homeschool"
Originally posted on October 24, 2008
I meant to work this into my original post, and it didn't quite make it there. I've had this snippet saved on my computer for a couple of years now - an excerpt from Sally Clarkson's book Educating the Whole-Hearted Child that particularly spoke to me, on why it is "right" to homeschool...
"You homeschool because it is right to guard your children against the aggressive secular, humanistic worldview of the public school. You homeschool because it is right to shield your children from the immorality that permeates the public school... because it is right to protect your children from violence and wickedness that inflicts schools... because it is right to want your children to receive a better education under your loving guidance than the average school setting... because it is right for parents to control what their children are studying and are being exposed to without being labeled intolerant and narrow minded. You homeschool because it is right to follow God's design for family not just in living, but in learning as well. You homeschool because it is right to guide your children's Christian character development at home rather allow them to be 'socialized' by secular, untrained, unsupervised schoolmates...You homeschool because it is right to love your children and want to be with them every day of their lives until they are grown - that is what God intended."
I meant to work this into my original post, and it didn't quite make it there. I've had this snippet saved on my computer for a couple of years now - an excerpt from Sally Clarkson's book Educating the Whole-Hearted Child that particularly spoke to me, on why it is "right" to homeschool...
"You homeschool because it is right to guard your children against the aggressive secular, humanistic worldview of the public school. You homeschool because it is right to shield your children from the immorality that permeates the public school... because it is right to protect your children from violence and wickedness that inflicts schools... because it is right to want your children to receive a better education under your loving guidance than the average school setting... because it is right for parents to control what their children are studying and are being exposed to without being labeled intolerant and narrow minded. You homeschool because it is right to follow God's design for family not just in living, but in learning as well. You homeschool because it is right to guide your children's Christian character development at home rather allow them to be 'socialized' by secular, untrained, unsupervised schoolmates...You homeschool because it is right to love your children and want to be with them every day of their lives until they are grown - that is what God intended."
Welcome to Regalia Academy!
Originally posted on October 23, 2008
Come in quietly, choose your desk, be sure your pencils are sharpened...eyes to the front of the classroom, please, we're about to get started.
Oh, wait - we're not that kind of school! Quite the contrary, in fact. Around here, it's more like "come in and play for a bit, sit down with us at the kitchen table (or in the living room floor), grab a pencil or crayon or marker or what-have-you, and don't expect us to stay on topic very well!" After all, one topic inevitably leads to another, and another, another - thus is the joy of homeschooling.
WHY HOMESCHOOL?
Although I've always wanted to be a mother - and feel incredibly fortunate in that I'm able to stay at home full-time with our girls - the idea of homeschooling them actually came from my husband. We were sitting at the kitchen table one weekend afternoon when our older daughter was just a baby, and he had been reading an article in our local newspaper about the decline of our area schools. "Have you ever considered homeschooling?", he asked; my reply was a firm and immediate "NO". I'm not the homeschooling type - I don't have the patience, the energy, the ingenuity.
However, after thinking, praying, thinking, praying...the idea began to sound...not so ridiculous. The public schools in our area have never been top-notch. In the past few years, fully half of them have closed, which means crowding in the remaining schools. Stories of drugs and weapons found in our schools are so much more common now. Test scores are in the toilet. And the one prestigious private school in our area is financially unavailable to the majority of our citizens - including ourselves, what with being a family of four with but one income. And truth be told, I can think of several reasons - albeit slightly different reasons from those mentioned above - why private school wouldn't be ideal for our children either.
I fretted. I worried. I asked myself every "what if" question in the book. What if I do homeschool, and my child turns into one of those "weird homeschooled kids" that everyone seems to know? What if I don't homeschool, and my child is a victim of school violence? What if she falls in with the wrong crowd in school? What if she resents me for homeschooling her later on? What if I take on this incredible job and fail miserably? What if I don't, and later on wish I had?
Ultimately, several factors led me to the decision that I could do this thing after all...
Unless it is truly your fervent wish to see my head spin around a full 360 degrees, please do not ever ask me this in person. I dare speak up for homeschoolers everywhere and say that this is THE #1 pet peeve of homeschoolers everywhere.
Rather than type up my own long-winded tirade, please please take a few moments to read this page: Homeschooling and the Myth of Socialization for an adequate summary of my thoughts on the subject.
In case you don't have time to read the full article, I'll share just this tidbit:
"In order for children to become assimilated into society properly, it is important to have a variety of experiences and be exposed to differing opinions and views. This enables them to think for themselves and form their own opinions. This is exactly what public education does not want; public education is for the lowest common denominator and influencing all of the students to share the same views ("group-think") and thought-control through various means, including peer-pressure."
In short, we're all for those "variety of experiences" that a child just doesn't get in school. I'm not about segregating them by age and creating a chasm between child and adult; I would much rather my children be comfortable talking to people of all ages. And besides, anyone who has met the social butterfly that is our firstborn can already see just how laughable the worry of "socialization" truly is.
ARE YOU QUALIFIED TO TEACH?
I am, according to Virginia Code 22.1-254.1! Because I have a high school diploma, I am qualified to instruct my children at home. (Which is a little scary, considering some of the folks I know that also have high school diplomas...) At any rate, beginning next year, we will submit an annual Notice of Intent (NOI) to homeschool to the school superintendent's office, which will include our choices of math and language arts curriculums. (They apparently don't care much about science, history, etc., as long as you're getting math and reading out of the way!)
There are two options for homeschooling parents in our state - one being to submit this NOI and provide an annual report (to include testing, once in third grade) proving that "the child is achieving an adequate level of educational growth and progress." Alternatively, we have the option of homeschooling for religious purposes, in which case the state effectively washes their hands of us - no testing, no proof needed, just leaves us alone to do our thing. However, I have chosen to submit to testing, both to be sure that we've covered the material that needs to be covered and (I confess!) to learn how my children compare to state averages on test scores. After all, homeschool students typically score about 30% higher than public school students on standardized tests!
REGALIA ACADEMY
Quite the fancy name for a "school" that generally occurs in the living room floor and is often attended in pajamas, no? In some states, homeschooling parents are required to submit a formal name for their school. This is not the case in Virginia, but what the heck? We wanted a name!
Do you remember those little tile games, where you have to move the numbers around in this little plastic square to try and get them into numerical order? Well, that's kind of how "regalia" came to be...
I started off with my older daughter's initials - first and two middle names - which are RAG. Then you take the end of the baby's name, -elia.
RAG+elia
Then take the first two vowels and switch them.
rEg+Alia
And finally, take into consideration the definition of the word:
re-ga-li-a [ri-geyl-yuh] -plural noun
1. the ensigns or emblems of royalty, as the crown or scepter.
2. the decorations, insignia, or ceremonial clothes of any office or order.
Being that our school consists of two students (one current and one future) who just so happen to be princesses (ask anyone!), wouldn't you say that Regalia Academy is a good fit for them?
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG
I've actually been meaning to set up a homeschool blog for quite a while now - although we only "officially" started kindergarten this fall (although she wouldn't be old enough for public kindergarten until next year), we've been "doing school" for a while now. My hope is for this blog to serve two purposes:
Come in quietly, choose your desk, be sure your pencils are sharpened...eyes to the front of the classroom, please, we're about to get started.
Oh, wait - we're not that kind of school! Quite the contrary, in fact. Around here, it's more like "come in and play for a bit, sit down with us at the kitchen table (or in the living room floor), grab a pencil or crayon or marker or what-have-you, and don't expect us to stay on topic very well!" After all, one topic inevitably leads to another, and another, another - thus is the joy of homeschooling.
WHY HOMESCHOOL?
Although I've always wanted to be a mother - and feel incredibly fortunate in that I'm able to stay at home full-time with our girls - the idea of homeschooling them actually came from my husband. We were sitting at the kitchen table one weekend afternoon when our older daughter was just a baby, and he had been reading an article in our local newspaper about the decline of our area schools. "Have you ever considered homeschooling?", he asked; my reply was a firm and immediate "NO". I'm not the homeschooling type - I don't have the patience, the energy, the ingenuity.
However, after thinking, praying, thinking, praying...the idea began to sound...not so ridiculous. The public schools in our area have never been top-notch. In the past few years, fully half of them have closed, which means crowding in the remaining schools. Stories of drugs and weapons found in our schools are so much more common now. Test scores are in the toilet. And the one prestigious private school in our area is financially unavailable to the majority of our citizens - including ourselves, what with being a family of four with but one income. And truth be told, I can think of several reasons - albeit slightly different reasons from those mentioned above - why private school wouldn't be ideal for our children either.
I fretted. I worried. I asked myself every "what if" question in the book. What if I do homeschool, and my child turns into one of those "weird homeschooled kids" that everyone seems to know? What if I don't homeschool, and my child is a victim of school violence? What if she falls in with the wrong crowd in school? What if she resents me for homeschooling her later on? What if I take on this incredible job and fail miserably? What if I don't, and later on wish I had?
Ultimately, several factors led me to the decision that I could do this thing after all...
- I want my children to know and love God, and I want for their religious education to be a part of their every day, not just a Sunday morning thing. I do not want for them to have to go to school and tiptoe around their faith.
- I know that they will get a better education at home than they would in our public school system. I want them to have the freedom to fully explore what is interesting to them at the time, rather than being stifled in whatever one-size-doesn't-fit-anyone curriculum that the schools are using this year. I want them to be challenged without being overwhelmed, and don't want for them to become bored while working at a pace slower than that which they're capable of.
- I recognize that homeschooling is not a "do or die" effort. I will have the freedom to reassess each year - is this working for me? Is this working for my child? If not, I can look into alternatives. The world will keep spinning. She will suffer no irreparable harm. It will be okay. It will be okay. It will be okay.
Unless it is truly your fervent wish to see my head spin around a full 360 degrees, please do not ever ask me this in person. I dare speak up for homeschoolers everywhere and say that this is THE #1 pet peeve of homeschoolers everywhere.
Rather than type up my own long-winded tirade, please please take a few moments to read this page: Homeschooling and the Myth of Socialization for an adequate summary of my thoughts on the subject.
In case you don't have time to read the full article, I'll share just this tidbit:
"In order for children to become assimilated into society properly, it is important to have a variety of experiences and be exposed to differing opinions and views. This enables them to think for themselves and form their own opinions. This is exactly what public education does not want; public education is for the lowest common denominator and influencing all of the students to share the same views ("group-think") and thought-control through various means, including peer-pressure."
In short, we're all for those "variety of experiences" that a child just doesn't get in school. I'm not about segregating them by age and creating a chasm between child and adult; I would much rather my children be comfortable talking to people of all ages. And besides, anyone who has met the social butterfly that is our firstborn can already see just how laughable the worry of "socialization" truly is.
ARE YOU QUALIFIED TO TEACH?
I am, according to Virginia Code 22.1-254.1! Because I have a high school diploma, I am qualified to instruct my children at home. (Which is a little scary, considering some of the folks I know that also have high school diplomas...) At any rate, beginning next year, we will submit an annual Notice of Intent (NOI) to homeschool to the school superintendent's office, which will include our choices of math and language arts curriculums. (They apparently don't care much about science, history, etc., as long as you're getting math and reading out of the way!)
There are two options for homeschooling parents in our state - one being to submit this NOI and provide an annual report (to include testing, once in third grade) proving that "the child is achieving an adequate level of educational growth and progress." Alternatively, we have the option of homeschooling for religious purposes, in which case the state effectively washes their hands of us - no testing, no proof needed, just leaves us alone to do our thing. However, I have chosen to submit to testing, both to be sure that we've covered the material that needs to be covered and (I confess!) to learn how my children compare to state averages on test scores. After all, homeschool students typically score about 30% higher than public school students on standardized tests!
REGALIA ACADEMY
Quite the fancy name for a "school" that generally occurs in the living room floor and is often attended in pajamas, no? In some states, homeschooling parents are required to submit a formal name for their school. This is not the case in Virginia, but what the heck? We wanted a name!
Do you remember those little tile games, where you have to move the numbers around in this little plastic square to try and get them into numerical order? Well, that's kind of how "regalia" came to be...
I started off with my older daughter's initials - first and two middle names - which are RAG. Then you take the end of the baby's name, -elia.
RAG+elia
Then take the first two vowels and switch them.
rEg+Alia
And finally, take into consideration the definition of the word:
re-ga-li-a [ri-geyl-yuh] -plural noun
1. the ensigns or emblems of royalty, as the crown or scepter.
2. the decorations, insignia, or ceremonial clothes of any office or order.
Being that our school consists of two students (one current and one future) who just so happen to be princesses (ask anyone!), wouldn't you say that Regalia Academy is a good fit for them?
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG
I've actually been meaning to set up a homeschool blog for quite a while now - although we only "officially" started kindergarten this fall (although she wouldn't be old enough for public kindergarten until next year), we've been "doing school" for a while now. My hope is for this blog to serve two purposes:
- to document what we've learned and when, and the interesting twists and turns we take along the way; and
- to share them with our family and friends that are interested in what we're doing.
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